The Andy Greenwald Podcast: Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane is a master of crime fiction in any medium. Or perhaps it’s better to say in every medium. Since rising to fame on the back of his (excellent!) novels — I’m partial to the early Kenzie & Gennaro series, but there are those who swear by Mystic River — he’s taken his talents to television, contributing to The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. Now he’s penned his first original screenplay, The Drop; the film hits theaters today and stars Tom Hardy and, in his last performance, the great James Gandolfini. (This isn’t even taking into account the hugely successful films others have made from Lehane’s books, including the aforementioned Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island.)
As a longtime fan, I was thrilled to host Lehane in the New York studio. Though he was fresh off a few days of heavy movie promotion at the Toronto Film Festival, I found him to be game to discuss almost anything, from his decision to re-adapt his screenplay as a novel (also called The Drop; it’s great) to the frustrations of the American underclass. There was time, too, to talk about his brilliant 2012 book, Live by Night (soon to be a movie itself, thanks to Ben Affleck), war stories from his time in West Baltimore with David Simon and George Pelecanos, and his three upcoming television projects of his own. I could have kept the conversation going all afternoon. It’s probably a good thing that, after 45 minutes, the busy Lehane, unsurprisingly, had somewhere else to be.
Listen to the podcast here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ATmlsGMfE
Subscribe to the Grantland Network on iTunes, and check out our podcasts page.
Filed Under: Grantland Network, Podcasts, Andy Greenwald, Dennis Lehane, The Wire, the drop, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, shutter island, Boardwalk Empire
More from Andy Greenwald
-
The State of Scary TV: ‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ Join ‘The Walking Dead’ in Offering High-Quality Horror
-
‘The Andy Greenwald Podcast’: Aya Cash of ‘You’re the Worst’
-
‘The Andy Greenwald Podcast’: ‘Fargo’ Showrunner Noah Hawley
-
I Loathe the ’80s: ‘Wicked City’ Is an Empty Journey Into the Dark Heart of the Sunset Strip
-
Capes & Crossovers: How Franchises Invaded Television
More Grantland Network
-
‘Jalen and Jacoby’: Discussing DeMarcus Cousins, the Thunder, and More
-
‘The Lowe Post’ Podcast: Howard Beck on Pursuing Kevin Durant
-
‘The Andy Greenwald Podcast’: Aya Cash of ‘You’re the Worst’
-
‘The Grantland NFL Podcast’: Week 7 Review Part 2
-
‘The Andy Greenwald Podcast’: ‘Fargo’ Showrunner Noah Hawley
More Hollywood Prospectus
-
Brand Echh: Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton Can’t Save the Lame ‘Our Brand Is Crisis’
-
50 Scenes That Do Not Appear in the Fox ‘X-Files’ Revival
-
In Praise of Beach Slang, 2015’s Best, Most Sincere Rock Band
-
Who Was Missing From Taylor Swift’s Miami Squad?
-
Happy ‘Halloween’: The Best Horror-Movie Monsters