Ernesto Palmer

"Look at me."

- Ernesto Palmer

Ernesto Palmer, more commonly known as Chili, Chil or Ernie, is an ice-cool movie producer in Hollywood, formerly working as a loan shark in Miami under Momo until the latter's death at the hands of Ray Bones - inadvertently caused by Chili who assaulted Ray after the latter stole his coat - which left Chili working under Bones. When he was a child his father was an alcoholic who worked on the docks for the bull line and had given him the nickname "Chili" because of his hot temper as a teenager, but as an adult he kept the name "Chil" because he had, according to his friend Tommy Carlo, cooled down. Before becoming a loan shark he worked for the Manzara brothers whom he was related to on his mother's side at Manzara Moving & Storage, but he and Carlo would go on to work for Momo who was Tommy's uncle. He and his wife Debbie had moved to Miami from Bay Bridge, Brooklyn, but soon split up when Debbie had a miscarriage and found out Chili was still a criminal. After being sent by Bones to track down Leo Devoe, a drycleaner who was unable to pay back Bones and had faked his own death in order to pursue a life as a gambler in Los Angeles, Chili ended up helping Dick Allen, who ran the Mesas Casino in Las Vegas, settle an unpaid debt with producer Harry Zimm of ZigZag Productions. He found Zimm at the home of actor Karen Flores, but as a result of the encounter Chili would soon find himself aiding Harry in getting Bo Catlett and Ronnie Wingate, who worked at Wingate Motors and had invested in Harry's movie Freaks, off his back.

During his time in L.A., Chili managed to get the money owed by Leo, but instead kept it until Ray Bones threatened him. Chili had previously been sent to retrieve money for Harry by Catlett from a locked safe in the airport, being given a key by Catlett, however Chili was aware that it was a setup and didn’t take the money, through he was still questioned by three D.E.A. agents. Still possessing the key, Chili sent Bones to the locker, resulting in Ray's arrest. With Bones out of the picture, Chili helped Harry and Karen produce Mr. Lovejoy at Tower Studios with Elaine Levin and attempted to get known actor Michael Weir for the titular character, but, ultimately, Chili and Karen tricked Harry and ended up making Get Leo together, a film based on the events that had occurred concerning Chili, Leo and Bones with Chili being replaced by the character Randy played by Weir , with Michael Weir playing Chili. Chili also took care of Catlett and started dating Karen, but soon Karen left him and he ended up on bad terms with Tower after a sequel to Get Leo, Get Lost, was made.

Personality and traits
Chili is a cocky and self-assured man with confidence in his abilities. He has little patience for the incompetence he sees around him and has no problem admitting this to those who bother him. Although Chili, being a loan shark who often needs to use violence, is capable of overpowering his enemies in physical combat, he will almost never resort to this, preferring to handle things more simply and being perfectly capable of doing so. One of his strongest skills, for which he was known, is the ability to simply have someone look him in the eye and, looking back, be able to convey how little he cared about about them but also how much he cared about dealing with them, being able to collect any late payment just by using this method. Chili would always act cool around those who posed a threat to him as he almost always was cool around them, even being able to stay cool when having a gun pointed at him. Having been arrested before, Chili wasn’t nervous around the police or around members of the D.E.A., as he possessed the skill to talk his way out of getting into any trouble. Even when he did become anxious inside, Chili would never show it.

Another trait of his was his almost over-the-top ambitious side, easily switching from a loan shark to a movie producer with confidence that he had the ability to do so and breaking into the home of Karen Flores just to speak to her without considering the consequences. Chili had always been a fan of movies, always watching them on dates to the point where women thought he loved the films more than them.

Although he had gotten the nickname Chili because he was hot-tempered as a child, his friend Tommy Carlo said that he was called Chil now because he had chilled down.

Behind the scenes

 * Ernesto Palmer first appeared as the main character in the 1990 novel Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, and later returned in its 1999 sequel Be Cool by the same author, once again in the main role.
 * John Travolta portrayed Chili Palmer in the 1995 film adaption of Get Shorty and its 2005 sequel Be Cool. Chili's story was almost exactly the same in both films only with some scenes in the book being omitted, most notably his wife Debbie - his ex-wife in the film - never being named and only being mentioned, her miscarriage never mentioned and Chili's real name never being revealed.
 * In the 2017-18 Epix TV series adaption of Get Shorty, Chili did not appear but was replaced by original character Miles Daly who was portrayed by Chris O'Dowd.

Appearances

 * Get Shorty (novel)
 * Be Cool (novel)