Category: Nonfiction - NovelPro Junkie

A24 To Adapt Patrick Radden Keefe’s Nonfiction Book Titled ‘London Falling’

4/2/2026

A24 UK is adapting investigative writer Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth into a television series.

The book centers on Zac Brettler, a London teenager who died in 2019 under unclear circumstances. In the aftermath of his death, his parents uncover that he had been leading a secret double life, presenting himself as the billionaire son of a Russian oligarch. Their search for answers about both his death and his true identity pulls them into a shadowy underworld hidden beneath the city’s polished exterior.

Set to be released in five days, the book originated as an article in The New Yorker, where it attracted widespread attention.

Source: Deadline

Interview with Sean O’Connell, Author Of 'Bruce Willis: Celebrating The Cinematic Legacy Of An Unbreakable Hollywood Icon'

10/14/2024

Bruce Willis' First Credited Film: Blind Date

Bruce Willis' Last film: Assassin

October is National Book Month and Novelpro Junkie has a great read for you to check out especially if you' re a Bruce Willis fan or just a film fanatic in general. The book will also make a great birthday or holiday gift. Here is the Amazon synopsis of "Bruce Willis: Celebrating the Cinematic Legacy of an Unbreakable Hollywood Icon" by Sean O' Connell:

Celebrate the legacy of Bruce Willis's career in a book the Los Angeles Times calls "a thoughtful guide."

On a nondescript Wednesday morning in the waning days of March 2023, one of the biggest movie stars on the planet called it quits. No press conference had been organized, the Hollywood trades received no advance notice, and there was a conspicuous lack of the fanfare that usually accompanies such bombshell announcements. Instead, the news that Bruce Willis was retiring from acting came in a simple statement on his ex-wife Demi Moore’s Instagram page—along with the tragic news that Willis was suffering from aphasia, a cognitive disorder that subsequently worsened to become frontotemporal dementia.
It was a sad conclusion to the storied career of a man who had at one point been the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. That career is the subject of Sean O’Connell’s definitive survey of Bruce Willis the actor, the cultural icon, and the man. Here, O’Connell compiles exclusive, original interviews with directors who have worked with Willis, as well as film critics and journalists who have analyzed his career, into a celebratory compendium. It also features the author’s analysis of Willis’s films, his career arc, and the industry that made him a star. And it includes capsule reviews of every Bruce Willis film, making this a complete handbook to a true American original.

1. Why did you decide to start your book with the retirement of Bruce Willis due to aphasia instead of his origin story?

I assume that someone eventually is going to write a biography like a traditional biography, where they go back through his childhood and the things that led him to acting. I find those books to be kind of dry. A lot of times you want to skip through the childhood and teenage years, just get to the points where you know the talent, the actor or musician or whoever you're reading about. Primarily, I wanted to go right to his career. I wanted to get right to why we know Bruce and why he's important to us. The reason why I started with his retirement is because that was the moment when Demi Moore announced that he was going to be stepping away from acting, that I realized how much I was going to miss him as a performer.
I was a huge fan of his. I always look forward to whatever movie he had coming out. There was always a bunch of movies in development that I thought he was interesting as a consideration for. So, to hear that he was done kind of hit me. It made me pretty sad, and I wanted to step back from that and try to figure out why did that bother me? Why? What did I think we were losing? And it comes through in the book and that I really kind of thought we were losing one of our last great movie stars.
This is a guy who thrived at a time when the industry was very different, did things his own way, took some big swings, had a few big misses. one of the last names that would be above a movie that would make people go, “Yeah, I'm going to go see the new Bruce Willis movie.” Doesn’t really matter what he’s doing in it. I just want to go see him. And I don’t think we have that anymore.

2. What was your writing schedule when you wrote this book?

Any chance I got, essentially. I work a full-time job. I'm the managing editor for an entertainment website called Cinema Blend. So, the good news is, I'm kind of immersed in this writing community. Anyway, you know you're right all day, but you have to strike while the iron is hot. Anytime an idea comes to you, I was constantly refining the format of the book. I break Bruce Willis's career down into different categories based on genres, his science fiction films, his action films, his comedies. I just went to where my brain went, like if my brain was into one of his comedies, I just pursued that. I would watch the movies that were part of that segment. I would try to spot trends into different things that he was doing in those films, where they fell in his career, and what I wanted to say about them. I often found that the things that I thought I wanted to say changed a lot as I watched these movies again and formed new opinions about them. Then you start to write half the book, and then you start to think—"Oh, well, this is going to dictate and change what I'm about to say about this other movie”. So, you have to turn yourself over to the process and sort of let it take you where you want it to go, while still keeping a firm grip on it.

3. What was your favorite chapter to write and why?

After tackling the first Die Hard movie, I have a controversial opinion that I think Die Hard Two is better than Die Hard with a Vengeance. And I've spoke to a lot of different Bruce Willis die-hard fans, who will sometimes make the argument that Die Hard with a Vengeance is the best of all the movies, even better than the original—and I think that's ridiculous. I think a lot of it has to do with when you saw it. If it (Die Hard with a Vengeance) was your first Die Hard movie, if it was your introduction to the franchise, then maybe you end up liking it more.
So, instead of just giving Die Hard part two and Die-Hard part three their own chapters, I wanted to pit those two films against each other, and prove why I think Die Hard part two is the superior Die-Hard film. And these are the sections I'm going to use to break them down and compare and contrast them against each other. I had the most fun with that chapter.

4. Which chapter did you find challenging to write and why?

Probably the one about “The Bonfire of the Vanities”. That's a that's a colossal mistake on Bruce's part. But, the more I researched it—and it's been covered pretty wildly—the more I realized that although Bruce gave a really good performance in a movie, everything else was a little bit miscast. Tom Hanks was the wrong choice to play that role, Melanie Griffith was the wrong choice to play that part. Brian De Palma, the director, was the wrong guy to take on that project. It was a massively successful book, and Hollywood just thought they would figure out how to adapt it very easily, but some things work better on the page.

There was too much ground to cover in that chapter. I wanted to talk about why the movie failed. I wanted to write about the bigger picture, about how it was received. But then I also had to drill down and just say, “Well, what did this do for Bruce? You know, was it the right move for him at the time, did how much blowback Did he suffer? He probably got.” It was like the one, two punch of Hudson Hawk and The Bonfire of the Vanities. The film made him the butt of something like late night humor. But Bruce never really lost his luster. He was always a star. He could very easily go back to the action genre and do something like The Last Boy Scout or Striking Distance, and his audience was right back following him. So, he wasn't Teflon. He definitely took some criticism, but writing about The Bonfire the Vanities was pretty challenging. I wanted to find out what went wrong, and then to almost exonerate Bruce and say, “Hey, even though a lot of people made mistakes in this movie, maybe Bruce didn't make as many as people think he did, because I think he's pretty good in it.”

5. Your book clearly showed that you did extensive research on Bruce Willis’s career, was there any subject you wanted to add in the book, but for some reason, didn’t make it in the final draft?

I would have liked to have spoken to more directors. I got a chance to interview Quentin Tarantino, who worked with him on Pulp Fiction. I spoke to Rian Johnson, who worked with him on Looper. I spoke to M. Night Shyamalan, who worked with him on The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. They all had amazing things to say about Bruce. And maybe that would have been the case, maybe every act, maybe every director who worked with him would have had high praise for him, but a lot of directors were pretty hesitant to go on the record. Bruce is a very private guy. This is a very delicate subject with his illness. Nobody really wants to say anything, one way or the other, for fear of what's going to happen to him coming online. So, I would have preferred a few more interviews, but I did go into this project really feeling like I didn't want it to be interview-driven. I wanted it to be analysis-driven, where I really took the time to watch everything that was in his filmography and reach my own conclusions, and then if I needed a couple of stories told to fill in some of the gaps of the narrative, then I reached out to some of the directors that I know. But, maybe a few more directors I would have loved to get on the record.

6. In one word, how would you sum up your overall experience writing the book on Bruce Willis’ Legacy?

Daunting. Daunting is the one word I would use. It was a much bigger task than I anticipated going into it. I'd written two books prior to this point. The first book was about the release of Snyder cut movement, which was this fan-driven movement to get Zack Snyder's Justice League released. It was a little bit of like a breaking news story. I was kind of like following the events of it right up until the point where the movie actually did get released. So, the book had some timeliness to it. Then I decided I was going to write about Spider Man's Hollywood history. That book is called "With Great Power", and it covers 10 live action movies, the two animated films, tracing the history of all the people who worked on the Spider Man franchise, that's fine, still doable. And I love those movies, and I'm pretty versed in them. Bruce has 110 feature films, and it was like, “whoa, I'm what did I bite off here? How much time is this going to take?” Once you're in it, you realize you can't skip anything. You have to analyze all of the films that he made and try to figure out how you're going to fit them into the puzzle pieces that will form this book that you're writing. So, I'll go with daunting, but at the same time, I think for anybody out there who's interested in writing a book, you have to pick a topic that's going to be a broad interest to almost anybody. You could write a niche book about something that that is appealing to you, but if you don't have a large enough audience out there, it's not going to go very many places. It might satisfy the small audience that you're trying to reach. When I wrote about Bruce, I've realized that he has a global fan base, and they're responding pretty well to the book.

7. The Book-Inspired Movie Franchise “Die Hard” made Bruce Willis an international action movie star. Bruce had the opportunity to star in it because of the Moonlighting production delay. If Bruce didn’t star in this film, what other film do you think would have made him an international star?

That's really interesting. Maybe right after it (Die Hard), he did the “Look Who's Talking” movies, and he was known as the voice of the baby. The film showed off his comedic chops that would have propelled him a little bit farther. It's funny, I compare Bruce's career a little bit to Tom Hanks, who both were coming out of television at the same time. Tom Hanks had been doing Bosom Buddies while Bruce was doing Moonlighting. Tom Hanks did a couple of guest appearances on Family Ties. And when he got into films, he was doing straight comedies, Bachelor Party and Splash and movies like that, before people started to take him seriously. Bruce had to do Blind Date, and he did Sunset with James Garner. And then he wanted to do a couple more comedies, but Die Hard turned him into an action sensation. If Bruce didn't do Die Hard, I think he stays on a comedic trajectory. I think he has the type of career that maybe Bill Murray or Chevy Chase ended up having early. Bruce Willis could have been in Vacation, you know, Bruce Willis could have been in stripes, or Bruce Willis could have been a Ghostbuster. I think other projects that wanted to tap into him just being David Addison from Moonlighting would have surfaced. And I think he might have gone down a different career. It's just that Die Hard turned him into an action sensation. Everybody thought he was an action star, when really, he just wanted to be a character actor.

8. Which film do you think Bruce Willis should have won or at least been nominated for an Oscar?

Several. The Sixth Sense, without a doubt. In The Sixth Sense, everyone gets nominated. Toni Collette gets nominated, Haley Joel Osment, and they're both terrific, I don't say that they don't deserve it. M. Night gets nominated for screenplay, he gets nominated for Director, the picture gets nominated. And then Bruce doesn't. How can all those pieces of that movie fit and work and get Oscar nominations without him. I'm not even saying that he's like the heart and the core—I think Haley Joel Osment is the heart and the core of the movie—but Bruce holds that entire film together. It's ridiculous to me that the academy didn't recognize him. Pulp Fiction is another one. Everyone in Pulp Fiction gets nominated, John Travolta, Samuel Jackson, Uma Thurman, Quentin, writer, director picture. It's like people forget Bruce was even in it, and he held down a significant subplot in that movie. I think he deserved an Oscar nomination. And the last one is my favorite performance of his is 12 Monkeys. I think he's phenomenal in 12 Monkeys, which is a really heady sort of sci fi film, where throughout the course of the entire thing, you're unsure whether this man is a patient in a mental institute or somebody from the future who's being sent back to investigate a virus that might wipe out half the globe's population. You(viewer) have to be as confused as Bruce's character is, you're just as lost throughout the whole movie, and he grounds you in it. And of course, they give an Oscar nomination to Brad Pitt, who's chewing scenery and acting over the top, because that's what the academy likes to recognize. But Bruce is quiet, subdued, strong, and powerful, and he deserved the Oscar for that.

9. Bruce Willis is one of a kind, but in today’s Hollywood which actor or actress would you say has similar career moves to Bruce Willis?

Nobody. Currently nobody. There's a different breed of leading actor nowadays. It's Timothee Chalamet. It's Austin Butler. They're super pretty, they're talented, but they're not doing Bruce Willis stuff. The definition of an action star has changed. It's The Rock. It's Jason Statham. It's Vin Diesel. It's these guys who are bigger than the full gym body. Bruce was an everyman, regular guy. I think him, Harrison Ford, people like that who were like these believable everyday actors. I don't think that the industry is going to get away from that. I think eventually we'll come back around and find a couple of actors who also fit that mold. But, as of right now, the idea of a leading man is so exaggerated. You have to be larger than life, you have to be a superhero, in order to make a dent. Bruce wouldn't fly in that time, which is why, a little bit towards the end of his run, he was doing things like G.I. Joe Retaliation. He was doing the Red franchise. He was dipping into comic book and graphic novel adaptations, because that's what the parts were and he's so much better than that.

10. Which actor or actress do you think would benefit from reading your book to have similar success or a blue print that is similar to Bruce Willis’ career?

Austin Butler— Austin Butler could do he can do a lot. I've watched him do Elvis, and then he transitioned over to The Bike Riders. He's part of Dune. He's very malleable, he's very transformable. But I don't know if he's funny. You need to be funny, because Bruce was just sharp, but like when he walked into a room, he commanded it, but I'll still go with Austin Butler. I think that he's at the early start of his career. I think he could enjoy a career similar to what Bruce had, but I'll be really curious to see what choices he makes moving forward to see if he can break out of the mold that they're trying to force him into.

11. Are you planning on writing spiritual sequel, perhaps one that will focus on Bruce Willis’s former wife Demi Moore?

Right now, No. I'd like to leave that story for somebody else. I know that his wife, Emma Heming right now, who is taking care of him and doing a lot of stuff for his wellness, is going to write a book about their treatment, like the treatment plan that they have in place, and what it's been like to be a caretaker for somebody like him. I think that'd be a nice companion piece to the piece that I wrote, the book that I wrote is really just meant to work really well with a stack of Bruce Willis movies. I want people to be able to appreciate his career. I want people to be able to appreciate the work that he did. I want people to put my book down and go watch two or three Bruce Willis movies. I've had people tell me like, “Oh My God, I watched 12 Monkeys the other day because you talked about it in your book”. That's the greatest compliment in the world. People forget the number of movies that he's been in. There’s Oceans 12 in the CAMEO that he had, or The Whole Nine Yards where he was with Matthew Perry, or The Fifth Element, or Death Becomes Her. And all these other movies that get covered in the book. He's had such a wide-ranging career, and he showed off such tremendous range and talent that I just hope that the book continues to inspire people to watch his movies, and somebody can touch on his biographical stuff in another book.

12. If you were called to co-write a memoir for three Hollywood icon (besides Bruce Willis), who would they be?

Oh, wow, that's a great question. Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks has had an incredible career. You would get to touch on so many different directors as well, too, that he's collaborated with over the years. Christopher Nolan. Nolan would be a really exciting one to dig into and to dig into his filmography. I think Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey would be a fascinating documentary or book to write about, because of his transitions from early comedy into the dramatic parts that he took on to now his artistic bent that he's trying to do. I think he'd be interesting as well, too.

13. Besides the Die Hard franchise, what are your top three Bruce Willis film?

Well, 12 Monkeys is definitely up there. Unbreakable is fantastic. I'm a comic book geek, and I think it's a really interesting spin on Comic book movies, and a way to get into that. And then I also love The Last Boy Scout. Last boy scout with a Shane Black script. Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon as well too, which is another film that I'm a huge fan of. I like his chemistry with Damon Wayans a lot. It's kind of unapologetically 90s. It's kind of offensive, but it's got good action set pieces. It's over the top in the right way, and I think Bruce gives a really good performance as like a down-and-out detective who's trying to trying to stop these guys from taking over sports gambling in Los Angeles. So, The Last Boy Scout, Unbreakable, and 12 Monkeys.

13. Last question, if you were to meet Bruce Willis face-to-face what would you say to him?

I'd say, thank you... I'd say thank you. He doesn't need to hear anything about my opinions on anything. He's had a tremendous, tremendous career. I would just want him to know and to understand how important his work was to me and how entertaining I think that his films have been over the years. I know he dislikes press because press tries to pry into his personal life. And for a long time, he and Demi Moore were like the covers of all the tabloid magazines and all those gossip-brags were fascinated in his personal life. I have zero interest in any of that. I would love to thank him for 16 blocks and for Mortal Thoughts and for the Die Hard franchise, and John McClane in general, who I think is one of the most entertaining and fully formed characters that we've seen in the movie to date. So, more than anything, I would just like to tell him thank. And to let him know that there’s a global population out there that appreciate him for all he's done and loves his work.

U.S. Olympian Hurdler Sydney Mclaughlin Releases Book Titled 'Far Beyond Gold'

1/31/2024

Here is the goodreads synopsis of Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith:

What fears are standing in your way or holding you back? How do you want to become stronger? Olympic and World champion hurdler Sydney McLaughlin wants to help you answer these questions as she shares her personal story of struggles and victories, of faith and transformation. Sydney McLaughlin knows about facing down obstacles. She has mastered not only racing over hurdles on the track but also tackling challenges in her personal life—from lifelong battles with perfectionism and anxiety to persistent questions about her identity and whether she was "enough."

Similar Topic: "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice" Book Is Now Available

Her pursuit of perfection and people-pleasing continued for years until God broke into her story with his overwhelming grace, transforming love, and empowering truth. In Far Beyond Gold , Sydney will share aspects of her life story and personhood she has never shared publicly before, offering a more complex picture of who she is. She will inspire you Experience the story of a woman who shifted from anxiety to boldness, from limits to freedom, and from perfectionism to purpose—and now shows the world that often what we think is impossible is possible with God.

“A Look Inside” Featurette: The Boys In The Boat

10/4/2023

Here is the goodreads synopsis of The Boys in the Boat:

For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics.Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.
The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.
Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.

Origin trailer is here!

9/6/2023

Goodreads synopsis of Caste: the origins of our discontents

The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Amazon To Adapt 'Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty'

4/8/2023

Amazon is adapting the book-based series Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. The nonfiction book was written by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe. Copper will be an executive producer of the project. Macmanus is writing and exec producing with Kelly Funke via his Littleton Road Productions banner.

Similar Topic: Hitchcock's Book-based Classic Thriller 'The Birds' Celebrates 60th Anniversary

Here is the goodreads synopsis of Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty:

New York Times bestselling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty—his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts.

When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by “the Commodore,” subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers—the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius’s grandson and namesake had built—the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all.

Now, the Commodore’s great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the family’s empire, basked in the Commodore’s wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other.

Written with a unique insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.

Source: Deadline.com

Released Photos of Apple TV+ Adaptation 'The Crowded Room'

4/4/2023

Apple TV+ is loosely adapting the nonfiction book titled "The Minds Of Billy Milligan." The limited series will be retitled "The Crowded Room" and it will premiere on June 9th,2023. Three episodes will be released that day. The Crowded Room stars Tom Holland, Amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum.

Sasha Lane, Will Chase, Lior Raz, Laila Robins and Henry Eikenberry also star, whilst Jason Isaacs, Christopher Abbott, Thomas Sadoski and Zachary Golinger guest star.

Akiva Goldsman created the project for Apple studios and New Regency. Goldsman will executive produces alongside Alexandra Milchan, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer. Kornel Mundruczo will direct some of the episodes.

Similar Topic: Actor Will Sharpe To Direct Film Adaptation of ‘Crying in H Mart’

Here is the goodreads synopsis of The Minds of Billy Milligan:

Billy Milligan can be anyone he wants to be . . . except himself.

Out of control of his actions, Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body—a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality—the first such court decision in history—bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan. Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drugstore robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy's stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who “used” Billy's body in the rapes that led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old “keeper of pain”; and all of the others, including men, women, several children, both boys and girls, and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world.

Source: Darkhorizons.com

CBS Sunday Morning: Malcolm Gladwell on "The Bomber Mafia"

6/20/2021

Showtime Develops 'Scarface and the Untouchable' Series

5/3/2021

Showtime will be developing a new TV series based on the nonfiction book "Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness and the Battle for Chicago." It was published in 2018 and won Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year. Ben Jacoby will write the script. Ben will also serve as an executive producer as well as Kadin and Aaron Baiers. Bob Bookman, Peter Jaysen, Alan Gasmer, and Bill Nuss are producing the project.

Here is the goodreads synopsis for Scarface and the Untouchable:

At last, the definitive history of Al Capone, Eliot Ness's Untouchables, and gangster-era Chicago – a landmark magnum opus on America's great crime epic that reads like a novel

"REVOLUTIONIZES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF AL CAPONE AND ELIOT NESS." — Matthew Pearl • "GRIPPING. READS LIKE A NOVEL." — Chicago magazine • "AN EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT." — Sara Paretsky

In 1929, thirty-year-old gangster Al Capone ruled both Chicago's underworld and its corrupt government. To a public who scorned Prohibition, "Scarface" became a local hero and national celebrity. But after the brutal St. Valentine's Day Massacre transformed Capone into "Public Enemy Number One," the federal government found an unlikely new hero in a twenty-seven-year-old Prohibition agent named Eliot Ness. Chosen to head the legendary law enforcement team known as "The Untouchables," Ness set his sights on crippling Capone's criminal empire.

Today, no underworld figure is more iconic than Al Capone and no lawman as renowned as Eliot Ness. Yet in 2016 the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Al Capone still awaits the biographer who can fully untangle, and balance, the complexities of his life," while revisionist historians have continued to misrepresent Ness and his remarkable career.

Enter Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz, a unique and vibrant writing team combining the narrative skill of a master novelist with the scholarly rigor of a trained historian. Collins is the New York Times bestselling author of the gangster classic Road to Perdition. Schwartz is a rising-star historian whose work anticipated the fake-news phenomenon.

Scarface and the Untouchable draws upon decades of primary source research—including the personal papers of Ness and his associates, newly released federal files, and long-forgotten crime magazines containing interviews with the gangsters and G-men themselves. Collins and Schwartz have recaptured a bygone bullet-ridden era while uncovering the previously unrevealed truth behind Scarface's downfall. Together they have crafted the definitive work on Capone, Ness, and the battle for Chicago.

Source material: Deadline.com

Fukushima 50 Trailer is here to tell you a heroic true story

1/29/2021

The film is based on the non-fiction book by Ryusho Kadota, titled On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi.

The true event of the horrifying meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It was reported in the United States and around the world.