Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown...many have brought the popular crime novels of Elmore Leonard to the big with varying degrees of success. But none of them had the guts to adapt one one of his books on a whim and pray the author liked it enough to green light a movie. That's what Daniel Schechter did with Life of Crime, which the author gave his stamp of approval to before passing away shortly thereafter. Based on Leonard's book The Switch, a sorta-prequel to Jackie Brown, the crime comedy stars John Hawkes, Yasiin "Mos Def" Bey, Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins, Isla Fisher, Will Forte, and Mark Boone Jr. in the story of two petty criminals who plot to kidnap a rich businessman's wife and claim the ransom. When they realize the mark has a sexy young mistress it becomes clear he'd be perfectly happy if his wife disappeared forever.
Life of Crime marks the biggest film from Schechter, who last directed the charming indie Supporting Characters. I had a chance to talk with him about making the move to a much larger studio effort, his love for Leonard's work, and whether he sees a similarity between his film and Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
Listen to my interview with Schechter below, then check out my review here. Life of Crime is in theaters now.
New Movies Internet Radio with Cinema Royale on BlogTalkRadio
