Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The news that William Friedkin is finally stepping behind a camera again is great just by itself, but when the project he's paired with is an adaptation of Don Winslow's crime thriller The Winter of Frankie Machine I get doubly excited.
Friedkin's last cinematic outing was the awesomely weird deep fried southern crime flick Killer Joe. We know from that film and the handful of legit classics he's made that when Friedkin shows us the seedy underbelly of crime he doesn't hold back.
The novel is about a retired Mafia hitman who is living in peace until someone from his past decides that he shouldn't be drawing breath anymore. It's up to Frank to figure out who wants him dead and why.
According to Deadline Friedkin is developing the project to direct. The film doesn't have a home yet, but Friedkin is working on it with author Don Winslow, who is believed to be writing the adaptation himself.
A quick trip to Wikipedia reminds us that Martin Scorsese tried to make this with De Niro in the mid-aughts and that Michael Mann also tried his hand at it. Let's hope it sticks this time. It's fascinating to think about what this particular story would look like in the hands of each director, each well-known for how they handle crime flicks, but I get the feeling that Friedkin is the most perfect match for this material. Could just be me excited to see him back at work again, but I think it'd be something special.
Thoughts?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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