What’s Truly a “True Story” in Hollywood (with Naomi Despres & John Gatins)

In March, after years of work, producer Naomi Despres and screenwriter John Gatins released “Little Wing,” the story of a young pigeon racer, first told by Susan Orlean, in The New Yorker. In this episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast, Despres and Gatins explain the trials and tribulations of getting an adaptation like this one out into the world and how much loyalty is owed to the authors of the original tale.

Naomi Despres is the producer of the movies “Little Wing,” starring Brooklynn Prince and Brian Cox, “Kill the Messenger,” and others. John Gatins wrote “Little Wing,” as well as “Flight,” featuring Denzel Washington, and “Coach Carter.”

Show notes : 

Little Wing (Trailer)

Little Wing (The New Yorker, 2006)

Adaptation (Trailer)

Kill the Messenger (Trailer)

Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb

Peter Landesman’s New York Times archives

The Girls Next Door (The New York Times Magazine, 2004)

Sex Slaves, Revisited (Slate, 2005)

Coach Carter (Trailer)

Team Is Benched Because of Grades (The Associated Press, 1999)

Ken Carter interview with Katie Couric (1999)

The Year of Living Dangerously (Trailer)