The hit seriesBosch, based onMichael Connelly’sHarry Boschnovels, madeits television debutin 2015. The show has becomea long-running, popular smash hit and a landmark forPrime Video’s streaming lineup. While the sequel series,Bosch: Legacy, will conclude with its third season in 2025, the franchise will continue witha new television showfeaturing Detective Renee Ballard (Maggie Q).Titus Welliverproved to be an excellent casting choice as the grizzled, no-nonsense Hieronymous Bosch, but there was a time when an adaptation of Connelly’s bestselling book series and character almost went in a completely different direction. In the 1990s, Hollywood was tossing around the secondHarry Boschnovel,The Black Ice, but the project never got off the ground. This is a shame, sincethe actor who nearly portrayed Harry Bosch was none other thanJohn Travolta. It’s time to explore the Harry Bosch movie we never got to see.
Michael Connelly’s ‘Harry Bosch’ Books Were First Optioned in 1994
As reported byThe Los Angeles Timesin March 1994, Hollywood was looking to adapt Connelly’sHarry Boschbooks soon after they were published. At the time, producersRobert RehmeandMace Neufeldinitially optionedConnelly’s first two books in theBoschseries,The Black EchoandThe Black Ice, forParamount Pictures.While the film rights were sold,The Black Icefilm adaptation did not start to gain serious movement until some time later, around the year 2000.
Varietyreported in January 2000 that scribeScott Rosenbergwas tapped to rewrite his earlier script of The Black Ice, with Neufeld still on board as a producer, in a lucrative $1.3 million deal.The Black Icewas expected to be filmed as a co-production betweenSony’s Columbia Picturesand Paramount. When the deal was made, Columbia Pictures was eyeing such prominent filmmakers asOliver Stone,John Frankenheimer, andSteven Soderberghto helm the picture.
John Travolta Nearly Portrayed Harry Bosch
In April 2001,Entertainment Weeklyreported that actor John Travolta was considering his next project followingDomestic Disturbance,Angry White Menfor producerJoel Silver, andThe Black Icefor Sony. Travolta seemed fairly positive regarding playing Harry Bosch, and he said aboutThe Black Ice, “I think this [project] will be it.” However, despite interest from major studios, a big-time Hollywood writer, anOscar-nominatedactor, and a popular book series,theBoschmovie struggled to get off the ground.
After years of developmental purgatory, Mace Neufeld Productionsfailed to bringThe Black Iceto the big screen.In May 2004,The Tampa Bay Timesreported that Mace Neufeld Productions was still shopping the film version ofThe Black Ice. At the time,Paul Verhoevenwas the latest director attached to the project. Mace Neufeld Productions’ Head of Development, Kel Simon, thinks the reason for the film’s floundering concernedthe Bosch character’s dark personality. Simon told The Tampa Bay Times, “Bosch has got a very dark personality that most Hollywood movies tend to shy away from.It’s not the kind of movie they want to make these days.”
‘Bosch’ Finally Gets Off the Ground at Amazon
Some years later,Harry Bosch is finally given his due in the form of a new TV pilot from Amazon Studios, first announced in October 2013. Simply titledBosch, the pilot for the drama series stars Welliver as the eponymous detective, withauthorConnelly on board as an executive producer and co-writer for the pilot.It debuted in February 2014 and received enough fan support that Amazon picked upBoschfora full series order, which later debuted in February 2015.
Together,BoschandBosch: Legacyhave been onfor a total of nine seasons and 88 episodes,with one more season on the way forLegacy. By adapting Bosch for the television format, Connelly tookgreater creative oversight of the project, and the series had more freedom to delve intothe books' darker thematic material.It’s not uncommon for Harry Bosch to deal with victims of sexual violence, child murder, and abuse; as a big-budget Hollywood adaptation, Bosch likely would have risked compromising the integrity of its material and getting released in a more sanitized, PG-13 format, much likethe live-action theatricalJack Reachermovies. It’s probablyfor the best thatBoschwas first adapted for television,withWelliver in the lead role over Travolta.
Bosch: Legacywill debutits third and final seasonin March 2025 on Prime Video in the U.S.
Bosch: Legacy
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