"STAY CLEAN," is an 11-minute short film based on a fragment of an Ellroy novel that is written and directed by Mitch Brian.
"Stay Clean" won the grand prize at The Kansas City Filmmaker's Jubilee.
Mitch Brian is also writing the screenplay for "Detour," a TV movie based on the memoir of Cheryl Crane detailing her fatal stabbing of mobster Johnny Stompanato. Ellroy is producing the TV film, and wrote the outline for the script.
"Stay Clean" contains a cameo by Ellroy: The Demon Dog plays a homicide detective who delivers the film's closing line that supplies the short's title. Brian's other recent projects include the TV miniseries "The '70s" and a script for a planned Oliver Stone film about General George Armstrong Custer.
ELLROY'S WORLD REVIEW
To paraphrase John O'Hara: "It is with exceeding regret that your faithful bystander reports that he has just seen a picture which he thinks must be the best (Ellroy) picture he ever saw...Reason for regret: you...may never see the picture."
Mitch Brian's 11-minute short will likely never find a wide audience, but it deserves one. It is also a shame that Brian had to content himself with only a fragment of one of Ellroy's much larger works. He nails Ellroy's sensibility and delivers Ellroy's dialogue almost verbatim, achieving a more faithful adaptation of Ellroy than "Brown's Requiem," "L.A. Confidential" or "Cop" ever contemplated. He also extracts several elements from elsewhere in the larger work and inserts them to excellent cinematic effect, actually improving on the original.
Clearly, money was in short supply. The film is presented in grainy black and white (with one brief, color insert) which actually heightens the sense of verisimilitude: a bigger budget might have ground this "quality" out. Brian knows where to place the camera and he has a natural gift for pace.
The actors are also quite fine, particularly Race Owen, who portrays Plunkett, a drifter being grilled by three cops regarding a pair of murders he committed several days before. Owen's acting challenge recalls that faced by Anthony Perkins in "Psycho" in order for the film to work, we must identify with Plunkett and pull for him to fox the cops. Perkins had a feature-length film (and our uncertainy regarding his exact role in the Bates' Motel murders) aiding in his effort to earn audience identification. Ellroy had the length of a novel and the device of first-person narration to bring us over to Plunkett's side. Owen has an 11-minute film that opens with his graphic confession of a double murder. That he manages to make the viewer pull for him is a testimony to Owen's acting ability.
Walter Coppage as Plunkett's chief interrogator, is a revelation: conveying menace and a flicker of disarming compassion.
James Ellroy appears as one of the three cops and is surprisingly effective in the role (while wearing a bow-tie!). The out-sized author looms over the rest of the cast and appears in the closing frames, urging ex-con Plunkett to "Stay clean."
Brian is currently working with Ellroy on an adaptation of "Detour," the memoir of Lana Turner's daughter centered around her fatal stabbing of mobster Johnny Stompanato. Brian is also set to direct an as yet undisclosed film to be produced by Ellroy.
Brian's work in the short film bodes well for both of these projects.
It really is to be regretted that "Stay Clean" will likely not be available for viewing by most Ellroy fans. It is equally lamentable that Brian couldn't adapt the larger work from which "Stay Clean" was culled. Such a full length feature might have constituted the most evocative Ellroy adaptation to date.
Craig McDonald
CAST
Race Owen Plunkett
Walter Coppage Necktie
Greg Kirsch Left
James Ellroy Right
Cheyenne Dog
Directed and written by Mitch Brian
Based on a work by James Ellroy
Produced by Veronica Elliot and Mitch Brian
Director of Photography Andrew Wegst
Editor Todd Norris
Production Designer Ed Downs
Music Paul Andrew Roberts, Matt Pittman & Ian Sikora
Production Manager Veronica Elliott
Assistant director Michael Neu
Gaffer Kevin McKinney
Camera assistant Karen Klichowski
Grips John McGrath, Shawn Cloud
Production sound Richard Stobaugh
Script supervisor Robert Hubbard
Make-up Nita Morris
Set decorator Salvador Ortega
Set Construction Donnie Moore
Production assistants Ty Jones, Derrek Richards, Davide Baldin
Production stills John Nangle, Gehrig Fry
Dog trainer/wrangler Melissa French
Technical Advisor Sgt. Clark Morrow
Post production sound Todd Norris, Paul Andrew Roberts
Titles Nita Morris
Production stills from "Stay Clean" HERE.
View the trailer from "Stay Clean" HERE.
An interview with Brian regarding "Stay Clean" HERE.
Ellroy's World exclusive interview with star Race Owen HERE.
Kansas City Film Jubilee information HERE.
Kansas City Star article HERE.
More on "Stay Clean"/Mitch Brian in our exclusive Ellroy interview HERE.
Article on "Stay Clean" (in Italian) HERE.
Film Threat gives "Stay Clean" FIVE STARS. Read it HERE.
Noir Dance Page HERE.
More on Noir Dance HERE.