George Clooney and the demise of WHITE JAZZ
Creative Screenwriting Magazinepodcast Matthew Michael Carnahan gave a few little interesting details away about his and brother Joes stalled WHITE JAZZ adaptation. Those of you whove been following the project will know that George Clooney was set to play rogue LAPD cop Dave Klein before dropping out for reasons that were never quite clear. Following Clooney out the door was Chris Pine, who preferred to go where William Shatner has gone before by playing James Kirk in the new STAR TREK film. Carnahan (that's Matthew Michael) mentioned on the podcast that Joe had lined up Jessica Biel to play Clooney's love interest, Hollywood starlet Glenda Bledsoe. He describes Biels audition as head and shoulders above the competition and mentioned that several other actors are still interested in the part of Klein. But heres the real kicker: according to Carnahan, Clooney never even told director Joe personally that he was quitting the film, instead sending producing partner Grant Heslov to do the dirty work. I generally have a lot of respect for Clooney and think he is a great actor and filmmaker, but this was a primo dick move on his part. He may not wanted to have told Carnahan face to face but how hard is it to pick up the phone? Joe Carnahan hasnt spoken to Clooney since and I expect he never will. When a movie this high profile is written, cast and ready to go, then suddenly falls apart you cant help but wonder if itll ever happen.