Robert K. Lewis's "Innocent Damage"

Bay Area resident Robert K. Lewis has been a painter, printmaker, and a produced screenwriter.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Innocent Damage, the third novel featuring ex-cop and recovering junkie Mark Mallen:

I’ve always thought of Mallen being played by Clive Owen, circa Sin City. Owen had the dark, haggard look that I feel dovetails perfectly with Mallen’s life as a junkie ex-cop living in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. Owen’s character, Dwight, had a look to him, along with a toughness, that just screamed Mallen at me.

When I first conceived of Mallen’s best friend, Oberon the homicide detective, I pictured Morgan Freeman, circa Se7en, complete with tweed jacket and suede patches on the elbows. And then when I first began to write Oberon’s lines, I heard them in Morgan Freeman’s voice. I thought at the time, and still do, that to have Freeman in that role would have been greatness.

And for Gato? A young Danny Trejo. The guy is just so damned bad-ass. Not only visually, where he would’ve totally fit as Mallen’s right hand man, but Trejo also has that charisma that I’d always envisioned Gato to possess. I went back and watched a bunch of movies with Trejo in them, and I think he would’ve totally done Gato justice, both inside and out. The power is there, in spades. Plus, he would’ve looked awesome driving around in Gato’s souped-up 1960’s Ford Falcon.

Visit Robert K. Lewis's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Innocent Damage.

Writers Read: Robert K. Lewis.

--Marshal Zeringue