From ROBERT B. PARKER’S WONDERLAND to SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL
by Gerald So
Writing this column a month before the March 6 premiere of the Netflix original movie SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL, I thought I’d cover my perspective on the movie as a fan of the late Robert B. Parker’s Spenser private eye novels, giving a bird’s-eye view of the development from book to movie along the way.
Netflix, director Peter Berg, producer-star Mark Wahlberg, and Parker’s estate announced the movie deal June 26, 2018. Originally titled WONDERLAND, it was said to be based on Ace Atkins’ second Spenser continuation novel, ROBERT B. PARKER’S WONDERLAND.
Not a fan of Berg’s directing or Wahlberg’s acting, I was still excited having enjoyed and recommended Atkins’ books since he was announced as Parker’s successor in 2011. Even though Atkins wouldn’t be writing the screenplay, the movie would ideally bring the books more fans.
The first synopsis—announced the same day—described the famously moral Spenser as “emerging from a prison stretch, stripped of his private investigator license,” and later loglines went so far as to call him an ex-felon. This seemed to me and fellow readers a typical Hollywood attempt to make a character darker and edgier. I took to Twitter to assure people Atkins’ books hadn’t turned Spenser into a criminal, that the continuations largely respect Parker’s characters, only making them accustomed to everyday tech, as most people are.
In August 2018, Berg and Wahlberg said in interviews that Brian Helgeland (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, CONSPIRACY THEORY, PAYBACK, MYSTIC RIVER…) was rewriting the screenplay. I welcomed the news, but the synopsis didn’t change in turn, and I knew directors often have more say in movies than writers do.
The movie filmed in Boston and surrounding towns from late September to late December 2018. From Mark Wahlberg’s Instagram, it looked to be in reshoots in late August 2019.
In the first days of 2020, I learned of the title change from WONDERLAND to SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL. I thought it sounded too much like L.A. CONFIDENTIAL but probably reflected how far the movie departed from ROBERT B. PARKER’S WONDERLAND.
On January 20, the trailer was released on the Internet along with an updated synopsis:
Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) — an ex-cop better known for making trouble than solving it — just got out of prison and is leaving Boston for good. But first he gets roped into helping his old boxing coach and mentor, Henry (Alan Arkin), with a promising amateur. That’s Hawk (Winston Duke), a brash, no-nonsense MMA fighter convinced he’ll be a tougher opponent than Spenser ever was. When two of Spenser’s former colleagues turn up murdered, he recruits Hawk and his foul-mouthed ex-girlfriend, Cissy (Iliza Shlesinger), to help him investigate and bring the culprits to justice. From director Peter Berg, SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL is an action-comedy co-starring Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron, and Post Malone. Inspired by Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland, a best-selling novel by Ace Atkins.
In the trailer, Spenser explains he was sent to prison in a frame job, having tried to unravel a conspiracy of dirty cops, drug cartels, and prominent politicians. This puts to rest fears his morality had been radically changed for the movie. Later in the trailer, ex-girlfriend Cissy mentions his drive to do right, his strong moral code.
It’s true Hawk is Spenser’s equal in the books, not his protege, but the movie version of Hawk seems to borrow equally from Parker’s protege character Zebulon Sixkill.
Action-comedy seems about the right tone for a Spenser movie. As popular as SPENSER: FOR HIRE was—three seasons to MAGNUM P.I.’s eight—Robert Urich’s performance seldom delivered the humor Parker did in the books. Spenser is hard-boiled, not as bleak as noir.
While the movie is only “inspired by” the books, it looks to depict Spenser and Hawk meeting, which has been alluded to, but not shown in the books. When adapting material as well known as Spenser, writers often look for such a gap to fill creatively. Starting at the beginning of Spenser and Hawk’s friendship lets the characters progress in possible sequels.
I may be one of the more optimistic Spenser fans heading into the movie, but then I don’t think readers or fans of SPENSER: FOR HIRE are this movie’s target audience. Mark Wahlberg fans are the target. It’s more important for SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL to succeed as a Netflix movie than as a representation of the books or of SPENSER: FOR HIRE. Fans of the books will still read the books. Fans of the show will still watch the show. Fans of the movie may get into both. Watching in that spirit, I think I’ll enjoy it.
Follow me on Twitter @g_so for further spontaneous Spenser musings
