Don Winslow is one of the very best crime writers alive. He’s even an accomplished screenwriter, with scripts for “Savages” and an upcoming Michael Mann film under his belt. But even someone at the stature of Winslow respects and adores the work of writer Elmore Leonard, the author behind books-turned-into-films such as “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty,” and the TV series “Justified.” And according to Winslow, these two crime story legends almost worked together on a feature film.
In a column written by Winslow on Deadline, the author explains how a meeting between himself and Leonard occurred years ago and almost resulted in a script for a film version of “Unknown Man #89.” However, like so many projects, it eventually fell apart.
“My agent, friend and partner-in crime-fiction Shane Salerno called one day to ask if I’d be interested in co-writing a film version of ‘Unknown Man #89.’ Uhhh, yeah,” wrote Winslow.” It turned out that Mr. Leonard was interested in me working on it with him. That just blew my mind, sort of like a beer-league softball player invited to play catch with Willie Mays.”
For those not familiar with Leonard’s novel, “Unknown Man #89” follows the story of Jack Ryan (nope, not the Tom Clancy version), a person with the distinct ability to locate people that don’t want to found, who is hired to track down a missing stockbroker with a crooked past. The novel, like many of Leonard’s works, is part of a longer series.
Of course, the meeting between Winslow and Leonard didn’t lead to a feature film deal. But for Winslow, it was a chance to meet one of his heroes, and, in that respect, the meeting didn’t disappoint.
“For the next hour, he regaled us with stories about his early days as a writer, his experiences in the film world (he loved ‘Get Shorty’ and ‘Out of Sight’) days and nights with movie stars, that Ann-Margret (‘52 Pick-Up’) was just as lovely as we thought she was, dinners, lunches and breakfasts with agents, editors and publishers,” the author explained. “He made me laugh so hard I couldn’t tell the difference between the tears running down my cheeks and the rain that by now was sluicing off my inadequate baseball cap. (Southern Californians are never prepared for rain, it’s like we can’t believe it’s actually happening.)”
Winslow added, “We didn’t make the movie. Some old contractual issue with ‘Unknown Man # 89’ made the project impossible. I never had the chance to meet him in person or even speak with him again.”
With tons of novels written by Leonard over the years, perhaps Winslow will get a chance to adapt one of his stories for the big screen in the future. Even if Leonard is no longer with us.