James Ellroy’s latest novel, The Enchanters – a heavily fictionalised account of Marilyn’s final days – is being shopped around Hollywood as part of the author’s newly inked deal with United Talent Agency (UTA), as Lacey Rose reveals in the Hollywood Reporter.
“The Enchanters is set in Hollywood in the summer of 1962. The novel, which was released in September, tackles the death of Marilyn Monroe in what NPR calls ‘classic Ellroy: a filthy, boozy, fast-paced, violent romp through the history and important figures of early 1960s Los Angeles, all told in [Freddy] Otash’s frantic voice.’ The latest entry marks the expansion of Ellroy’s Second L.A. Quartet into the L.A. Quintet, with the first two volumes, Perfidia (2014) and This Storm (2019), set in the early days of World War II. Per his new reps, ‘The Enchanters and the subsequent two volumes will collectively constitute a micro-history of Los Angeles in 1962.'”
The filmmaking process is long and tortuous, however, so only time will tell if – or when – The Enchanters makes it to the screen. A television series encompassing Ellroy’s other Otash-inspired fictions was mooted several years ago, and this may yet be more feasible than a big-screen treatment.
While Ellroy’s crime novels have a large following among Noir readers, the widespread backlash against Netflix’s Blonde could deter potential investors – and from a long-time Monroe fan’s perspective, the prospect of yet another faux exposé is frankly unwelcome.
And then there’s Ellroy himself, a famously prickly character who slammed the Oscar-winning adaptation of L.A. Confidential as ‘turkey of the highest form’ – so readers who thought Joyce Carol Oates did Marilyn an injustice ain’t seen nothing yet…
“She is the bait girl nonpareil; no one can touch her. About seven hundred Marilyn Monroe biographies have been published in English alone. There have been biographies by her friends, her foes, her siblings, her household staff, two of her husbands, and two of her stalkers. Norman Mailer didn’t hesitate to publish a glossy art-book appreciation of the actress. Why? Money, honey … Why shouldn’t James Ellroy have a turn?
Yet it’s curious that he would choose to. The sirens of the fifties (more than a few of whom have walk-on roles in The Enchanters) exert a powerful hold on his imagination … He has always seemed indifferent to Monroe, however, and evidently remains so. He speeds through her scenes … Monroe, who could have been the book’s making, is instead its undoing—which is, consoling thought, an odd sort of triumph on her part.” – Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker
The Marilyn Report 