Lee Rose to bring John Morgan Wilson novel to screen

Out producer-director Lee Rose has optioned film rights to the Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning mystery Simple Justice, the first of the gay-themed Benjamin Justice novels by John Morgan Wilson. The gritty novel, set in Los Angeles and published in 1997, follows Justice, a disgraced alcoholic ex-journalist grieving over the death of his lover from AIDS complications. Justice sets out on a dangerous quest to clear a troubled Latino teenager who has confessed to murder but may be innocent. "It's really a rough and tough book, but I think it's just so beautifully written," Rose said. "A noir story about an ex-journalist who's fallen off the edge of the world--it's something that hasn't been done before." As part of the deal, Rose will own the rights to the character as well as the option to pick up the four other novels in the series. Rose was nominated for a WGA Award in 2001 for The Truth About Jane. She also wrote, directed, and produced the Showtime miniseries A Girl Thing, starring Kate Capshaw, Stockard Channing, Rebecca DeMornay, and Mia Farrow, and directed and produced the USA Network movie The Color of Courage, starring Linda Hamilton.