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Thanks for that Loris...loris wrote:Set your tellies to ABCTV1. Saw the promo last night for the "Jack Irish" series, can't recall if it was to start on 14th or 16th October.....sorry too much red wine over the years and my short term memory is shot a bit
So during the off season and trade/draft time we will be able to be distracted by Peter Temple's Saint tragic private investigator clearing up crime in Melbourne's inner suburbs. Hope they don't change Irish and his pub mates from being converted Saints supporters into followers of Pies or Carlscum.
Enjoy the series kiddie winks
Rexy will also be pretty interested.
SaintJohn1956 wrote:I could be wrong but I thought Jack was a Fitzroy supporter.
Hi ST J, you are not wrong.SaintJohn1956 wrote:I could be wrong but I thought Jack was a Fitzroy supporter.
), Jack and his mates refused to buy into the AFL weazel words and spin that they still had a team... but it had just moved a bit... 
Hey Loris, I reckon that we could run a sweep on how many seconds it takes you to identify the actual pub they film in.loris wrote:Set your tellies to ABCTV1... Enjoy the series kiddie winks
Thanks for that link St B.saintbrat wrote:http://www.abc.net.au/tv/jackirish/?WT. ... pgodzjQAbA
Oct 14 and 21
Thanks loris, will keep an eye out for it! I'm never quite sure about TV adaptations of books but holding out hope for that one.loris wrote:Set your tellies to ABCTV1. Saw the promo last night for the "Jack Irish" series, can't recall if it was to start on 14th or 16th October.....sorry too much red wine over the years and my short term memory is shot a bit
Blood on the bluestone: Life and crimes of Peter Temple Save
Lauded crime writer Peter Temple, 66, best known for his Jack Irish novels set in the underworld of Melbourne, has never been a fan of editors. An ex- journalist, he went on to teach aspiring cadets before setting himself to writing novels at the tender age of 50.
“I don’t get edited much at all. I never have,” he reveals. “I can’t bear it, for a start. I usually make a big fuss and act up. After a while they say, ‘All right, all right, leave it in’. Of course, I’m always very grateful when they save me from my own stupidity.”
Unleashing a deep-seated belly chuckle, there’s no doubting the truth to his observations, but there’s a slab of hearty humour included. He’s got the chops to carry it off, too. With nine novels to his name, Temple has scored no fewer than five Ned Kelly Awards, Australia’s pre-eminent crime-writing gong. He also became the first Australian to win the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (formerly known as Gold Dagger), the world’s richest crime fiction prize, from the UK Crime Writers’ Association in 2007.
When he won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award for the non-Jack Irish book Truth in 2010, however, it was a case of a crime fiction novelist playing in the literary greats’ sandpit that ruffled a few feathers.
“I’ve never been much for thinking about genre – if you like a book, you like it,” Temple says. “I’m concerned with the quality of the writing. You’d hate to think something would be disqualified because it obeyed some genre conventions.”
It wasn’t just the snobs who were shocked; some of his cohorts said he shouldn’t want to be a part of that world. “It was a brave thing for the judges to do, and in a way it made my life a lot more difficult because they are hard acts to follow, those things,” he says. “I’ve been admitted to a club that should never have allowed me through the door.”
After many years of near-misses, the first two of the four Jack Irish novels will be brought to life by the ABC when Bad Debts and Black Tide go to air as telemovies over two consecutive Sundays from this weekend.
Starring Guy Pearce as the criminal lawyer-turned-private investigator and debt collector, the telemovies are grounded recognisably in Melbourne’s inner north, where Temple used to live, with the graffiti-strewn walls of Fitzroy and Collingwood, bluestone cobbled laneways and trams trundling along Brunswick Street forming the backdrop.
Carving his own unmistakably Melbourne noir, Temple fashions a world that captures the reader with a Fitzroy mired in murder, drug deals and duplicity. It was vitally important for Temple that Melbourne come alive on the page. He says that back when he started the Jack Irish yarns, the city wasn’t quite as temperate as it’s become. “It was gloomy, with incredibly wet, very cold winters only enlivened by football.”
Born in South Africa in 1946, Temple moved to Australia with his wife in 1980, spending his adult years kicking around the same stomping grounds as Jack. “I worked just off Brunswick Street and saw it change from being just a couple of cafes, a gunsmith and a few central European clubs where people played snooker and cards, to what it is now. That’s where I knew best when I started writing.”
Jack seldom ventures out of this patch. “He has been known to cross the Yarra, to see his sister, but it’s always unwillingly, and he does venture into the countryside, usually on horse matters, but it’s always with a certain disdain,” Temple says.
Of course, the linchpin of any good crime novel is the local pub, and in Jack’s world it’s the Prince of Prussia. Locating a real watering hole to play the part in the series wasn’t easy.
“They had tremendous difficulty finding one that didn’t want to charge you so much you had to mortgage a house for a day’s rental, so they built one,” Temples chuckles. “It’s terrific, full of old Fitzroy Football Club memorabilia. It looks good, and the old codgers in it look very good, too.”
Temple praises the efforts of director Jeffrey Walker (Rake, Angry Boys), saying that the ABC series’ production values look bigger than TV. He also commends writer Andrew Knight (Rake, SeaChange) who deftly updated the source material.
“Andrew asked me to look at stuff in the beginning and I immediately acted up, then common sense prevailed. I said, ‘Just go and don’t show it to me’,” Temple says.
Initially doubtful, Temple’s impressed by Pearce’s performance. “I was taken aback when Guy was first suggested,” he says. “I couldn’t see him as Jack at all, although I’ve never really seen Jack. I’ve always tried not to. I don’t like seeing my characters, but five minutes into the first one he was Jack, as far as I’m concerned. He’s a terrific actor with a real brooding presence.”
Temple hopes the uniformly strong cast, including Don Hany, Shane Jacobson, Marta Dusseldorp and Diana Glenn, can be reassembled for the next two instalments, though sadly, multi-award-winning German actor Vadim Glowna, who plays cabinetmaker Charlie Taub, passed away early this year.
“He’s terrific and loved being in them, but unfortunately he’s gone,” he says. “Ideally one would film them all in one go. There are a couple of other people, dare I say it, they’re not the youngest cast. I want these boys looked after.”
He toyed with writing his own screenplay a few years back, but soon abandoned ship. It’s not an easy job, with complex plots and more than 32 recurring characters to juggle.
“Somebody counted them,” he laughs, genuinely amazed at the level of dedication exhibited by his fans. Of course, this fervour has a downside. “You’re stuck with 32 individual biographies and you have to update them. When I got rid of Jack’s girlfriend in the second book, my publisher said, ‘You’re mad, where’s Linda? I’m not reading any further unless she’s coming back’.’’
Growing up in South Africa, Temple enjoyed the hard-boiled crime fiction of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross Macdonald but says he never aimed to mimic them. “One would be silly to pretend you weren’t influenced, but I didn’t want to write that sort of thing,” he says. “They were very much about loners walking down mean streets by themselves, whereas the Jack Irish books are big ensemble pieces.”
He’s always given Jack a breather in between appearances, like his sixth novel, In The Evil Day, which kicks off in Johannesburg and races through London, Hamburg and the Welsh hills, or 1998’s An Iron Rose, featuring blacksmith Mac Faraday.
“I could never write two in a row – I’ve always interspersed them with stand-alones, which is important,” he says. “It keeps you fresh.”
Temple continues his love affair with Melbourne from afar, having decamped to Ballarat over two decades ago.
“We had no intention of staying, but then our boy got settled at school,” he says. “It’s one of those stories – we thought, ‘We’ll stay another year’. Years pass, he’s grown up and doesn’t even live in Australia, and we’re still here.”
Temple is quite happy writing in his big old house, with a library so full he can’t even find his own novels, and it’s close enough to Melbourne to visit whenever he likes.
“I’ve been able to watch Melbourne from a distance; which is quite good, because you get a bit of perspective on it,” he says.
He’s working on a third book in the non-Jack sequence that kicked off with The Broken Shore – which in 2007 won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, and was followed by Truth, the latter to be adapted for the silver screen by Tropfest founder and Swimfan director John Polson, though the juices aren’t quite flowing yet.
“That’s the theory, but the practice is quite different,” Temple admits. “I’m also supposed to be writing the fifth Jack Irish. It’s fairly well advanced, but it’s been made difficult by the existence of these films. I’ve been given a picture of Jack that now lurks in my mind. How do I write a book now that doesn’t conflict?”
And if this is Jack’s final outing, will he make it through in one piece or will there be a gruesome ending?
“I would never do that, because people would kill me,” he says. “People like Jack. I think he’s immortal.”
Temple sees no need to tie everything up in a pretty little bow, either, so completists may be left baying for more.
“Life is messy. You reach a point where something seems to have ended for the moment, just leave it there. It can come back, it can change. Nothing is ever finished. Nothing.”
When Temple is back in town, he loves to wander around the old haunts he’s so familiar with, whether that’s Brunswick Street or grabbing a coffee and a bite to eat at Pellegrini’s. Basically he sticks to Jack’s beat, so how much of him is there in his hero?
“None at all,” he retorts, without a flicker of hesitation. “Jack’s a person of character. I have no character.”
http://www.melbournetimesweekly.com.au/ ... e/?cs=1219
Agreed re poetic license and St Kilda Loris.loris wrote:Thanks for that article Davey Mc.........................
Heavens to Betsy..................... whaaaat built a pub................... and I suppose the grog will be water.................. oh I hate poetic licence taken in putting things on the screen.
No doubt with the death of the actor who plays Charlie the cabinet maker, I s'pose that means if the other two Jack Irish novels are eventually put to the screen, his old mate Charlie will have to be written out of the telly series.................. more poetic licence. Then again Jack did have designs on taking over Charlie's business. So I guess it could be wriiten in convincingly.
Just as long as Jack and the old codgers are portrayed as converted Sainters........ I won't agree with any poetic licence happening there and have them supporting any other team, because the dear old fellows really made a definite decision to follow the Saints. Some make decisions that cause frustration and heart break eh............... as only we Sainters know.
Really looking forward to the series.
I got the impression though that the designs on the business may have been slightly the other way... Charlie wanting Jack to end up with it(?)
Yep your interpretation is correct D Mc............... 'twas the other way around................... Charlie was hoping Jack would come into the business.Dave McNamara wrote:Agreed re poetic license and St Kilda Loris.loris wrote:Thanks for that article Davey Mc.........................
Heavens to Betsy..................... whaaaat built a pub................... and I suppose the grog will be water.................. oh I hate poetic licence taken in putting things on the screen.
No doubt with the death of the actor who plays Charlie the cabinet maker, I s'pose that means if the other two Jack Irish novels are eventually put to the screen, his old mate Charlie will have to be written out of the telly series.................. more poetic licence. Then again Jack did have designs on taking over Charlie's business. So I guess it could be wriiten in convincingly.
Just as long as Jack and the old codgers are portrayed as converted Sainters........ I won't agree with any poetic licence happening there and have them supporting any other team, because the dear old fellows really made a definite decision to follow the Saints. Some make decisions that cause frustration and heart break eh............... as only we Sainters know.
Really looking forward to the series.
Shame re Charlie also.
However that could clear the way for Jack and Charlie's neice/granddaughter(?) to get together. Of course, it wouldn't last. Jack's love interests tend to either take up a better offer elsewhere... or die. Hooking up with Jack seems to be either boom or (finite) bust...
Anyway, am really looking forward to the show... and if they stuff it up.. we now to to send the blame Doc's way...
I'm sold! Where do we all sign-up Loris?loris wrote:Yep your interpretation is correct D Mc............... 'twas the other way around................... Charlie was hoping Jack would come into the business.Dave McNamara wrote:Agreed re poetic license and St Kilda Loris.loris wrote:Thanks for that article Davey Mc.........................
Heavens to Betsy..................... whaaaat built a pub................... and I suppose the grog will be water.................. oh I hate poetic licence taken in putting things on the screen.
No doubt with the death of the actor who plays Charlie the cabinet maker, I s'pose that means if the other two Jack Irish novels are eventually put to the screen, his old mate Charlie will have to be written out of the telly series.................. more poetic licence. Then again Jack did have designs on taking over Charlie's business. So I guess it could be wriiten in convincingly.
Just as long as Jack and the old codgers are portrayed as converted Sainters........ I won't agree with any poetic licence happening there and have them supporting any other team, because the dear old fellows really made a definite decision to follow the Saints. Some make decisions that cause frustration and heart break eh............... as only we Sainters know.
Really looking forward to the series.
Shame re Charlie also.
However that could clear the way for Jack and Charlie's neice/granddaughter(?) to get together. Of course, it wouldn't last. Jack's love interests tend to either take up a better offer elsewhere... or die. Hooking up with Jack seems to be either boom or (finite) bust...
Anyway, am really looking forward to the show... and if they stuff it up.. we now to to send the blame Doc's way...
Hey I think you and I could give Anrew Knight the flick.............. we could take over as script writers for the next few series.
And we could get Dr Spaceman to have his brother-inlaw to commission us to ABC, well maybe he might do better than Aunty and go for the big dollars with one of the commercial stations. We can do a Lyon and Goddard, sell our souls for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
We could have Rexy do the proof reading of the scripts, coz if I recollect correctly he is a bit of a speed reader, as he devoured the four novels in about 2 days.
Saintbrat could do all our promos, for she has a modus operandi of being across every media outlet for info and releases before the ink has dried on paper or before any audio/video clip has finished spinning.
There would be plenty of takers among the lubricated SS mob to undertake the necessary research find us an authentic pub, maybe we could use a little poetic license ourselves and ditch the Fitzroy memorabilia and replace with some Sainter memorabilia.
If any of the old codgers die off, we have a few old actors on this site ( evidenced by the way they pout and get all precious in their posts) who could definitely take on curmudgeonly old codger roles at a moments notice. Come to think of it we would end up with a bleeding cast of thousands, not just a few old wizend codgers.
Yep Davey..................... we will do the script writing..................... maybe 'gringo' could do the casting.? Maybe he might be able to get Eric Bana to play Jack???
I think 'stinger' should put up his hand for 'best boy', I don't know what a best boy does............... but always seems to get a mention as the credits roll
) to proof read anything I wrote.I definitely wouldn't tell that 'best boy' to get a grip of himselfDave McNamara wrote: I'm sold! Where do we all sign-up Loris?
PS: Yep, after reading my last post, I'd definitely need someone (possibly a team of Rexy's
PPS: Best boys are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the grip (lighting) department... now I just need to think up a witty comment to link that with Sting... help me out Loris.
Or stinger would tell me to flower off