On September 20, 2016, director and screenwriter Curtis Hanson died of natural causes at age 71. He wasn’t a household name, and his death didn’t elicit the online mourning ritual connected with so many deaths this year, but I couldn’t help but feel a pang when I saw the news. Hanson wrote and directed one of my favorite movies and what I consider one of the greatest film adaptations of all time, L.A. Confidential.
The James Ellroy 1990 novel was a beast of a book. Set in 1950, it’s an atmospheric look at crime and cops. It seemed impossible to film, but Hanson’s Academy Award-winning screenplay, which he co-wrote with Brian Helgeland, abandons huge chunks of the plot and instead focuses intently on the three main characters, police officers Ed Exley (played by Guy Pearce), Bud White (played by Russell Crowe), and Jack Vincennes (played by Kevin Spacey).