Thursday, October 12, 2017

HEAD GAMES THE GRAPHIC NOVEL: “REAL CHARACTERS” #7 JANET LEIGH

The Hector Lassiter novels (ten of them, including HEAD GAMES) frequently incorporate real people.

All of that carries over into HEAD GAMES, THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, coming Oct. 24, 2017 from First Second Books.


The range of “real characters” is prodigious, from the real-life personalities who dominate some of those books’ action, to those real people who are, well, fleeting, yet still influential.

Some are famous, some are even infamous. 

Some are little known to the wider public, yet they affected the course of history and the Lassiter series sometimes aims to give these historical ghosts their proper due.


To give a little bonus context to those “characters” who appear in HEAD GAMES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, we’re delving into each, here and there, over successive Thursdays…


ORDER HEAD GAMES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL



Janet Leigh, perhaps best known for her short appearance in Alfred Hitchcocks’s PSYCO, recalled how Welles asked for input from the actors in the cast of TOUCH OF EVIL:


“It started with rehearsals,” Leigh recalled. “We rehearsed two weeks prior to shooting, which was unusual. We rewrote most of the dialogue, all of us, which was also unusual, and Mr. Welles always wanted our input. It was a collective effort, and there was such a surge of participation, of creativity, of energy. You could feel the pulse growing as we rehearsed. You felt you were inventing something as you went along. Mr. Welles wanted to seize every moment. He didn't want one bland moment. He made you feel you were involved in a wonderful event that was happening before your eyes."


A moment here to praise HEAD GAMES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL artist Kevin Singles for attention to detail a quiet genius for subtext.

Throughout the filming of TOUCH OF EVIL, Janet Leigh was suffering from a broken left arm. When you know that, and watch the film, you’ll see her covering the arm with a sweater, or Welles cropping or staging to hide that arm.

When that wasn’t possible, the cast was cut off, Leigh would film her scenes, and then the cast would be reapplied.

As you encounter Leigh in the graphic novel, you’ll see little glimpses of that cast, or note Leigh cradling her tender arm…


Next time: GEORGE W. BUSH



THE HECTOR LASSITER SERIES, AS PUBLISHED BY BETIMES BOOKS:


ONE TRUE SENTENCE: Paperback/eBook

FOREVER'S JUST PRETEND: Paperback/eBook

TOROS & TORSOS: Paperback/eBook

THE GREAT PRETENDER: Paperback/eBook

ROLL THE CREDITS: Paperback/eBook

THE RUNNING KIND: Paperback/eBook

HEAD GAMES: Paperback/eBook



PRINT THE LEGEND: Paperback/eBook/audio

DEATH IN THE FACE: Paperback/eBook

THREE CHORDS & THE TRUTH: Paperback/eBook