THE JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE PRESENTS... Jennifer Aniston plays the wife of a Detroit developer in Life of Crime. • • • • • • .1 ik Suzanne Chessler D aniel Schechter's bookshelves are filled with the mystery/ crime novels of the late Elmore Leonard, but not one of the fictional char- acters became an out-and-out hero for Schechter. His hero was the man behind the fiction: Schechter increasingly came to admire the skills of the Bloomfield Township- based novelist. Schechter, who grew Filmmaker up knowing he wanted Daniel to work on the creative Schechter side of cinema, recently realised a dream by using his screenwriting and directo- rial skills to turn a Leonard book into a movie. Life of Crime, adapted from 1978's The Switch, opens Friday, Aug. 29, in Metro Detroit. The movie, a dark caper comedy, captures the physical and emotional jolts experienced by the kidnapped wife (Jennifer Aniston) of a corrupt real estate developer (Tim Robbins). Two criminals (Yasiin Bey and John Hawkes) look for ways to get money from the husband, who refuses to pay ransom. Jewish actress Isla Fisher and Will Forte co-star. "I feel proud of the tone of the film, which is not really a comedy although it's funn y ; Schechter explains in a phone conversation from his New York home. "It's not really a drama because there's a lot of humor. "I think it's one of the most loyal adap- tations of Elmore Leonard's books that audiences have seen, and I think people who have read the book would feel it was the biggest influence on the movie itself' Although the story takes place in 1970s Detroit, it was filmed in Connecticut for budget reasons. The filmmaker, 32, was raised on Long Island and studied film at Emerson College in Boston. His earlier produc- tions, including Goodbye Baby and Supporting Characters, were made on a much smaller scale. "I took The Switch off my shelf and did something reckless:' Schechter says. "I wrote a script without anybody paying or even asking me to write it. I wanted to make the film so badly that I found and begged the people who owned the mate- rial to let me have the chance to do Leonard, who died in 2013, invited Schechter to spend a weekend in his Michigan home to discuss filming possibil- ities. Other movie adaptations of his works include Get Shorty and 3:10 to Yuma. "He was a very charming and funny guy who knew how to get a laugh," Schechter says. "There were stories and sound bites about movie adaptations that he hated. "His books are laugh-out-loud funny, and I think the saddest thing about his not living to see this film is how hard peo- ple laugh at the jokes he wrote years ago. "I like to think that everything I've done with the movie could take place in the real world. What Leonard did so well involved grounding characters in reality to make people buy into his far-fetched premises7 Schechter visited Michigan this sum- mer to experience the reaction to Life of Crime at the Traverse City Film Festival. Earlier, it had been shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. The screenwriter-director, a member of his local Jewish community center, where exercising remains a priority, has one character mistaken for being Jewish as part of the storyline that has a neo-Nazi criminal. "I had never seen neo-Nazi parapher- nalia before working on this film, and I certainly had never been in a room surrounded by explains Schechter, who portrayed the neo-Nazi as a dun- derhead to be ridiculed and compares his approach to that taken by Mel Brooks with Nazi characters in The Producers. Schechter, in a relationship with an actress-producer, is working on another book adaptation. "I feel like the luckiest guy in the world because I got to make this movie," he says. "I've felt honored to have worked with Leonard's materiar ❑ Life of Crime is scheduled to open Friday, Aug. 29. • • • • THE VALUE OF NAMES •• • • • • Jewish filmmaker brings Detroit-set caper to the big screen. I Contributing Writer •• • • • • • .9 • • • • • • • • • • BY JEFFREY SWEET DIRECTED BY YOLANDA FLEISCHER Time may not heal all wounds and certain actions can haunt one through a lifetime. This tense but funny play features legendary Hollywood director Leo Greshen, who denounced several of his contemporaries before the House Un-American Activities Committee, including his best friend, actor Benny Silverman. Now it is 1983, and a retired Benny (who has recouped his fortunes) still harbors his acute outrage over Leo's betrayal. Then Benny's daughter Norma is cast in a play that Leo is directing! Old antagonists meet again and it is a captivating clash of titans, sizzling with wit and bitterness. TICKETS 248.788.2900 WWW.JETTHEATRE.ORG JET performs in the Aar -rnpr of Mnnl. 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