SIFF and Greg Olson Productions Present
L.A. NOIR
shadows in paradise
L.A. Confidential (1997) James Ellroy: I’m James Ellroy, the demon dog of Los Angeles, the foul owl with the death growl. Good evening to the peepers, prowlers, pederasts, pedants. My parents hatched me in a cool locale, L.A., the film noir epicenter. I live, breath, ooze and sweat crime. L.A. is the Venus flytrap that young women with fatuous dreams of stardom always flock to. The dead claim the living and tell us how to live. I’d rather live an internal life and live imaginatively in the past. Before writing I sit in a room and savor the tremor of intent, gearing up to write a novel of complexity, depth, stylistic ardor, and perhaps profundity. It’s the kid’s feeling of “I want to do that, and I want it to be the best.” Curtis Hanson: What grabbed me in the book was my emotional reaction to the characters, and the idea that things can be different than the way they appear. Los Angeles projected an image to get people to come here, but the truth of the image was being destroyed by all the newcomers, bulldozed into oblivion. I grew up in L.A., and. This is my most personal film; I found the book and made it happen. I mounted 15 photographs on pasteboard (orange groves, beaches, a freeway, a Confidential magazine cover, jazz musicians, modern 1950s houses), and showed them to the cast and crew. That was the environment, the atmosphere, but character and emotion would be in the forefront. I wanted the story to have clarity, but the more interesting thing is how the characters are developed and reflected through the plot structure. Regarding the characters, with Ed and Bud I wanted unknown actors. I wanted people who the audience could discover as the story went along, the same way I discovered the characters as I read the book. But I chose Kevin Spacey because I wanted an actor with the charisma to play the movie star among cops, who’s good enough to play what’s going on behind his facade. That this guy has lost his soul. I was thrilled that James Ellroy reacted so positively to the script and the film. He was the inspiration, and I wanted to be true to his voice. Critic-author David Thomson: James Cromwell as Police Captain Dudley Smith is the star of the picture, I think. His ambiguities are the bloodstream of the LAPD. He is the history and the startling present. The film is more cautious than shocking. Ellroy’s horror had been shelved. Citizens of L.A. can sleep in confidence, more or less — which was never quite Ellroy’s plan. Thanks to poet, film curator and teacher Tova Gannana for her film essay and her L.A. Cruising, Radio On pre-film playlist.
October 22, 2025
Directed by: Curtis Hanson Screenplay by: Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgel from James Ellroy’s novel Cinematography by: Dante Spinotti Music by: Jerry Goldsmith Edited by: Peter Honess THE PLAYERS: Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes Russell Crowe as Bud White Guy Pearce as Ed Exley James Cromwell as Dudley Smith Kim Basinger as Lynn Bracken Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens David Strathairn as Pierce Patchett Ron Rifkin as Ellis Loew Matt McCoy as Brett Chase Paul Guilfoyle as Mickey Cohen Paolo Seganti Johnny Stompanato Elisabeth Granli as Mickey Cohen’s mambo partner