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Dennis Lehane to Write Screenplay for Stefano Sollima’s ‘Colt’ (EXCLUSIVE)

August 30th, 2019
By Nick Vivarelli

U.S. author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River,” “The Wire”) is attached to write the screenplay for “Colt,” the English-language Western based on a Sergio Leone concept, with Italy’s Stefano Sollima directing and Leone’s children producing.

Known in Hollywood for “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and TV series “Gomorrah,” Sollima will be in Venice for the world premiere of his anticipated cocaine trafficking series “ZeroZeroZero,” launching from the Lido on Sept. 5.

About the previously announced “Colt” project, Sollima says that while the concept was developed by Italians, “obviously, if you want to shoot the film in English, the next step was to find a great American writer who can make the characters talk and live in a reality that is clearly different from our own.”

The director praised Lehane as “one of the great” contemporary American writers, noting his “depth and ability to drill down on characters.” 

“Having him on board is the best I could hope for,” Sollima said, adding that he’s a “huge fan” of everything Lehane has written, from the novels “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island” to his work on “The Wire,” which Sollima called a “seminal” TV show. Lehane more recently worked on skein “Mr. Mercedes.” 

“Colt” is being produced by Leone’s children, Raffaella and Andrea, through their Leone Film Group, with Italy’s RAI Cinema on board. They are shopping the project to prospective U.S. partners.

Originally conceived as a TV series, “Colt” takes its cue from the gun packed by Clint Eastwood in “A Fistful of Dollars,” which becomes a narrative device as it is passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West.

Sollima has described “Colt” as a coming-of-age story of three kids, aged 12 or 13, “who as orphans come into possession of this weapon, and for a whole host of reasons become criminals.” The film will target young audiences.

The director, whose late father, Sergio, was a Spaghetti Western pioneer who directed Lee Van Cleef-starrer “The Big Gundown,” told Variety in May that, with “Colt,” he wants to “take the [Spaghetti] Western genre back home” to Italy. Sollima and the Leones are seeking A-list U.S. talent to play several adult characters, including a lead protagonist and antagonist, besides the three young teens.

The plan is to go into pre-production next summer and start shooting in Canada in the winter of 2020.

Tampa Bay Times: Dennis Lehane returns to St. Petersburg for Writers in Paradise keynote Jan. 19

January 9th, 2019
By Colette Bancroft

When Dennis Lehane co-founded the Writers in Paradise conference at Eckerd College in 2004, he made a rule about the conference faculty. “It’s the no-a—h—- rule,” he says.

It seems to have worked. The weeklong Writers in Paradise is about to commence its 15th season, with a returning faculty of notable authors and a growing list of published alumni.

The faculty members will offer free public readings during the conference, and for the first time in several years Lehane will be on hand, as the keynote speaker on Jan. 19.

Lehane admits he doesn’t get back to Florida much these days, even though he split his time between St. Petersburg and his native Boston for many years before moving to the Los Angeles area. “It’s so much harder to get there than when I was in Boston, now that I’m in California,” he said during a recent phone interview.

The author of such bestselling novels as Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River,Live by Night and Since We Fell, Lehane has switched career tracks to screenwriting and producing. He has worked in the writers rooms of such TV series as The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and Bloodline; most recently he has been a writer and executive producer for two seasons of Mr. Mercedes, based on Stephen King’s novel. He has also been involved as writer and/or producer on films based on his own novels, including Live by Night, The Drop and Shutter Island.

A graduate of writing programs at Eckerd and Florida International University, Lehane, 53, will deliver the keynote address to kick off a week of evening readings by conference faculty and guests that include Andre Dubus III, Ann Hood, Pam Houston, Laura Lippman, Stewart O’Nan, conference co-director Les Standiford and co-founder Sterling Watson. (See schedule.)

“I can’t wait to get back to Writers in Paradise and back to town,” Lehane says. “It’s where my two children were born, so it’s a special place.”

How do you like living in California?

It’s an excellent place to be exiled.

When you and Sterling Watson, former director of the creative writing program at Eckerd, co-founded Writers in Paradise 15 years ago, did you expect it to be successful for this long?

I hoped it would. I’m not sure; I never know how to value success from the inside. Success, that’s your word. It seems like it’s done well.

Who are some of the program’s standout students?

Well, one would be Lori Roy. I’m pretty sure she’s won an (Edgar Allan Poe Award).

She’s won two Edgars.

Well, damn! Good for her.

It’s a very strange thing. Most of the outstanding writers I’ve taught have shown up in a classroom if not fully formed, then I’d say 85 percent and up. As a teacher you’re just trying to understand what you can do to help them along. People who taught me have said the same thing. When it comes to the best students, I always felt like as a teacher I didn’t do all that much.

Why include the free public readings as part of Writers in Paradise?

They’re always the draw at these things. They pull in the outside world. That was the plan always, from the very beginning. It’s the best way to engage the community at large. You don’t just want to be this weird little group of people meeting in a cellar, talking to each other.

It’s mutually advantageous, for the students, for the teachers, for the community at large. It’s a win-win-win situation.

Writers in Paradise has an impressive core of faculty members who return each year. How does that happen?

We established a rule very early amongst the faculty. It’s the no-a—h—- rule. If we had to choose between hypertalented and a—h——, and not, we’d take not.

The faculty has to be together for a week, all the time. It just takes one to upset that apple cart and the alchemy is gone. So I instituted that rule, with Sterling’s full support.

Also, it’s not just straight up being disagreeable in social situations. It affects their attitude toward their students, their work ethic. It’s all connected. Life’s too short.

What kind of writers have you aimed to have on the faculty?

Our returning faculty, like Laura (Lippman) and Stewart (O’Nan) and the others, they love what they do. It’s not just the summer camp vibe (of the conference). They love to teach. They love their students.

How much involvement do you have with Writers in Paradise now?

It’s very macro at this point. I work with Les (Standiford) at a pretty big remove. I gave him carte blanche when he came in. He says, what about this person or that person, and I say yea or nay.

I’m mainly involved in faculty or speaker hiring. That was always my primary job. What I brought to the party was my Rolodex.

Do you miss teaching?

No, I don’t, to be honest. I ran a TV show last year. I ran the writers room. I thought, this is kind of like teaching, at a different pitch. But I’m taught out.

Will you continue writing for the next season of Mr. Mercedes?

No, I stepped off. I’m very happy with what I did in the first two seasons. But now I’m the best guy for another job.

So what’s next?

Right now I’m working on two other projects that I can’t really talk about yet with David Kelley (the showrunner for Mr. Mercedes, who is known for such series as Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies). We’re delicately shepherding them along.

I’m working on Storming Las Vegas, a film with Sony that’s based on a nonfiction book by John Huddy. That one is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I’m working directly with the producer.

When we spoke a few years ago, you were working on a screenplay based on Florida writer John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-by. What happened to that one?

It’s dead as a doornail. It’s since been rewritten; (screenwriter-director) Scott Frank had it, last I heard. We were all set to go and the star got injured. Christian Bale — he’s way past that now.

Between all these TV series and movies, when might we see another book from you?

I’ve begun working on a book, but I don’t want to speak about it. I’m very scared.

The dirty secret about writing books is that they get harder, for me, not easier. I’m petrified, I have a petrified editor, I have a petrified publisher. I never work from a place of confidence. I always expect it to fail.

So novel writing is different from screenwriting?

Yes, totally different. With a movie you know you’re one of 150 people involved. You’re like a guy with a paintbrush, painting a room. With a book, you’re the project manager, the contractor, the painter and everybody else. So I’m crawling around it.

Contact Colette Bancroft at cbancroft@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8435. Follow @colettemb.

The schedule

All readings are free and will take place in the Miller Auditorium on the campus of Eckerd College, 4200 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. Books will be available for purchase on site, and author signings will take place following readings.

8 p.m. Jan. 19: Keynote by novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane(Since We Fell), on-stage Q&A with Les Standiford

Creative Loafing: This is how Dennis Lehane succeeds as a writer

December 13th, 2018
By Nano Riley

The co-founder of Writers in Paradise sits down with CL.

Dennis Lehane has established a formidable presence as a writer of mysteries, usually dealing with gritty characters — whether cops or criminals. Growing up in Dorchester, the Irish section of South Boston, Lehane was surrounded by both, and allows him an intimacy with their lives that comes naturally. That’s part of his allure: He writes about what he knows, and advises beginning authors to follow that rule.

Lehane’s popular books have been on the New York Times bestseller list, and several have been adapted for movies. Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island and Mystic River have all been box office hits starring major Hollywood actors. He’s also shared writing awards for his TV work on The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, and won several Edgars, the coveted mystery writer’s award named for Edgar Allan Poe. Lehane’s first novel, A Drink Before the War (1994), introduced the recurring detectives  Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, and earned the 1995 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel.

Despite his Boston background, his ties to the Tampa Bay area are strong. He graduated from Eckerd College, where he discovered his writing ability and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. He has also taught writing classes at Eckerd, as well as Harvard, and serves on Eckerd’s board of trustees and as a director of the Writers in Paradise program (which he co-founded with Les Standiford.) We wanted to find out a bit about his influences, and just what makes him tick. Here’s what he told us.

Is there one book that has influenced you more than any other?
The Wanderers, by Richard Price, which I read the summer I turned 14. It was hilarious, tragic, profane, mournfully poetic and concerned with the kinds of people I saw around me every day in my neighborhood. It made me realize, “You don’t have to write about kings or professors or millionaires chasing their lost loves; you can write about working-class people just trying to get through a day.” Game changer on every level.

What writer/writers do you most admire?
Well, Price, for obvious reasons. But otherwise, the list is truly bottomless. But in terms of the Rushmore of writers for me — Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Elmore Leonard, Edith Wharton, James Crumley, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, William Kennedy and Graham Greene.

What do you like most about teaching?
Seeing the lightbulb go off in a student’s mind.


You don’t like writing screenplays from your novels because you feel it’s like operating on your child, but do you usually approve of the screenwriter’s work?
I’ve “evolved” on that issue. I’m now comfortable adapting my own books. What do you mean by “approve the screenwriter’s work”? Are you asking if I OK a screenwriter before he or she is hired?


You grew up in Dorchester, so do you base any characters on real people you knew? Composites?
Lots of composites. Almost never directly. I did that once, with one of my more infamous characters, and the woman I based her on showed up at a signing and stood in line. I was checking for suspicious bulges in her pocket, waiting for her to whip out a gun, and then when she reached me, she asked if I remembered her, what I’d been up to, and even where I’d come up with “that bitch” in my book. She was genuinely curious. Had zero idea I’d based the woman on her. So there went the idea of getting revenge through writing.

If you’re just reading for fun, what do you like to read?
Nonfiction. I’m reading a book now about 10 maps that explain the entire world and another about how our current idiocracy and the general conspiracy-theory nature of America didn’t start with Comrade Trump but actually came over on the Mayflower and has been metastasizing ever since. Good stuff.

Growing up in Boston’s Irish community, did you ever encounter — or hear about — the Irish underworld? Folks like Whitey Bulger?
Um, yeah. Just a bit.

Editor’s note: In addition to co-founding Writers in Paradise. Lehane’s Florida accolades are strong: He served as a writer/producer on the ended-much-too-soon Netflix series Bloodline, set and filmed in the Florida Keys; he set World Gone By in Ybor City (and Cuba); he also set Live By Night in Ybor City; and — we love this part the most — he wrote a screenplay based on John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-By. If there’s anything that says “paradise” more than MacDonald’s Travis McGee and the Busted Flush, we’ve yet to find it.

Charleston Gazette-Mail: West Virginia Book Festival, Lehane gives quick lesson in writing about what you know

October 20th, 2018

By Bill Lynch

Young writers are often told “write what you know.”

But that can seem impossible, particularly if you haven’t been very far from home and haven’t done a lot, so far.

Dennis Lehane, who appears 3 p.m. Saturday in the Grand Ballroom of the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center for the West Virginia Book Festival, said young (and older) writers sometimes take the direction as a commandment, which they really don’t understand.

Lehane, who has written more than a dozen novels including “Gone Baby Gone,” “Mystic River,” “Shutter Island,” and most recently, “Since We Fell,” said, “The distinction that often gets lost with the ‘write what you know’ thing — and I speak to this when I teach — is that you’re writing what you know about the human experience.”

He said you don’t have to have grown up in a family of dry cleaners to write about the lives of dry cleaners.

Knowing something about the dry-cleaning business doesn’t hurt, of course, but it’s more important just to know something about people.

Lehane is best known for stories involving criminals and the police. He said he grew up around a lot of cops — and criminals.

“And a lot of people in the middle, who were not quite criminals and not quite law-abiding citizens,” he said. “I saw that spectrum and grew up in an economically disadvantaged world that lends itself to a certain street crime.”

This was the world that was around him and it fascinated Lehane, particularly as he compared what he saw in his neighborhood with what he read in the newspaper or saw on the television news: the disproportionate way justice was often meted out.

“I became fascinated very early by this idea that if you steal a little, you get punished a lot harder than if you steal a lot,” he said.

Small-time criminals robbing houses and businesses could get sent away to prison for years, while white-collar criminals sitting in offices, stealing millions that robbed people of their homes and businesses, could wind up walking away with a lot less time in jail and maybe only fines.

“What’s worse — the violence of a fist or the violence of a pen?” Lehane asked and then said, “I happen to think it’s the pen. The ability to wipe someone’s life out with the stroke of a pen seems to me a far more dangerous form of violence than hitting someone in the face with a punch.”

Lehane knew a little something about cops, criminals and street life, but said it was more important to just understand how people thought.

“I think once you lock into the mindset [of your characters], everything else can flow from there,” he said.

Along with violence and crime, Lehane’s books are populated with traumatized people, some deeply disturbed, but trauma is mostly common knowledge.

“By the time you’re 18, you usually know most of the universal emotional experiences people go through,” he said. “You’ve probably known heartbreak. You’ve probably known disillusionment. You’ve probably known a pain that can’t be cauterized.”

Lehane said most writers don’t feel entirely comfortable in the worlds the grew up in. They may feel like outsiders who are thinking on a different frequency, which may make them better able to empathize with other people thinking on different frequencies like the disturbed or desperate.

At some point, he said, a writer will take these things they know about being human and turn them into characters and a story.

“That’s the rule,” Lehane said. “That’s what writing about what you know means. It’s not strictly autobiographical.”

Lehane didn’t see himself as particularly traumatized. He said he grew up in a stable home with two parents. His father had a good job, working as a foreman for Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Boston, but he said he saw his share of emotional carnage and the aftermath from real physical violence.

“Now, it wasn’t necessarily happening behind the closed doors of my home, but it was happening behind the closed doors of a lot of my friends’ homes,” he said.

After high school, Lehane left Boston and moved to Florida, where he attended Eckard College and then Florida International University, studying creative writing.

Lehane’s first book, “A Drink Before the War,” about a pair of Boston private detectives trying to retrieve missing documents while dealing with their own personal problems, was published in 1994 when the author was 28.

Success wasn’t instant.

Even after the first book, Lehane worked at the Ritz-Carlton as a valet and then a chauffeur until his second book in 1996.

Lehane explained that the pattern for getting published is often the first contract with a book publisher puts most of the financial burden of the book on the shoulders of the writer.

In sales, the publisher gets most of the money, including profits. Book sale advances to authors are really just loans and if the book fails to perform well enough, the publisher will want that money back.

With that second contract, Lehane said, the money isn’t usually very much, but it’s better.

When he got the new contract, Lehane said he compared the pay with what he made as a chauffeur.

“The numbers were pretty much the same,” he said.

Having two jobs sounded like more work than he wanted, so Lehane turned in the keys to his chauffeuring gig and just wrote.

It still wasn’t easy.

“The first couple of years, my girlfriend was still a waitress and a couple of times, she had to cover the rent,” he said. “Progressively, it was about four books in when I began to say, ‘Oh, I think I can make a living at this. I don’t have to go back to bartending.’”

Success was a great feeling, but it was a huge risk for him and Lehane said it might not have been possible if he’d settled down earlier, if he’d started a family and had other responsibilities.

“But I was a classic arrested development American male,” he said.

Since that first book, Lehane’s career has branched into television and film. Some of his own books, like “Mystic River,” “Shutter Island” and “Gone Baby Gone” have been turned into films.

He’s also worked on television shows, like the critically-acclaimed HBO drama “The Wire” and “Boardwalk Empire.” Lately, he’s a writer and producer for “Mr. Mercedes,” a show based on the novel by the same name shown the Audience network.

Much of his work draws on his understanding of how policemen see the world, which sometimes goes against how people wish they did.

“That cop who sits there and says, ‘I’m going to find the killer no matter what,’ he doesn’t exist,” Lehane said.

It’s a job. It’s a difficult job, but, at the end of the day, the police have homes and lives to go home to.

“If they allowed any more than one case in their lifetime to haunt them, they’d go crazy,” he said. “They don’t get emotionally invested. They’re professionals. They do their job.”

Lehane added that police officers still have emotions, but suppressing what they feel is a survival mechanism that lets them keep showing up for work day after day.

Private detectives, however, were a different matter, he said.

“So, if I have to do emotion, it’s going to be the private detective, not the police officers. That’s just one little distinction,” Lehane said.

The TV and film work kept him busy — too busy for his fans, maybe.

Lehane’s latest book, “Since We Fell,” came out over a year ago and no new book is on the horizon.

“Unfortunately, no. I got nothing,” he said and laughed. “I’ve been too busy lately.”

He’ll get back to it, eventually, of course. In the meantime, he wanted to mention that “Since We Fell” is now available in paperback.

The Hollywood Reporter: Sony Developing Real-Life Crime Thriller ‘Storming Las Vegas’ (Exclusive)

September 21st, 2018
‘Shutter Island’ author Dennis Lehane is adapting the story.

Sony is in development of real-life casino robbery movie Storming Las Vegas.

Dennis Lehane has been hired to adapt the 2008 book, from John Huddy, that looks at a series of daring Las Vegas casino robberies masterminded by Jose Vigoa.

Over the span of 16 months, the Cuban-born Vigoa and his crew evaded police as they stole millions from some of the biggest players on the strip — MGM Grand, the Desert Inn, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and New York-New York — through robberies of armored trucks and casino heists. Lt. John Alamshaw (a 23-year police veteran) was in charge of Vegas’ robbery detectives, and was tasked with bringing Vigoa to justice.

Storming Las Vegas was previously set up at Summit Entertainment with Antoine Fuqua attached to direct.

Lehane is best known as the author of the novels behind films such as Shutter Island, Mystic River and Live by Night. He is repped by CAA, Echo Lake and Hansen Jacobson.