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Article: De Palma helps 'Black Dahlia' find its focus
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- September 15, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia marked a turning point in his
career as a novelist. Based on the gruesome, real-life murder of
Elizabeth Short in 1947, the 1987 book was a culmination of Ellroy's
obsession with the noir world of 1940s Los Angeles. The hard-as-
nails prose, vivid characters and feverish plotting evoked a
hallucinatory pulp world flecked with blood, sex and despair. It was
also a deeply personal book for Ellroy, as it was his first to make
use of the murder of his mother, Jean Hilliker.
Despite the release in 1997 of another Ellroy adaptation, the
Oscar-winning "L.A. Confidential," getting "The Black Dahlia" on the
screen proved impossible until producer Art Linson ...