APRIL 15, 2018

I don’t fanboy much, but there’s always the exceptions, and this was surely one of them.

Last night I went to the historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood for a special screening of the amazing film L.A. Confidential.

Even more amazing was that one of my favorite writers of all time was there doing a Q&A session prior to the movie.

Ellroy was in character the whole time and couldn’t have been funnier or more engaging. Among other things, he talked about his dislike of Chandler and great admiration for Dashiel Hammett (to paraphrase: “Chandler writes the man he wishes he was, Hammett writes the man he’s afraid he’ll become.”), his strong dislike for Stanley Kubrick movies (there’s got to be a story there…), and how he hand-writes all his novels and owns neither a computer or cell phone (he faxes).

He’s also not a fan of the film itself, which caused some heckling from the audience which the Demon Dog was more than happy to quash.

After the movie (still amazing!) I got to spend a few minutes with Mr. Ellroy and he could not have been more gracious or kind. A true pleasure and I hope to have the opportunity at some point again in the future.

For now I’ll dig into Perfidia and relish L.A.’s greatest writer of “hard-boiled historical romances” (his words).

My only regret is I didn’t bring a book for him to sign! Next time.