Will Crais Take Hollywood’s Call?

For years, Robert Crais has resisted selling the film rights to his most popular series, the thrillers starring private eye Elvis Cole and his ultra-tough sidekick, Joe Pike, a point that was emphasized most recently in last week’s LA Times profile of the bestelling author. Not that Crais is against Hollywood on principle; he got his start writing for Quincy and Hill Street Blues, and sold the rights to one of his other novels a few years back, which led to the Bruce Willis vehicle Hostage. But we hear that The Watchman—which happens to be the first that puts Joe Pike front and center—is attracting serious attention from at least two A-list actors (one of whom has an Oscar) even before it arrives in stores this week…and that they’ve just gotten more competition, as Michael Mann, for whom Crais wrote two episodes of Miami Vice, may be interested as well.