NEW YORK, NY (June 17, 2003) It's a 56-year-old Hollywood obsession -- who killed the exotic, aspiring young actress nicknamed The Black Dahlia? For crime writer James Ellroy, whose novel "L.A. Confidential" made him a household name when it became a hit film in 1998, the case is one of many unsolved murders -- including his own mother's -- that have haunted him since his teens. SHOWTIME has acquired Vikram Jayanti's feverishly intense documentary JAMES ELLROY'S FEAST OF DEATH, which explores the writer's obsession with vicious, unsolved homicides, following him on the grisly quests for truth that become the basis for his captivating fiction. After a series of widely acclaimed screenings at the Toronto Film Festival, The film will have its US premiere on SHOWTIME in November.

 

Written, directed and produced by Vikram Jayanti, JAMES ELLROY'S FEAST OF DEATH trails Ellroy as he rides with the LAPD, delves into unsolved cases and examines his fascination with Elizabeth Short -The Black Dahlia, whose brutal murder bore many similarities to his mother's sad end. The film is shot in a dark, film-noir style, by Director of Photography Maryse Alberti and features a cameo by actor Nick Nolte, who joins Los Angeles homicide detectives at an epic crime-solving dinner with Ellroy -- "The Feast of Death," which gives the film its name.

This film's edge-of-your-seat style, as well as graphic crime scene photos, footage and adult content leads the viewer into a nightmarish world that Ellroy has inhabited since he was a boy. But like his fiction, the documentary also shows Ellroy's humanity and his true concern for the victims of this darker, corrupt side of human society.

 

The presentation of JAMES ELLROY'S FEAST OF DEATH on SHOWTIME comes at a time of renewed interest in The Black Dahlia case. The grisly crime has recently drawn national attention following the publication, earlier this year, of The Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel, an LAPD detective, who accuses his own father of the crime. JAMES ELLROY'S FEAST OF DEATH recreates the crime scene and revisits Ellroy's obsession with the case that resulted in his own best-selling book on the topic The Black Dahlia in 1987. The film offers an intriguing alternative to the conclusion reached in The Black Dahlia Avenger, exploring every possible angle and drawing on the exhaustive research of the L.A. Times' Larry Harnish as well as Ellroy's own encyclopedic knowledge of the case.

 

Negotiating on behalf of Showtime Networks was Director of Acquisitions Larry Greenberg. The production was co-funded by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) through its prestigious Arena series, and the Production Company was VIXPIX Films Ltd.

 

Vikram Jayanti is best known as one of the producers of WHEN WE WERE KINGS, about Muhammad Ali's 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire, which won the 1997 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Based in London and Los Angeles, VIXPIX Films was started only three years ago, as Jayanti's independent production company, but it has already made its mark in the world of feature documentaries.

 

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