Cowboy cool

Elmore Leonard is a dean of American crime fiction, a master of dialogue, and, with films emerging from novels including “52 Pick-Up” “Get Shorty,” and “Out of Sight,” a master as well at writing novels that scream for screen adaptations. Before Leonard wrote crime fiction, he wrote western novels such as “Valdez Is Coming” and “Hombre,” which were also made into films that starred, respectively, Burt Lancaster and Paul Newman.

“Justified,” now in its third season on FX, evolved from his creation of Raylan Givens, an old-fashioned lawman in modern times. Played on the show by Timothy Olyphant, the laconic Raylan first appeared in Leonard’s 1993 novel “Pronto,” then in the 1995 follow-up “Riding the Rap,” and a subsequent short story called “Fire in the Hole.”

Leonard has now brought Raylan back for his new Morrow/HarperCollins novel, “Raylan,” in which the marshal chases down marijuana dealers turned kidney thieves. As the book winds its way up the best-seller lists, Leonard, 86, spoke to The Post about his knack for creating crisp and witty dialogue, his distinguished writing career and how the creators of “Justified” succeeded.

Q. Growing up, you were fascinated by Bonnie and Clyde, who went on their crime spree when you were still a kid. What are your memories of them, and how did they influence you?

A. She always posed with her hand on a revolver that was stuck in her belt. There was a picture of me taken that same year, I was about 8 or 9 years old, and I have a cap on down on my eyes, and my foot on the running board the way Bonnie did, and I’m pointing the gun at the camera.

They were an influence, even though they were not very good at what they did. They just did second- and third-rate grocery stores and things like that. These were desperadoes, and other ones too [were influences] — Machine Gun Kelly, and [John] Dillinger. Dillinger thought Bonnie and Clyde were almost a hoax, that they didn’t really know what they were doing, because Dillinger was good at it. He had a sense of humor.

Q. So you carried these images with you throughout your writing life.

A. Yeah, and then looked them up again to renew those images, sure.

Q. You’re known for your masterful way with dialogue. Were you this good at it in your earliest novels?

A. I don’t know, but I did put a lot of dialogue in them. I always use as much dialogue as I could, because this is the way to keep a book going. Rather than me telling what their attitudes are and how they think, you find that out from what they say. That’s always been the key to how I write.

Q. Was this talent for great dialogue always there, or can you chart how this ability progressed?

A. I think it was always there. I remember I read, in early ’70s, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” [by George V. Higgins]. He wrote terrific dialogue. He’d start a scene with dialogue. That, I think, sprung me loose to be a little more free and easy, and use obscenities here and there. I’ve always tried to make the books look as though they’re meant for the movies, and I think that the dialogue had a lot to do with that. One of my rules is I always read one of my earlier books before I start writing each morning, to get into the sound of how I write.

Q. Are you a big TV watcher?

A. No. But “Justified,” of course, I watch. The reason I wrote “Raylan” is because I felt, if they’re gonna pay me as an executive producer, I should be doing something. I don’t wanna just sit here and get a check whenever they send one, so I’ve been writing Raylan stories, situations, without contacting the writers. I don’t want to get in their way. I’ll just write my own stories, and they can use ’em if they want.

Q. When you originally wrote about Raylan, was the character in your mind close to how Timothy Olyphant portrays him now?

A. He does the character exactly the way I saw it. I had envisioned Raylan as just a new marshal. He had to learn, he made mistakes; that was the first book. But then he grows up in a hurry, and finally I began to write him as a heroic character. When I wrote “Fire in the Hole,” [that version of the character] was the one I wanted. That’s the guy that Timothy picked up and modeled himself after.

Q. When “Justified” was being developed, did you meet with the producers?

A. No, but they were reading all of my books. [Executive producer] Graham Yost handed them out, and Timothy Olyphant would work on the scripts too, and they got exactly what they wanted. They’ve been really good at it.

Q. Usually, when an author’s novel is adapted for TV or film, they collect the check, then they’re on their way. Is your involvement with “Justified” any deeper?

A. They have given me a deeper involvement in that they like my sound, so that all of the writers are encouraged to use my sound, and they do it very, very effectively. I’m thankful for that. And their cast, all the people they put in have such great accents. I think it’s wonderful.

Q. Are you ever actually on the set, conferring on scripts?

A. I don’t confer on scripts. From the very beginning, the first script that was sent to me by Graham Yost, I didn’t change a word. I thought it worked. There was no reason to quibble with it.

Q. You’ve had about 20 of your novels or stories adapted for the screen. How unusual is it to feel they got it exactly right?

A. There have been three: “Get Shorty,” “Jackie Brown,” “Out of Sight.” Those three were done by good directors, and the screenwriters picked up as much dialogue from the books as they could.

Q. Which project made you the most money?

A. It might have been “Out of Sight.”

Q. How does “Justified” compare to that?

A. Well, it’s TV money, so you don’t get nearly as much. [“Justified”] pays something like $12,500 an episode. That’s pretty good, and also I get a little more when they use some of my own ideas — my plots.

Q. Do you see yourself writing a lot more about Raylan?

A. Well, I am right now, yeah, because I know him, and I can make him talk in a minute.

JUSTIFIED

Tuesday, 10 p.m., FX