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Website traffic is through the roof all of a sudden. It’s the ol’ Black Dahlia again.<\/p>\n
Do an image search for “Black Dahlia” and you get this<\/a>. The very first picture on the page is on my own site. Click on that and you’re pulled into my page about the delicate skin<\/a>. I wrote the script years ago (completed it in 2002) from an idea that germinated back in ’99. It was the culmination of a long-held fascination with the Beth Short case. I wanted to write about it, but I didn’t want to simply tell the tale in a straightforward ho-hum manner. That had been done ad-nauseam already. I wanted to write something contemporary, something modern, that had its roots in the original case and drew power from it, but which played out like a ghost story. I wanted to tap into the tragic essense of the oringinal story but wrap in a feeling of supernatural dread. It took a hell of a lot out of me, but I did it. And the script is great.<\/p>\n It was optioned a few years ago, but the development of the current DePalma film clouded the vision of those who read it (“Isn’t there already a Dahlia film in the works?”) and it slammed headlong into roadblock after roadblock, especially after someone close to the DePalma peoduction got his hands on it; the next day the trades were filled with announcements. Forget that the DePalma film is based on the James Ellroy novel, which itself wasn’t a direct telling of the Beth Short story. Forget that mine was actually a modern crime story that uses Dahlia as a backdrop. Forget that there were worlds of difference between the two. There just can’t be TWO Dahlia movies.<\/p>\n