Is True Detective (S2) based on "The Big Nowhere"?
I am one of that dying breed who likes movies but reads the book before, sometimes long before, the movie comes out. I was wondering if anyone has noticed that the characterizations and storyline in True Detective (season 2) seem to be a shake-and-bake rehash of the James Ellroy novel “The Big Nowhere”, sister book to the “The Black Dahlia” and “L.A. Confidential”?
For example: In True Detective, Velcoro is a corrupt cop with connections to a high-ranking crime figure who is trying to get custody of his son. This would seem to be a mix of Mal Considine and Buzz Meeks from the book.
Also we have Woodrugh, a young cop trying to hide being gay from his brethren, being infiltrated, just like Danny Upshaw in the novel.
And then we have the crooked doctor, Dr. Pitlor, running the shady clinic, who resembles Dr. Saul Lesnick, and holding information key to resolving the case , the references to the ’92 riots (zoot suit riots in the book), the brothel being used to blackmail influential men; the political ramifications, etc.
Maybe this is so rampant in L.A. that it is now a cliché. Is this out there in the trade rags and I missed it?
Best Answer
It definitely wasn't based on it, in the sense of being an adaptation.
However, your identification of the similar formula to Elroy's Big Nowhere is insightful. All of Elroy's L.A. Quartet books used roughly the same template, although the characters might change from book to book.
The classic film Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, is also a very likely template. [Note: For anyone who hasn't seen Chinatown, do not not not read the plot summary on Wikipedia. Trust me on this—you do not want any spoilers.]
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What is True Detective Season 2 Based on true story?
Season 2 was set in a fictional city of Vinci, based on the real California city of Vernon. And just like in the show, the death of city administration, Eric Fresch, stemmed from secret money made from an outside consulting contract with a city-owned operation.What city is True Detective Season 2 based on?
Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of HBO's \u201cTrue Detective,\u201d told Vanity Fair and GQ that the second season is based on the tiny industrial city of Vernon. In the show, the fictional town is called Vinci.Does season 2 of True Detective follow on?
The answer \u2013 they didn't. They couldn't. Following the lead of American Horror Story, Pizzolatto revealed that subsequent seasons of True Detective would follow the structure of an anthology; each season would bring a new story and a new cast of characters with it.What is True Detective inspired by?
Though the series was largely influenced by Lovecraftian horror, it's a real crime that took place in Louisiana that likely served as inspiration for the setting, despite Pizzolatto's claims that the inspiration came primarily from literature.Sci-Fi Series: \
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