Anyone who knows:
It says the movie is based on a book by Ed Bunker, is this the same guy who played Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs?
Just curious...
[deleted]
I just heard this. Hardly a blip on the news either. :(
Interesting guy!
R.I.P.
If you're really interested in his life, read his autobiography "Education Of A Felon". It's a good book. Also, if you read the book "The Animal Factory", and read his autobio, you'll realize that he seemed to have based Earl on himself. While it's my suspicion that he based T.J and Bad Eye on real-life Aryan Brotherhood members, Tyler Davis Bingham and Barry Mills. I planned to write Mr. Bunker and ask him if this was the case, but he recently passed.
shareYeah, you are right about T.J. and Bad Eye. Ron Decker was also based on a real charcter named Robert, a kid from Long Island.
shareAlso, Danny Trejo (who's in the film Animal Factory) and Eddie Bunker knew each other when they were both in prison (either Folsom or San Quentin, I think ... but I can't remember for sure).
Education of a Felon is a great book, and The Animal Factory definitely seems autobiographical. No Beast So Fierce is also a very good book. I haven't read his two others, Little Boy Blue and Dog Eat Dog, but I plan to.
I had the pleasure of hearing Mr.Bunker read from his book Dog Eat Dog at Filthy Mcnasty's in Islington(?), London shortly after Reservoir Dogs had been released in the UK. It was a fantastic experience and he was an absolute stand-up gentleman, after the reading he stayed to answer many questions from the crowd,including Hollywood (he was at this time trying to get The Animal Factory produced), his life including but not limited to prison and future plans. After questions he signed copies of his book but seemed just as happy to hang out for a couple of beers and talk to people, and when he talked he commanded a great respect but could really make you laugh.
In my opinion his best books are Little Boy Blue (his wife's favourite apparently) and No Beast So Fierce although they are all worth reading. I think he said somewhere he admired F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing style, I don't really know about that but Edward Bunker's prose was always eloquent, descriptive but very clean and crisp at the same time.
R.I.P. to a great character and a true survivor!
N.B. Another interesting factoid to add to the others on this thread - He acted as advisor on Heat and Jon Voight based his character on him.