Leonard's success skyrockets

For a man who has literally brought Hollywood to its knees begging for the rights to his hip novels, the first question to ask novelist Elmore Leonard is easy. How does he do it?

"When I have a book going then I write all the time, all day, 9:30 to 6," Leonard said. "I do it on these yellow pads that I have made. I've always written in long hand, so I do all the composing on paper, and then I put it on the typewriter after I get a page or two.

"I rarely get more than four or five clean pages a day. Then I rewrite them in the morning. I have to be satisfied with the scene before I go to the next scene, and that's how I write, in scenes. I want to be surprised, I want to find out what the book is about as I'm writing it."

Courtesy of Universal Pictures Ving Rhames and George Clooney act out the film adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, "Out of Sight." The book is only one in an impressive group of Leonard's best-sellers that have been transformed to box office smashes.

And this is how Leonard has been able to produce best sellers such as "Get Shorty," "Riding the Rap" and "Rum Punch." Leonard's memorable characters and sharp dialogue have everyone in Hollywood from Tarantino to Travolta clamoring to adapt his stories into movies.

The latest book to receive such treatment is the recently released "Out of Sight," which stars George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. Clooney plays an escaped bank robber and Lopez is the U.S. Marshall who attempts to track him down.

Leonard, a long-time resident of the Detroit area and graduate of both University of Detroit High School and College, has set many of his novels in the city, but "Out of Sight" is the first adaptation to have parts filmed in Detroit.

"This is the first one of mine that was set here in the book and actually used," Leonard said. "For example '52 Pickup' was set here, and they shot it in Los Angeles."

In fact, nearly half of "Out of Sight" takes place in the metropolitan Detroit area.

Recently, writer/director Quentin Tarantino received a great deal of attention for his adaptation of "Rum Punch." For the film, Tarantino changed several details but mostly mirrored the book.

The name of the movie and its main character were changed to "Jackie Brown," and the title character was changed from a Caucasian to an African American. The director also changed the story's setting from Florida to Los Angeles.

"Tarantino knows the Los Angeles area, that's where he grew up," Leonard said.

According to Leonard, Tarantino had been waiting some time to get the rights to the book.

"He wanted to buy 'Rum Punch' right after he did 'Reservoir Dogs,' but he didn't have the financing." Leonard said. "He didn't have anybody behind him. He was just then writing 'Pulp Fiction,' but he liked 'Rum Punch' because there were three characters in it from a book called 'The Switch' which he stole from a bookstore when he was a teenager, and now he finds them again in this book."

Leonard's agent put the book's rights on hold for Tarantino and told the filmmaker to see what happened with his next picture. "Pulp Fiction" became an international smash, and, shortly after its release, Miramax and Tarantino snatched up the rights to four of Leonard's books.

The Coen brothers, the team behind the Oscar-winning "Fargo," are adapting Leonard's "Cuba Libre," the story of a gun salesman in Cuba at the end of the 1800s. The project is for Universal, and Leonard said that as of now, "they don't think they'll direct it."

Fans can look for the television series "Maximum Bob" this fall on ABC. Beau Bridges plays the title character in the show based on the Leonard novel.

Leonard also just finished his work on "Be Cool," a sequel to "Get Shorty." He started researching the book last summer, finished it about three weeks ago and expects it to be released sometime by January.

The story centers around Chili Palmer's dealings with an unhappy member of a music group called Chicks International, which does Spice Girls covers.

MGM, the company behind "Get Shorty," is in the process of getting the sequel into production, and John Travolta has expressed an interest in reprising his Golden Globe-winning role.

For all the aspiring writers out there, Leonard's advice is simple: "You have to read."

So grab one of Leonard's 34 novels and prepare for a trip to the land of cool characters and crackling conversations.

06-29-98