In 1990, the rights for Rules of Prey were purchased by a film and television company called, oddly enough, Film & Television, Limited [1]. I've got the whole rant about that on the comments page for Rules of Prey. After that whole non-disaster [2], the rights were in limbo for a few years, before being purchased by Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd.

This nano-rant's gonna probably get me in trouble. Again.

Here's my personal opinion on the other major characters, as cast for the movie:

The movie was shot in Toronto, which... well, it doesn't look like the Twin Cities. Ok, so it's closer than Los Angeles, or New York, or Banghazi. In fact, it's a pretty good analogue, if you really needed to find one. But it just doesn't have the feel of the Twin Cities.

The screening was on the Warner Brothers' lot in Burbank. I showed up and took lots of pictures of the water tower [16], and milled around taking pictures of... other... stuff.

1. Film & Television, Limited, was run by Dino De Laurentiis. If you assume from that information that the script was horrible, you'd be right. Of course, correlation is not causation. The fact that he's been the producer of a vast trove of horrible films might be a coincidence.

2. It's a non-disaster because it was never filmed. Had it been filmed, it would have been a disaster. You'll have to trust me on this one.

3. These weren't trivial constraints, either. The entire book had to be condensed down to two hours without losing the primary drives of the characters, the unique flavor of the dialogue, or the feel of the setting. This is made even more complex by the fact that it's being filmed for network television. So that rules out swearing, sex, and a lot of other stuff. So given those rather draconian constraints, the adaptation was pretty good.

4. And I'll state again that all the opinions here are just that: opinions. If you violently disagree and think I'm stupid for whatever opinion, there's honestly no need to write in and tell me about it. I got three hundred emails about the movie complaining about, well, everything in the first week alone. Of those, a disturbingly large percentage went on to say that I am an idiot, that the website sucks, and that I should just give up and go work at a Taco Bell, that being more my level. If you want to write a letter like that, because of my opinions, don't. I don't really need more of those letters than I already get.

5. Actually, I don't think that Harrison Ford would be a bad choice. He just needs to get his sense of humor back. Yes, even if he's going to be playing someone who's notably lacking a human sense of humor.

6. Well, they weren't all about Eriq. Some were angry at the author for casting him (which he didn't). Some were angry at me for trying to defend the decision. Some just resorted to insulting the website, calling it moronic, whiny, and (in one wonderful example), "illitirate".

7. But not all of them. Some started off with something like "I'm not racist, but..." before launching into what was effectively racist rhetoric. How sweet.

8. I admit, I also caused a good deal of anger myself, by pointing out repeatedly that Lucas isn't real. It's not like they cast Pauly Shore as Ghandi, or Britney Spears as Ulysses S. Grant in some Civil War movie. And even if they did do something like that... it's television. Yes, the character in the books may seem real to you, but getting violently angry over "inappropriate" casting of someone in a network television adaptation of a work of fiction? I dunno. That seems... weird. And yet, given the response I got, people will. A lot of people.

9. And just to clear this up: the author didn't have control over it either. When an author sells the rights to a movie, they give up control over the project. That's what the selling of rights is about. In fact, there's a certain unofficial agreement in Hollywood: the more money you get for the rights, the less control you have. If you want to have some hand in the movie, you don't get as much money. If you get a lot of money, you don't have any real say. You don't get control and money.

10. Note the wording there. The meaning is that I'm not going to whine about that topic. And it's probably a lie anyway. Whatever.

11. Mail was played by Titus Welliver, who's been a clean-cut cop in a number of cop shows. He's an amazingly nice, friendly guy in person. Watching him transform into Mail was very disturbing. Still, I guess that's what actors are good at: being who they're not. Good actors, anyway.

12. In my personal opinion, she looks "stunning". The eyes alone are amazing. And again, that's just my opinion.

13. For those of you not in the know, the CN Tower is the tallest structure in Toronto, and probably has some "Tallest Structure" record or other, although I have no idea which record it'd be. The observation deck is something like 1100 feet up, and has plexiglass tiles in the floor so you can stand on them and look straight down. It is so amazingly cool. The tour guides will gleefully tell you that the tiles themselves are three times stronger than the concrete the tower's made of, so you can jump on them. Mind you, the only people to even walk on them (when I was up there) were the small hyperactive children and... um... me. Which probably says more about me than it does about small hyperactive children.

14. At one point, I was standing in the "Minneapolis Homicide Department" watching the other production. Someone went zooming by on an old blue bicycle and I realized with some shock that it was Matthew Perry, from Friends. So I had to know what the heck was being filmed. I saw some woman nearby checking out a script — she was not from the Mind Prey production — so I went up and asked her what the movie was. She told me it was Three to Tango, a wacky romantic comedy. We talked for about ten minutes about the productions on the set and such, and then I went back inside. And then the Three to Tango crew spent the next three hours filming a single scene with Matthew Perry and some other guy (Dylan McDermott). One small scene. Three hours. A few dozen takes [20].

15.Okay, I've got to admit that I've had exactly two experiences with movie-industry catering, but both have been really, really good. I'd like to think that this is the norm, but it may well not be. Still, if the food is like that pretty consistently, don't pass it up, if offered.

16. For all you Animaniacs fans, the water tower really does look like that. Really.

17. Probably only because I pointed it out to someone. Or, if you wish, I "whined". Yeah.

18. Not that I actually said that. The author just tells the story to make it seem like I said it. The truth is... less odd. See, I'm 6'0", and that's about "average" for Minnesota males. But out in Hollywood, the average is a bit shorter. Not much, but instead of being "average height", I'm suddenly "tall". Realistically, I'd guess that George Clooney is probably 5'10" or maybe 5'11". I just wasn't expecting him to be shorter than what I'd seen on television. Of course, from what little I'd seen of E.R., it looked like Eriq was something like 6'4". He's actually my height. I've got photos to prove it. Somewhere.

19. It doesn't actually fare too poorly. On a typical quiet week where it ranks at number 1, it'd drop to 10 or so if a third of affiliates yanked it. On the other hand, The West Wing, which typically places around ten or so, would drop down into the forties if a third of the affiliates yanked it.

20. The "punchline" to the story is that the woman with the script was Neve Campbell, and I had absolutely no idea who she was until much later [21]. Call it a hunch, but I think celebrities deal better with people who don't ooh and aah over them. As it was, we had a happy little conversation about "what the heck is all this" and that was it.

21. Yes, I'm a straight white American male between the ages of twenty and forty and I had no idea who Neve Campbell was. So sue me.