James Patterson would not whitewash Alex Cross, rejected seven figures

Alex Cross, the character from author James Patterson’s popular crime thriller series, is getting a refresh in the form of Prime Videos Cross. In the eight-episode mystery series written and created by Ben Watkins, actor Aldis Hodge takes on the role of the black detective and solves crimes in Washington, DC alongside his officer and best friend John Samson, played by Isaiah Mustafa.

“When I talked to Ben, I really liked the vision and what he wanted to do with it to make Alex more modern, more of a cop dealing with the real world right now,” Patterson says. The Hollywood Reporter to give his blessing to Watkins for his take on the characters Patterson first created in the 1993 novel A spider came.

Hodge is the third actor to portray Cross, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman, who first played him on screen in 1997’s. Kiss the girls and again in the 2001 film’s sequel A spider came; and Tyler Perry as the title character in the 2012s Alex Crosswhich bombed at the box office and prompted Lionsgate to scrap the previously planned sequel Double cross.

“Tyler Perry screwed up. The director just screwed him,” says Patterson unabashedly of Rob Cohen, who helmed the action thriller.

Corresponding to Alex Cross feature film, Cross had already been greenlit for a second season ahead of its Nov. 14 series premiere. However, this time Patterson has every confidence in the success of the TV series, and credits Hodge for the depth he brings to the lead role. Below in conversation with THRPatterson talks about creating Alex Cross more than 30 years ago, refusing to whitewash him, and why this character is still ripe for reinvention.

When you were first approached about an Alex Cross TV series, what intrigued you about the track?

Here’s an interesting thing about the Hollywood Cross stuff. When I wrote the first Alex Cross book, I didn’t have a lot of money and Hollywood was calling – knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. They offered seven figures and I didn’t have much money. They said, “We just want one change; we want Alex to be a white guy.” And I said, “Fuck you.” It was painful, but I did it. So we didn’t sell it right away. But a few years later Paramount came along, so we did a couple of movies with Morgan. One of the pieces here is David Ellison with Skydance. David has been involved early on and then Amazon got involved which was great and I met Ben (Watkins) along the way which was really great and then obviously Aldis came in a bit later.

What made you say no to making Alex Cross white?

Because that wasn’t who he was. I grew up in a small town, Newburgh, New York. My grandparents had a very small restaurant, and the chef there is a black woman, Laura, and she was having problems with her husband, and my family said, “Move in with us.” She lived with us for three or four years. I spent a lot of time with her family and they were amazing. I liked being with her family more than my family. They were smart, the music was great, the food was great, I liked playing basketball. And then I would watch Hollywood, and in those days there was Sidney Poitier—okay, he’s worthy—and saw a lot of movies with black people with boom boxes. Really? That was not my experience in Newburgh. So I started writing about this family that I knew and the town that I knew, and one of the things that Ben and I talked about a lot was the idea that Alex was always the smartest person in the room. And that’s really why Morgan Freeman wanted to play him originally, because Alex wasn’t one of those Shaft kind of what the hell – there’s nothing wrong with that Shaft – (but Alex) solves mysteries in his head.

This series is based on the characters you have created, but not a specific book. Was that your preference, or was that how series creator Ben Watkins presented it to you?

It was totally my preference, but Ben would have done it anyway. I don’t like it when someone does a take on another series that I have and they outline something in eight pages. I don’t love that. First of all, a lot of people have already read it, so how do you make a thriller when people know how it’s going to come out? The other part of it, I think it’s really better for the creators if they can do a new thing. I think they get more emotional about it. They have more ownership. And Ben cared a lot about the books, about Alex and his family and Nana Mama (Juanita Jennings) and Samson (played by Isaiah Mustafa in the series). This is the best Samson by far, one hundred percent.

How so?

Well, in the movies you get two hours and they didn’t have time to really develop Samson, so Samson was always an afterthought. But in this he is fantastic. I think I’ve been very lucky and it’s a little unusual because we’ve had two actors play Jack Reacher. Sherlock Holmes, God knows how many people (have played him) and we have three really good actors, different approaches (which has been Alex) with Morgan, Aldis and Tyler Perry. Tyler was sniffed by the director.

Why do you say that?

The director just fucked him. The director came in, it’s bizarre, but every night he sat there and rewrote the script. So we would go out, Tyler would get the new script, which is tough, and it would essentially be a first draft. And Tyler when he was inside Away girlit was a small part, but you were like, “he can do this” – he’s a great guy. So I’ve been lucky in terms of having three very different guys and I love all takes. Aldis is great. I just finished the Pacino autobiography and Al is really getting into it. He just goes deep and I feel a lot of that with Aldis. From the first time I talked to him, he said, “I’ve got to get in, I’ve got to understand this guy.” And you will see scenes where you see two or three sides of him in the same scene, which I think is really good.

What do you think Aldis Hodge brings to this interpretation of Alex Cross that is different from Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry?

One of the things is the complexity he brings to individual scenes. You feel his mind go and change, whatever that scene is, and it’s unusual. Usually, if you watch network TV, it tends to be pretty much “There it is, it’s that scene,” but you see him working and doing what great actors do, which is reacting to the moment. You kind of do it, like with really good interviewers, where they ask questions based on what you said, not just, “Well, here are the nine questions, thank you very much.” With Aldis, you see him change as he goes through the scene, and that’s what really good actors do.

How much time did you spend on set?

Oh, no, I’m not doing that set of shit. I have done it. This is a joke, but when we did it kiss the girls everyone was very nice to me. But I quickly learned that the writer on the film set generally ranks somewhere below the caterer. They know why the caterer is there. And they don’t know why (I’m there), so mostly no. It takes too long. It’s just too slow for me. I could write three more books. But I read every script, every rewrite. I got all the dailies, so I stayed involved that way.

What stood out to you most about Ben’s vision for this series?

I think taking Alex from what he is in the books, which is for a slightly different audience for the most part, and really bringing him up to date, especially with the role of the police in the big cities now, the controversies, and really making the real thing. Also – and this is somewhat in the books, but it wasn’t in the movies – the conflict between his family. It’s really a big thing in this series, right from the opening scene, this conflict between his family and his life as a cop, and it’s huge and throughout this series you feel it. And then with Nana Mama, who sort of raised Alex and Samson to a degree. You will see more of that even in the second season.

Alex Cross is your most successful series and one of the best selling detective series in general. Why do you think that is?

I think people make a connection both in relation to him as a policeman and as a human being, as a father, who loves sometimes. There is a real person there. Somebody did some research at one point and they said they found that sometimes, and the brain just does this, the relationship we have with a book character that we’ve been reading about for years, or even a TV character, can be as strong as our relationships with family members because we have found out so much about that character. Our mind doesn’t care, it’s like, “Oh, I love Alex.” I think that’s part of it.

What’s another novel or series of yours that you’d like to see adapted that hasn’t been yet?

Jane Smith. Jane Smith is kind of my second favorite character. And indeed we have a series comes on Max. Renée Zellweger is there. It’s really good – not as good as this. (Laughing.)

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Cross now streaming all eight episodes on Prime Video.