Author’s popular series of Western mysteries make it to TV in ‘Longmire’

On June 3, the day after Craig Johnson winds up book signings in Albuquerque, Las Vegas, N.M., and Santa Fe, he’ll have time off from his book promotion tour to watch the debut of the A&E Network series “Longmire.”

The series is based on Johnson’s popular mystery novels featuring Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire. It is being filmed on a sound stage in Santa Fe and on location in Las Vegas, N.M., and Los Alamos, Johnson said.

The first episode airs at 8 p.m. (MDT) June 3, he said. “A lot of people told me to be careful about optioning your work. The problem is that it can lay around in a manila envelope for 20 years and you have no control at that point,” Johnson said in a phone interview from Waller County, Texas.

In his case, however, he’s more than pleased with the team developing the cable TV series.

“They’re in love with the books, the characters, the place. It’s kind of a Cinderella situation where the boot just fit,” Johnson said. “They’re good to me. They’re keeping me in the loop. They made me an executive creative consultant. … They send me the scripts. I give feedback on the characters, on the dialogue.”

He said he’s been writing about Wyoming for plenty of years, so he’s been providing details to make the show as real as it could possibly be. He lives in Ucross, Wyo., pop. 25.

Johnson said he’s even received DVDs of the actors auditioning for roles.

“Hollywood never does that,” he commented. “That speaks to the authenticity and care that this group of people have been putting into the show together.”

Robert Taylor has been cast as Longmire, Katee Sackhoff as his Undersheriff Victoria Moretti and Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry Standing Bear. That’s the same Lou Diamond Phillips who starred in the feature film “La Bamba.”

Johnson likes Taylor, a tall guy, as the sheriff. “He’s definitely in that Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy school of actors. He’s a handsome guy and he’s got some mileage on him. … My wife, who is from Connecticut, said he moves like a Westerner. By golly, she’s right. He does. … And he’s got enough weathering on his face that he doesn’t look like a six-week wonder,” Johnson said.

Johnson related Phillips’ own striving for authenticity. When Phillips auditioned for Standing Bear, the author noticed Phillips took out the contractions of words in his written monologue. The book doesn’t have the character use contractions, Johnson said. “When he got the role he jumped on a plane and flew to Billings (Mont.) on his own time, drove to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and met Marcus Red Thunder, the person on whom the character of Henry Standing Bear is based on,” Johnson said.

Ten hourlong episodes are in the first season of “Longmire,” Johnson said. The episodes borrow pieces of dialogue and situations from different books in the series. “They don’t slavishly reproduce the books. They probably would have been a mistake. … But viewers will recognize plot points, the characters. the place, the tone of the books,” Johnson said. “It’s not ‘CSI Cowtown.’ There are no people in Armani suits getting evidence in 10 minutes.”