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Dennis Lehane says films based on books shouldn't be like Demi Moore's 'Scarlet Letter'

"You don't fear the honorable failure. You fear 'The Scarlet Letter' with Demi Moore," the author said. "That's what you fear. You fear where they just completely didn't get it."

By Karen Butler
Tom Hardy arrives for the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of 'The Drop' at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada on September 5, 2014. UPI Photo/Christine Chew
1 of 3 | Tom Hardy arrives for the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of 'The Drop' at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada on September 5, 2014. UPI Photo/Christine Chew | License Photo

TORONTO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Author Dennis Lehane says he had complete faith in director Michael Roskam to helm a worthy film adaptation of his short story The Drop.

"I made a decision very early on in my encounters with Hollywood that I would only work with quality people. That was it. It's as simple as that. I don't sell directly to studios," Lehane -- who also wrote the screenplay for the New York-set crime drama -- said at a recent Toronto International Film Festival press conference.

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"Then you figure the worst you are going to get is an honorable failure and everybody has got one of those somewhere in their career path. That's it. You don't fear the honorable failure. You fear The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore," he said, referring to director Roland Joffe's notorious 1995 box-office bomb. "That's what you fear. You fear where they just completely didn't get it. Sorry. The only thing that movie was missing was a car chase."

"So, that's it. Once I saw Michael's work, once we got on the phone, once we talked about this idea... We had an idea at the very beginning. We had this very early conception that [The Drop] was a fairytale -- a fairytale in the true dramatic sense -- a grim fairytale. Once we came up with that idea: I felt like: 'I am in good hands. I don't have to worry about how he is going to handle Brooklyn.' ... The only thing I control is the moment which I hand over my material. After that, my control is gone. So, I control who I give my material to. Once I do, I owe it to them... to give them my full support and my full faith."

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Starring Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini, The Drop is in theaters now. Lehane's novels Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island were previously adapted as hit movies by other screenwriters and directors.

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