Corleone’s highly acclaimed international thriller Good as Gone, introducing former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk, was hailed by the Huffington Post as “a heart-wrenching, adrenaline-producing adventure that leaves the reader gasping for breath.”Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of Payoff, the second Simon Fisk thriller:
Since the opening scenes of my new novel Payoff take place at the Calabasas, California home of movie mogul Edgar Trenton, My Book, The Movie presents an ideal question.Learn more about the book and author at Douglas Corleone's website.
When Edgar Trenton’s teenage daughter is kidnapped during a violent home invasion, he turns to former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk to ensure a smooth ransom exchange. Not just because Simon Fisk is a kidnapper’s worst nightmare, but because Simon owes Edgar Trenton a favor. Years ago, Edgar granted Simon’s request to nix the film version of a book based on Simon’s own real-life nightmare – the abduction of his six-year-old daughter Hailey and subsequent suicide of his beloved wife Tasha. When Simon made the request, the film already had a star attached – Jason Statham was under contract to play Simon Fisk.
But if Payoff were to be made into a movie, who would fill out the rest of the cast?
While writing the book, I imagined Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) playing the role of movie mogul Edgar Trenton, and Jennifer Connelly playing his (much younger) wife.
The female lead in the book, a beautiful Latin American woman named Mariana Silva, should be played by Penélope Cruz.
In Bogota, Colombia, Simon Fisk receives the assistance of two hard-boiled DEA agents, Samuel “Grey” Greyson and Emanuel Vega, who I envision being played by Denzel Washington and Benecio Del Toro, respectively.
All right, so we may already be well over-budget. But with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Jeffrey Bruckheimer as executive producers, money shouldn’t be an issue, right?
Writers Read: Douglas Corleone (August 2013).
The Page 69 Test: Good as Gone.
--Marshal Zeringue
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