devil-in-a-blue-dress Today in film history, September 29, 1995, director Carl Franklin’s film adaptation of Walter Mosley’s “Devil in a Blue Dress” (starring Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle), opened in theaters in the United States.

Not quite a box office success, the $27 million film (budget) grossed a paltry $16.1 million domestic, playing on as many as 1400 screens nationwide, and doesn’t appear have been given much of an international release, if at all (at least, according to Box Office Mojo). However, audiences would gradually discover on home video, as it would eventually become a beloved classic – especially amongst black audiences.

It was the first, and still is the only on-screen appearance of the starring character, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, even though Mosley has featured the character in at least 10 novels.

There was a potential franchise there for Denzel Washington I really believe, if there was interest in further exploring the character. There were certainly enough books to serve as source material. And the film, directed by Carl Franklin, despite not being a box office hit, was actually well received by critics, and is still held in high regard today.

The next time Hollywood would visit the character was 16 years later, in 2011, when NBC announced that it was developing a TV series based on the Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins series of novels, although, as we would find out a couple of years later, NBC shelved the idea, and so it never happened, unfortunately. At the time, I was actually pleased with the news; not because I didn’t want to see a TV series based on the character; but, as I said back then, I would much rather have a cable TV channel like Showtime or HBO, or even Netflix, pick up the series, instead of NBC, where I don’t think it would’ve worked.

In 2014, the author revealed that he was adapting “Devil in a Blue Dress” for Broadway – a production that he also said would be scored by jazz master and composer Branford Marsalis. He couldn’t find a home for it at a TV network, nor as a film franchise, so I suppose a Broadway adaptation would be the next best thing. Two years later, no word on whether this is still in the works. But it can take time for Broadway productions to develop, so 2 years really isn’t as long of a wait as it might seem, so stay tuned.

There are 11 books in the Easy Rawlins series. Plenty of meat to chew on there.

In fact, many of Mosley’s novels are franchise material, whether as films or as TV series. Adaptations of some of them have been announced in recent years, but, unfortunately none has yet to become a reality:

— There was his Leonid McGill series, the New York City private investigator; starting with the first book in the series titled, “The Long Fall.” It was to be adapted by HBO, but nothing happened there. Mosley would say that he’d pretty much outlined the entire first season for HBO, which was to be based on “The Long Fall,” and that he was to meet with HBO execs a couple of months after that, during which I assume he handed over what he’d worked on, and they further discussed the project. That was at least at least 3 years ago.
— There was also Samuel L. Jackson’s optioning of “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” to adapt for the big screen.
— There was the TNT network’s ordering of a pilot for Mosley’s “Fearless Jones” series of novels, with plans for an eventual TV series.
— There were plans to develop a feature film based on Mosley’s psychological thriller “Man In My Basement,” with Anthony Mackie in talks to star, and Mosley co-writing the screenplay with Cheo Hodari Coker (“Southland”).
— Laurence Fishburne was to revive Socrates Fortlow for HBO, as a TV series centered around the Mosley character, featured in his novel, “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.”
— Last summer, Spike TV announced a new slate of “big and bold original” scripted series, which the network said it was putting into development for upcoming seasons. One of those “big and bold” series hailed from Mosley, titled “Mr. In Between,” based on a short story by the acclaimed novelist that follows the adventures of a high-stakes courier who traffics sensitive information between people for whom privacy is a matter of life and death. Mosley along with business partner Diane Houslin, were set to serve as producers. We should maybe wait to see how this one plays out before assuming its fate. After all, it was announced just last summer, and could still very well be in development as I type this.
— And finally, earlier this year, producer Denise Grayson and writer/director Paul Chart announced that they had teamed up to adapt Mosley’s “Killing Johnny Fry” as a feature film, which Mosley will produce through his production company BOB Filmhouse together with Denise Grayson Productions. No ETA was given. But add it to the growing list of announced (all the above were announced in the last 5 years) Mosley-related projects that have yet to become realities.

You have to wonder what the heck is going on…

But, back to the film we’re celebrating in this post, “Devil in a Blue Dress” – again, I’d love to see Netflix, Amazon, or even Hulu, take on the Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins franchise of novels as a series. I would add HBO to that list, but the network has certainly had its shots with Mosley’s material as potential TV series, but hasn’t done anything with them – as of today – and, as has been recently reported, HBO has been pulling out of a few of some new projects, as it faces some sort of a mid-life crisis, in part due to competition from original programming *upstarts* like Netflix and Amazon.

Now is as good a time as any to bring Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins back to the screen, as networks and film studios, look to fill their rosters with content that, at least, checks off the “diversity” box. Hire a talented team of writers and directors who know and love the material, and let them run with it, carte blanche. If it fails, then, well, it fails. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that a new series or an original movie hasn’t lived up to expectations. It happens every year, and often enough. But I don’t think this will fail, especially if done right. There’s a significant enough audience of Mosley fans who’ve been longing for more Mosley on screen since Carl Franklin’s “Devil in a Blue Dress” over 20 years ago. Give the people what they want! There likely will also be those who aren’t familiar with his work, but who would love a solidly filmed period detective yarn – especially one with a lead who isn’t white and male.

“Devil in a Blue Dress” is available on various home video formats, so look for it if you’ve never seen it. Below, check out a trailer for the original film:

Devil in a Blue Dress

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