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Kansas City-based author James Ellroy is probably best known for his book "L.A. Confidential" and the movie it inspired. That film won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay (awarded to Brian Helgeland and director Curtis Hanson) and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Basinger) and put Australian actors Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce on the American map.

"L.A. Confidential" ran two hours and 18 minutes. The latest big screen adaptation of Ellroy's work runs only 11 minutes.

Mitch Brian directs a scene from "Stay Clean."

"Stay Clean" was inspired mostly by the 14th chapter of Ellroy's 1986 novel "Killer on the Road." It opens on April 4 at the Tivoli Theater in Kansas City, Mo., as part of the Annual Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee. It will be one of several short films playing that night made by local filmmakers or that have local ties.

The new film starts off with a grisly ax murder. It seems even more disturbing because it's being presented from the point of view of the man who did it, a drifter named Plunkett (Race Owen). After covering his tracks, he awakens to find himself interrogated by a fierce, foul-mouthed detective known only as "The Necktie" (Walter Coppage).

"Stay Clean" is the most recently completed project from Kansas City writer-director Mitch Brian, who co-created "Batman: The Animated Series." His other works include a new ABC-TV project with Ellroy, the miniseries "The 70s" and another short "Hangups." Brian is a friend of Ellroy and began the film at the novelist's suggestion.

"It started a couple of years ago when James Ellroy gave me the book and said that if I wanted to make a movie out of it I could," Brian recalls. "I read the book, and I was really interested in that interrogation scene. I just thought the dialogue just sort of sang. So I asked him if I could do a short film of it instead. One of the beauties of making short films is that nobody is telling you how to make it.

"There are a lot of challenges with the 11-minute piece. You have several objects you have to negotiate. You have the ax, the dog biscuit and the stain on the tie. The other thing you have to deal with is that it's a first-person narrative. You can't do that all the time in the movie because it would be this endless voiceover."

Local input

Race Owen, left, and Walter Coppage star in the 11-minute short film "Stay Clean," based on a novel by James Ellroy.

Brian and Ellroy aren't the only Cowtown talents involved. Many were members of the Independent Filmmakers Coalition of Kansas City, for which Brian serves on the board. Cinematographer Andrew Wegst, production designer Ed Downes and producer Veronica Elliot all live in the area. Brian met Owen, who now resides in California, when the two were taking an acting class together.

"(With "Stay Clean"), it helped that everybody involved knew each other and were friends," he says. "There was a pretty good comfort factor."

The most prominent actor involved may be Coppage, who has been a fixture in local theater and was a morning announcer for KCUR radio.

"I always wanted to work with Walter," he says. "I always thought he was an amazing actor. He showed up at the audition, and I hadn't even asked for him, which is really nice."

It's no idle compliment. During the conversation in his office, Brian affectionately impersonates Coppage's folksy on-air delivery. In many ways, the casting was ironic.

"(Coppage was) this spokesman for a children's organization," Brian says. "We teased him a lot about it on the set. What can I say? He's an actor."

Brian is noticeably quick about mentioning the film's editor Todd Norris. He states emphatically, "I shot it, but Todd made it. He brought this objective eye to the proceedings and would sort of gently say, 'I don't really know what that line means.'"

In addition, Ellroy provided more than the source material. Brian consulted with the author about changes and even cast him as one of Coppage's partners. When asked if it took any effort to get Ellroy on the set, he laughs and replies, "No, he's a showman. He did it as a favor to show support for the film. He's great in the movie. He's this real serious presence."

Scenic benefits

Brian, who has lived both here and in L.A., says there are advantages to making films in the Midwest.

"Nobody bothers you," he explains. "There are minimal permits (required) and no fees to speak of. There's incredible cooperation. People are very supportive. There are great visual aspects to this part of the country. The architecture's incredible."

If the atmosphere was conducive, Brian remembers some frightening difficulties.

"We had 110 feet of film that was eaten at the lab. It's a miracle it got finished at all. We managed to make it work," he says.

He also recalls another potential problem. In the film, Coppage reveals that the victim's head was chopped off, but the carnage earlier in the movie looks different. Brian quips, "The actress wouldn't let me cut her head off. I'd have been happy to, but she didn't want me to."