Here he spells out the ideal cast for an adaptation of Small Crimes:
Small Crimes is the first of three "man just out of prison" noir thrillers of mine that Serpent's Tail will be publishing. In this case, the man out of prison is Joe Denton, a disgraced ex-cop who got sent away when trying to destroy evidence for a corruption case being built against him ended up stabbing the DA, Phil Coakley, 13 times in the face and horribly disfiguring the man. Now out of prison Joe wants to go through life without causing anymore damage. The problem is Manny Vassey, a mobster Joe used to do jobs for, is dying of cancer, and Phil is trying his damndest to trade Manny a one-way ticket to heaven for a deathbed confession.Read an excerpt from Small Crimes, and learn more about the book from the publisher.
A 42 year-old version of Bruce Willis would be perfect for Joe, but at this point I'd go with Clive Owen.
Billy Bob Thornton with a good makeup job as DA Phil Coakley.
Burt Young as the dying Manny, Michael Chiklis as the sadistic and heir apparent, Manny Jr.
Tim Robbins as the spectacularly corrupt town sheriff, Dan Pleasant, who will go away also if Manny confesses, and puts Joe between a rock and a hard place to make sure that doesn't happen.
Renée Zellweger as Charlotte, a nurse who Joe tries to enlist in one of his many schemes to get out of his mess.
John C. Reilly as Earl, one of Joe's few remaining friends in town and the owner and bartender at Kelly's, a local strip club.
Eva Longoria as Toni, a stripper with not quite a heart-of-gold.
Rounding things out, Robert Duvall as Joe's dad, and Ellen Burstyn as Joe's mom.
Visit Dave Zeltserman's website and his blog.
--Marshal Zeringue
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