PAYBACK Time for Brian Helgeland--Finally
Looking for something cool to read? Pick up anything by Donald Westlake, whose novels and short stories you know even if you've never read them -- that's how often the writer's work has been adapted for film.
The best known is John Boorman's POINT BLANK, the 1967 version of The Hunter, with Lee Marvin as revenge seeking-thief. When Warner Bros. released a second adaptation starring Mel Gibson -- doing a creditable job in the badass avenger role -- writer/director Brian Helgeland was said to be unhappy about about the final cut. Though Helgeland had just won an Academy Award for writing L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, somebody (the studio? Gibson?) got anxious about the then-nice-guy star playing such a hard edged leading role, and edged Helgeland out of the editing room. The result got mixed reviews and middling box office success.
Finally, as Dennis Lim writes in the Los Angeles Times, Helgeland got a chance -- as part of a DVD set -- to restore the PAYBACK he wanted to make. Excised scenes and a new, retro-sounding score make for a different and better movie. Check it out. It's worth the wait.
http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-second8apr08,0,16444.story?coll=cl-suncal
A Westlake Filmography
THE HOT ROCK
TWO MUCH
Screenplays
Cops and Robbers (1973)
Hot Stuff (1979)
Supertrain (1979 - TV Pilot)
The Stepfather (1987)
Father Dowling (1987)
Why Me (1990)
The Grifters (1990)
Fly Paper (1993)