Even though novelist Bret Easton Ellis was allowed to act as an executive producer as well as an adapter of his collection of short stories titled “The Informers,” into the script for director Gregor Jordan’s film of the same name, Ellis does not sound as if he is entirely pleased with the outcome.
In an interview with MTV.com about the film, which stars Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Kim Basinger and Billy Bob Thornton and centers around several stories about a kidnapping, a burnt-out rock star, and a father and son trying to find common ground in the morally bankrupt wasteland of 1980’s L.A, the author, even while staying polite and diplomatic, sounded less than enthusiastic about the film.
With regards to the creative process, Ellis said, “The director shot it a certain way, and he made all these choices to drop certain stuff, and focus on this. As a writer, you definitely feel a certain lack of control.” He went on to comment more about the schism between the page and screen, “It’s a painful process.”
Ellis also said that what turns up in the film, even though he officially penned the movie, isn’t a literal translation of his script, “The script that I wrote is not really on the screen,” he explained. “What was weird about watching this movie was that it was based on a book of mine; it’s the first one that I adapted myself. Yet, it’s very different from what I imagined it would be.”
Although he did ultimately say, “I like the movie, I’ll stand by it,” one has to assume his true feelings lie elsewhere given he has just slapped a disclaimer on the project.
“The Informers,” comes out in limited release on April 24th, four days before the official release of its 80’s centric soundtrack.