In the late 1990s, after the release ofPulp Fiction, directorQuentin Tarantinopurchased the rights to fourElmore Leonardnovels, one of which wasRum Punch, which was adapted intoJackie Brown. One of the other books wasForty Lashes Less One, the author’s early Western novel which was published in 1972, and it seems that story might be heading to the small screen. During an interview withPremiere, the filmmaker revealed that he is considering turningForty Lashes Less Oneinto a TVminiseries. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say.
“It always takes me a while before thinking about the future. That said, I own the rights to this book I wanted to adapt for a while, and the time may have come. This isForty Lashes Less One,Elmore Leonard, which could be my third Western. (What) I like most is considering a project to (put) on TV, in the form of a mini-series of four or six hours.”
The story centers on Harold Jackson and Raymond San Carlos, a black man and an Apache half-breed who are facing life sentences at Yuma Prison. They are given a shot at redemption as they are tasked with teaming up to track down and hunt Arizona’s five most wanted criminals. The director first hinted at turning this story into afeature adaptationback in 2000, and in 2007 he revealed in an interview that he had written about 20 pages of a feature screenplay adaptation, but we haven’t heard anything else about the project until now.
IfForty Lashes Less Onedoes head to the small screen, it will mark one of the director’s few forays into television. He previously directed an episode ofER, wrote and directed a two-part episode ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigationand he serves as an executive producer on#15SecondScare. While he’s not involved in El Rey’sFrom Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, he does get credit for co-writing the screenplay for the original film which the show is based on.
The filmmaker’s next big screen endeavor,The Hateful Eight, debuts in a limited roadshow release onChristmas Day, before opening in theaters nationwide on January 8. Several high-profile filmmakers are making the jump to television these days, includingDavid Fincher, who has two new shows in development at HBO, andWoody Allen, who is developing aTV showfor Amazong Studios. Do you think Quentin Tarantino should make the transition to the small screen as well?
