Peter Lefcourt

Portrait of the artist at his actual age

DAY JOB (AND OTHER) NEWS

"La Ronde de Lunch" has come and gone, garnering an Ovation Recommendation, and some nice reviews. On the basis of that satisfying experience -- they treat the help a lot better in the theatre than they do in film and television -- I am writing a new play. This one, an adaptation of a story I wrote some time ago, is entitled "Mutually Assured Destruction," and it involves the complex and tenuous interplay of mutual blackmail that occurs when a man walks into a restaurant and encounters his friend's wife having a compromising lunch with their accountant. Chaos ensues. Sort of. More like a deadly Cold War standoff. Hence, the title. Ah, remember the good old days. I don't know about you, but I miss The Cold War. At least we knew who our enemies were back then, and people weren't getting on airplanes with bombs in their shoes.

In addition, I have adapted one of my earlier plays -- produced here at Actors Alley; in New York, at the Manhattan Class Company; and in Vermont, at The Oldcastle Theater -- into a screenplay. It takes the play into a new visual dimension -- sexy, surreal and, I hope, beguiling. Now all I have to do is sell it. No mean feat in these days of derivative, brainless, big-budget movies.

I have finished editing my new novel -- this one, perhaps a little more centered than my other books. It is the story of an immigrant Jewish-American family on Long Island, concentrating on five siblings born in the 1940's, tracing their lives, and the life of the family, over forty years, from the sixties to the present. It has been a strange adventure to tell such a sprawling story. The new manuscript, now a trim 639 pages, is with my book agents in New York. Selling books these days is almost as difficult as selling movies. Even with seven published novels to my name, I am finding that locating a publisher who wants to send a book out into the market with care and love is no slam dunk.

The DVD of the film version of my first novel, "The Deal" (Random House, 1991), is now available in the usual places: Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflicks -- as is the Audio CD of "The Deal," read by the film's star, William H. Macy.

"The Deal: The Motion Picture" -- shot in 2007 in Capetown, South Africa, with a cast consisting of William H. Macy (as Charlie), Meg Ryan (as Deidre), Jason Ritter (as Lionel), L.L. Cool J (as Bobby Mason) and Elliot Gould (as Rabbi Seth Guterman) -- had its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was unable to get a domestric ditributor, no longer an uncommon fate for independent features. I think it ran right into the teeth of the zeitgeist, this era when good distributors of independent movies are going out of business every day.

Still, I think Bill Macy and Steve Schacter did a good job adapting the novel. Readers of the book will understand South Africa, where they shot the movie in 2007, doubling as Yugoslavia doubling as 19th century England. Makes perfect sense. Life imitates art.

Other news: As has been reported here earlier, "The Dreyfus Affair" has been reoptioned, for the fifth time. A new script was written, and we are looking to put together the right package. Anyone with a few million in their pocket, please contact Ken Gross (KGMLA@​pacbell.net).

I think we must thank the critical and commercial success of "Brokeback Mountain," and, more recently, "Milk," for breaking through the conventional ignorance about audiences being reluctant to enter a movie theater if they think they may inadvertently see two guys kissing and about the notion that it is career suicide for a straight male actor to play a gay role. It appears to be just the opposite. Scripts were piling up on the desk of the agents representing the late Heath Ledger and are still piling up on the desks of those representing Jake Gyllenhal. So thank you, Focus Films, James Schamus, Ang Lee, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Sean Penn, Gus Van Sant and everyone else involved in "Brokeback" and "Milk" for having the courage to put your money behind a good story. Let's hope that in the future, all good stories, gay, straight, or zigzag, will be considered material for films.

In the less than good news dept...

Buena Vista Home Video continues to postpone the scheduled release of the DVD of Season One of "Beggars & Choosers" indefinitely. I had reported here earlier that we had done DVD commentary on some episodes and that BVHV has slated the release for January. I will continue to pester them to release the DVD's, but as we know, the DVD market for TV episodes is both a little saturated and a little soft at the moment: those shelves at Target are sagging under the weight of unsold episodes of old TV shows. So we have to wait until someone deems it financially advantageous to spend the money to release the DVD's. If you'd like to try to help get them out of captivity in Burbank, you can write to: Buena Vista Home Video, 3900 W. Alameda, Burbank, CA 91505 and badger them. Tell them that you had been planning on ordering a dozen of them for Martin Luther King or President's Day.

However, the DVD of that old chestnut I worked on (and won an Emmy for), "Cagney & Lacey," was released in April. They sent a film crew to my office last summer, and I did some nostalgic commentary that appears on the DVD. I am a talking head among others, creating a montage of the nostalgia of all of us who worked on the show twenty years ago.

Other screenwriting developments: the noted producer Fred Roos ("Apocalypse Now," "The Virgin Suicides," "Lost in Translation," among many others, has joined Ivan and Phyllis Green in trying to get my adaptation of "Eleven Karens" to the screen. If you have a few million lying around or some brilliant casting suggestions (or if you are Gwynneth Paltrow and would like the opporunity to play all eleven Karens), please contact Fred at the offices of FM Productions (310 470-9212.

My adaptation of "The Woody" remains with Andrew Lang Productions in New York waiting for casting and financing. We have a script that needs very minor tweaking in the face of recent political developments in this country.

And, last but not least, "The Manhattan Beach Project," nominally a sequel to "The Deal" remains available. Anybody interested, call Ken Gross (323 512-2999).

New Book: The Manhattan Beach Project

Buy Audio CD of The Deal, read by William H.Macy, at B&N.com