Sandra Brown’s Ricochet: Half-Naked Fun?

Wednesday night, the second TNT Mystery Movie Night premieres Sandra Brown’s Ricochet. I am a big Sandra Brown fan and though I can’t claim to have read all 70+ of her books, I have read all her suspense novels and I’ve heard her speak a number of times at conferences. She’s always a hoot and she has a wonderful accent, as you’ll hear in our interview clips below.

But first, a bit about the book. In case you’ve never read it, the book features Detective Duncan Hatcher (John Corbett), a cop with an anger problem, in pursuit of drug lord Robert Savich (Haaz Sleiman). In his way stands judge Cato Laird (Gary Cole), while in his dreams stands Judge Laird’s wife Elise (Julie Benz). And then, Elise Laird shoots an “intruder” in her home, and suddenly Hatcher is sucked down into a dark and convoluted criminal conspiracy where it’s impossible to tell the good guys from the bad.

As you may know, Sandra Brown first became popular as a romance writer before switching to suspense.  Even now, many of her suspense novels have romantic elements, and Ricochet’s no different.  Explaining how she got started in romance, on the panel stage, she said:

I don’t want to tell you too much about the plot in case you’re planning on watching without having read the book. I will say this much—I think Ricochet could easily be made into a great movie, so I have high hopes that this one will turn out well.

One of the things that struck me when I saw the cast list was the choice of Gary Cole as Judge Laird. I hate to say it, but Cole creeps me out (probably a holdover from his days on American Gothic), and therefore I thought he was just about the perfect choice. Given that, the first question I wanted to ask Sandra Brown when we had the chance to meet her (in the noisy backstage, sorry) was which cast member she felt most closely resembled the character she’d written.

But Sandra Brown is a storyteller above all things, so no sooner did I tell her how I felt about Gary Cole than she launched into a wonderful story about what had happened on set. The first day she arrived, she said, Cole was filming a nude scene. He had just a strategically placed bit of sheet, and the makeup lady smoothing his wonderful chest hairs. So, she watched the filming and then Cole got out of bed, and walked around talking to people in his boxers. And then . . .

See what I mean?  This woman knows how to tell a story!

Brown also mentioned how fond she was of John Corbett, who she says is “yummy,” very funny, and—much to her delight, since it rarely happens to her—taller than she is, even when she’s wearing heels. As for Corbett, he has said in interviews that he’s excited to get the chance to play the out-of-control cop with an anger management problem as it isn’t the kind of role he’s usually offered.

And of course, we have a special behind the scenes peek at the “making of” below.

I’ll definitely be watching Ricochet on Wednesday night. Will you?