1. Metal tongs. Unless you have asbestos hands (a chef friend claims he can take hot oyster shells straight out of the oven with his hands) you need these.
2. Good knives. They don’t have to be the most expensive but they have to be stainless steel or ceramic and SHARP. Swiss, Brazilian, Japanese, it doesn’t matter. You’ll need a steel too, to keep a nice cutting edge. If you can only afford one good knife or a full block of okay knives, buy the one good knife. The bigger the better.
3. Thick wooden cutting board. This, much like a futon bed, should be considered your workbench.
4. Le Creuset pan or Dutch oven/casserole dish. This is for fool-proofing your cooking, and everything tastes better cooked in heavy cast iron. Yeah, a bit on the expensive side, but they will still be cooked in after you’ve made your one-way trip to the crematorium.
5. Smeg oven. 0-400 in ten seconds and a patented cooking method that seals in all the air. It’s near impossible to burn anything in a Smeg.
Shekhar Kapur was in Melbourne late last year and he said: “Entertainment is the emotional interface between technology and content – that’s it. That’s it. Anything that you sell, is sold through a story you tell.”
And this, from a 1977 New York Times interview with John LeCare:
On the wall beside his desk he has scribbled these lines by Hippocrates: “Whoever does not reach the capacity of common people and fails to make them listen misses the mark.”
LeCare went on to say: “I think there’s something much more fundamental at work at the moment. We have learned in recent years to translate almost all of political life in terms of conspiracy. And the spy novel, as never before, really, has come into its own. There is so much cynicism about the orthodox forms of government as they are offered to the public that we believe almost nothing at its face value. Now, somehow or other the politicians try to convey to us that this suspicion is misplaced. But we know better than that. And until we have a better relationship between private performance and the public truth, as was demonstrated with Watergate, we as the public are absolutely right to remain suspicious, contemptuous even, of the secrecy and the misinformation which is the digest of our news. So I think that the spy novel encapsulates this public wariness. And I think also, in entertainment terms, it makes a kind of fable about forces that we do believe in the West are stacked against us.”
Amazing thing is, he could have been speaking about the world today. How little distance we’ve travelled… more on this later.
FOX HUNT is now available in Australia and New Zealand as an audio book. PATRIOT ACT will follow in June, and BLOOD OIL will be available by August/September for a simultaneous release with the printed book.
More details, including online ordering, at Bolinda’s web site located under Menu - Links.
What I’ve been doing…
Resting! The third Lachlan Fox novel, BLOOD OIL, was finished a couple months ago. By finished, I mean it’s had it’s first edit and I’m waiting for the copy edits to come back to me for a final polish. My editors are very good and we seem to work as a well-oiled team to get the book into shape pretty quickly.
For a bit about BLOOD OIL, see the link in the Category menu.
I’m well into the planning of novel four at the moment. The end of BLOOD OIL sets up a storyline (hinted at in PATRIOT ACT) that will take at least two more novels to unravel, so there’s plenty of interesting territory that I’m mining at the moment. While BLOOD OIL dealt with an oil crisis, the next story is about water scarcity in India. At the moment it’s a massive canvas that I’m trying to hone down to fit nicely with the main pillars of my story. That said, each novel has been a little longer in length and this one will be no exception.
What I’ve been reading…
Usually I read one or two novels a week. During the writing of a novel I tend not to read much other fiction, so my summer was mainly spent reading magazines, non-fiction books, and some film scripts.
Magazines that I read each month, without fail, are: National Geographic, Esquire, GQ, Vanity Fair. I read a few online sites such as Variety, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, and BBC. As much of BLOOD OIL was set in Nigeria, I read a few of their online newspapers each day, which has been a surprisingly interesting endeavour.
NON-fiction wise, I enjoyed and recommend the following books:
NOT A GOOD DAY TO DIE by Sean Naylor. This was a brilliant first-hand account of the first major battle of the twenty-first century – the cluster-fuck that was Operation Anaconda.
THE SHOCK DOCTRINE by Naomi Klein. Interesting book about disaster capitalism in all its ugly glory.
MARTINI by Frank Moorhouse. Re-read this memoir for a laugh. I have a bone to pick with Moorhouse about a bar in NYC that he recommended for their martinis but each to his own I guess.
NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER by Helen Caldicott. I read all her books in this vein and this was another well-put-together argument by one of the world’s great seekers of the truth.
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET by Jordan Belfort. Hilarious, sad, frustrating, and above all very entertaining.
THE WORLD IS FLAT by Thomas Friedman. This is the follow-up to one of my all-time favourite non-fiction books, THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE. I rate Freidman as not only one of the top economic writers of all time but a top writer period. His books make light work of what could easily be considered the dense and boring information that comes along with writing about the globalised world in which we live.
SEARCHING FOR JOHN FORD by Joseph McBride. This has been on my shelf threatening to be read for about two years. It was a little long and dry but ultimately a fascinating account of the life of one of cinema’s greatest figures.
Film Scripts:
Over summer I read and re-read all the produced scripts of: Joe Carnahan, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, David Ayer, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman, Aaron Sorkin. In my mind, these guys are among the best screenwriters in Hollywood and some of the best writers in the world right now. I’m just glad they’re not pursuing careers as novelists!
In writing this I’m reminded of the conversation that Andrew Denton had with Matt Damon, in a 2004 episode of Enough Rope. Damon’s reply as to why Hollywood makes so many crap movies: “I know. Oh, no, I know. I think it’s hard to make a good movie. For one thing, you have these studios who are trying to fill up a production slate. They have a certain number of movies they have to make every year, and so you get movies that get made just because they need to get made, called ‘programmers’. It’s like, well, we need a movie to come out in September. OK, we’ve got do it with 20 million dollars. OK, bank, let’s get it. Alright, let’s get some unknown actors. Do we have any old script lying around? They go into their library of scripts and go, “This one doesn’t suck that much. Let’s make that.” And I’ve been in those movies.”
Fiction:
My fiction reading over the last couple of months has been a trip down memory lane and a chance to read and reread some of my favourite novels along with the work of some novelists that I’ve had sitting on my shelves. I’ve often joked that I so many books on my shelves that I’ve yet to read that I’m waiting to break a leg or something, so that I am laid-up and have little else to do other than read. Well, while a tragic accident has yet to come my way I have found myself sitting around home doing not much else to speak of, so why not make a dent in that reading pile?
I reread my all-time favourite novel, Hermann Hesse’s beautiful SIDDHARTHA, about five or six times over summer. I had reread the lovely little LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel and was reminded of Hesse’s work. In the end, Fox and Gammaldi’s journeys in BLOOD OIL are very close to that which Siddhartha and Govinda embarked on in SIDDHARTHA. My characters are about half way through their personal journey in search of identity and I hope that over the next couple of novels that I can get them to a place where Siddhartha and Govinda eventually find them selves enlightened.
I’ve managed to read a few novels from many of my favourite writers, living and dead, such as John Steinbeck, James Ellroy, Cormac McCarthy, Dennis Lehane, all of which I’ve been meaning to read for a while now. Most were their earlier works that I’ve not had the chance to read before for one reason or other, such as Steinbeck’s TO A GOD UNKNOWN and McCarthy’s BLOOD MERIDIAN. Both were startlingly brilliant, and McCarthy’s Judge in BLOOD MERIDIAN is probably the most realised and scary villain in the history of literature. Steinbeck’s prose is disgustingly good. I think it was the critic Harold Bloom who said that his style was not so much a biblical style as mediated by Ernest Hemmingway, as it is Hemmingway assimilated to Steinbeck’s sense of biblical style. The monosyllabic diction is hardly the mode of the King James Version, but certainly is Hemmingway’s. This biblical sense rubbed off when I was writing BLOOD OIL, where I have used the King James Version of Psalm 137 to carry one of the stoylines in my novel, which also ties in nicely to the operatic interpretation of that psalm in Verdi’s “Nabucco” and back into my story with its connotations of revenge.
And right now I’m delving back into one of my favourite child-hood reads, the collection of Indian stories titled THE TALES OF THE PUNJAB. I can’t find my book copy (I suspect it’s safely buried somewhere in my parent’s library) but thankfully there are a few versions available on the internet. Unfortunately, the internet document does not have the beautiful illustrations that my copy had, although that said I remember there being the biggest publishing/printer error I’ve ever seen in a book – entire sections are repeated where they clearly do not belong.
Finally, I got around to reading ENDERS GAME by Orson Scott Card. This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read, in any genre. Over twenty years have passed since its first publication and it’s as relevant today as it was then. Card’s influences of Isaac Asimov’s “Foundatiuon” series is obvious, as is the stamp of Ursula K Le Guin. What I didn’t realise, until reading the author’s 1991 introduction note, was the influence that Bruce Catton’s work on the Civil War had on a young Card. Looking back at the text of the novel, the psychological themes within it, it seems an obvious now. The benefit of hindsight never ceases to fascinate me. I’ve read and heard that ENDERS GAME is popular with military personnel, and I now know why. This should be compulsory reading not only for every serving member of every military outfit in the world, it should be a reading text for all of humanity. As an aside, this was the first ever novel available for free downloads on the internet before its publication, waaaaay back in 1984.
What I’ve been listening to…
While I write I always listen to music, either via headphones into the laptop or over my Harmon Kardon SoundSticks. The music serves a few purposes. It sets the scene and mood in my mind, informs the pace and feel of my writing, and quietens out all the other clatter I hear – real and imagined.
My iTunes playlist for much of BLOOD OIL’s creation included: Nick Drake, Muse, Cowboy Junkies, Verdi, Powderfinger, Silverchair, Eskimo Joe, Rob Dougan, Linkin Park, Eminem, David Grey, Eddie Vedder, and Damien Rice. An eclectic mix, and many of these artists and their work are referred to in the novel.
What I’ve been watching…
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and INTO THE WILD were by far my favourite films of late and I’ll be buying them on Bluray when they come out. I watch a few DVDs each week, most of which aren’t worth recommending here. Here’s a few highlights:
NEXT starring Nicholas Cage and Julianne Moore, directed by Lee Tamahori. I’m a fan of those two actors and the director, and a big fan of the late Philip K Dick whose short story THE GOLDEN MAN this film was based on. Overall it was a well-executed film, with some great realising of the way that the Nick Cage character could see two minutes ahead of present time. Cage felt a little off in this pic, as if he was going through the motions as he’s done in so many blockbuster Hollywood movies. To me he’s always at his brilliant best in indie films, such as ADAPTATION, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD.
A SCANNER DARKLY: based on the Philip K Dick novel, and the DVD includes an interview with the author. Very different production to NEXT. Another great cast, Keanu Reeves and Robert Downy jnr were stand-outs, direction by Richard Linklater is up there with his best and shows just how diverse a visionary he is.
MICHAEL CLAYTON. Clooney was good, and Gilroy did a great job with a tiny budget. While Gilroy’s script showed the brilliance that he’s known for, I think I was expecting a bit more from his first shot at directing. There were a few beautiful shots, and structurally I liked the time split in the narrative, but the directorial tone felt a little too understated even for the type of film it was. That said, the casting was perfect and the opening monologue was brilliant –Tom Wilkinson’s rambling delivery is undeniably a defining role of his career. I’ve got no doubt that a few films down the track, Gilroy will become one of the great directors. Or maybe auteur is a better title for him. Whatever, he’s already a GENIUS writer.
RESCUE DAWN. I’m a massive fan of Chris Bale’s work. This film and his performance was pretty good, but still my favourites of his are HARSH TIMES, THE MACHINIST, and BATMAN BEGINS. Bale has that rare ability to inhabit a character while managing to let us in as well. This probably sneaks into to the top ten Vietnam War pics, although it’s down the bottom of a list that includes PLATOON, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE DEER HUNTER, FULL METAL JACKET, GOODMORNING VIETNAM, TIGERLAND and CASUALTIES OF WAR.
BABEL. Finally, I sat through this film and enjoyed it a lot. I tried to watch it ages ago but got distracted – it’s the type of movie that you need to be prepared to tune in properly, which is rare for a film staring two of Hollywood’s biggest names in Brad and Cate. There was a lot to like in this film. It was beautifully put together, the stoylines flowed and converged better than I thought they might, and the themes were, thankfully, not overstated with banal dialogue. I just wished I had of seen this one on release; BABEL is the type of film best appreciated in the shared experience of a theatre.
EASTERN PROMISES. Mortensen and Watts did great work, and I think this was one of Cronenberg’s better films. The story was good and the atmosphere of this underworld well portrayed. Cassel, as usual, was the weak link.
WILL AND GRACE television series. I was a fan when it was running, and I took the time over summer to do a marathon viewing of the whole series for a bit of respite from the novel writing. This is up there with the best TV sit-coms ever produced; it’s fun and hilarious and the characters become your friends in a way that I’ve only ever felt with the cast of THE WEST WING.
1. Credit card. My preference is AMEX but maybe have a VISA or MC as well just in case.
2. Cash. Make sure you have a range of denominations, and a few US bills always come in handy too.
3. Licence. Don’t give the cops an excuse to book you.
4. Cabcharge. Preferably from your place of work. Great for those trips to the airport.
5. Recipe, written on a small piece of paper. See note below.
Some of you may want to carry a business card, in which case you could substitute it at number 4. I don’t have any, and I certainly don’t want any.
Okay, what recipe and what’s it for? This is for my male fans who may not be good cooks. Me, I’m a semi-pro chef, so I don’t need this. Recipe is up to you. Make it simple yet delicious, and something that if you spend the night at someone’s house you can be fairly certain that they will have the ingredients on hand. I don’t know, maybe pancakes, or an omelette. Having a good recipe on you (in your mind or in your wallet) is like carrying a Glock; you don’t have to use it but it lends confidence. This reminds me: you DON’T NEED a sous chef. Cooking with your wife or girlfriend guarantees trouble. Unless you’re soul mates, cook alone. Trust me.
1. Do it weekly.
2. Keep them clean. I mean, clean them and let them dry before you go anywhere near them with polish.
3. Don’t use a brush. I know this will be a contentious point but it’s something that I learned in my butler training and it’s a good tip.
4. Use a soft cotton cloth to apply the polish. Old Clavin Kleins are perfect.
5. Buff the polish off with stockings/pantyhose/whatever they’re called. How you get your hands on them is up to you. The ulta-fine open weave makes a brilliant shine.
…Already I thought of another brilliant film to add:
PARADISE NOW. A Palestinian film about two friends to decide to go on a suicide mission into Israel. If you haven’t seen it, buy it or rent it asap. It’s better than brilliant. It’s one of the most compelling and honest films ever made.
Here’s a list of films (by no means complete) that I’ve seen and recommend. From memory, all the films listed I liked the original version, not a remake. There’s the old joke in Hollywood: Why do they continue to remake films? Because they didn’t get it wrong the first time.
I’ll eventually get around to talking about each film, and I’m happy for you to reply with a discussion about any of the films here and I can reply with my thoughts. I’m sure I’ll add more films as I remember them, and the occasional new one that manages to rise to the top.
300
2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY
25TH HOUR
28 DAYS LATER
48 HOURS
A BETTER TOMORROW
A BOUT DE SOUFFLE
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
A FEW GOOD MEN
A FISH CALLED WANDA
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
A PERFECT STORM
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS
A SCANNER DARKLY
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
ABOUT A BOY
ABOUT SCHMIDT
ADAPTATION
AFTER HOURS
AIR AMERICA
AIRPLANE
ALADIN
ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
ALIEN
ALIENS
ALIVE
ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN
AMADEUS
AMERICAN HISTORY X
AMERICAN PSYCHO
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
ANIMAL FARM
ANNIE HALL
APOCOLYPSE NOW
APOCOLYPTO
ARACHNOPHOBIA
AS GOOD AS IT GETS
BABE
BABEL
BABETTES FEAST
BAD BOYS 1 + 2
BAD LIEUTENANT
BATMAN
BATMAN BEGINS
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
BEFORE SUNSET
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
BEING THERE
BEN HUR
BETRAYAL
BETTLESHIP PTEMKIN
BIG
BLACK HAND
BLACK HAWK DOWN
BLADE RUNNER
BLOOD DIAMOND
BLOOD SIMPLE
BLOODY SUNDAY
BLUE VELVET
BODY HEAT
BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
BONNIE AND CLYDE
BOOGIE NIGHTS
BORAT
BOURNE MOVIES
BRAM STROKER’S DRACULA
BRAVEHEART
BRAZIL
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
BRINGING UP BABY
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
BROKEN FLOWERS
BULLITT
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
CANDY
CAPE FEAR
CAPOTE
CASABLANCA
CASANOVA (FELLINI’S)
CASINO
CASINO ROYALE
CHARIOTS OF FIRE
CHASING AMY
CHINATOWN
CHOPPER
CINEMA PARADISO
CITIZEN KANE
CITY OF GOD
CITY OF MEN
CKICKEN RUN
CLEAN AND SOBER
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
CLOSER
COMING HOME
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
CONSTANTINE
COOL HAND LUKE
COP
COURAGE UNDER FIRE
CRACULA
CRASH
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANERS
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
DANCES WITH WOLVES
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
DAWN OF THE DEAD
DEAD CALM
DEAD MAN
DEAD MANS SHOES
DEAD POETS SOCIETY
DEAD RINGERS
DEATH IN VENICE
DERAILED
DESPERADO
DIE HARD
DINER
DIRTY HARRY
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
DO THE RIGHT THING
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
DOG SOLDIERS
DOG TOWN AND Z-BOYS
DONNIE BRASCO
DOOM
DR STRANGELOVE
DRUGSTORE COWBOY
DRUNKEN MASTER
DUNE
DUSK TILL DAWN
E.T.
EASTERN PROMISES
EASY RIDER
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN
EL MARIACHI
ELIZABETH
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
EQUILIBRIUM
ETERNAL SUNCHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
EVITA
FAHRENHEIT 9/11
FALLING DOWN
FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
FAREWELL MY LOVELY
FARGO
FAT CITY
FEAR
FEAR AND LOTHING IN LAS VEGAS
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
FIGHT CLUB
FINDING NEMO
FIVE EASY PIECES
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
FORREST GUMP
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL
FULL METAL JACKET
GALLIPOLI
GANDHI
GHOST WORLD
GHOSTBUSTERS 1 + 2
GLENGARRT GLEN ROSS
GLORY
GONE BABY GONE
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
GOOD WILL HUNTING
GOODFELLAS
GRAND CANYON
GREED
GROSSE POINT BLANK
GROUNDHOG DAY
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
HAPPY FEET
HARD TIMES
HARSH TIMES
HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE
HEAT
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
HIGH FIDELITY
HOT FUZZ
HOTEL RWANDA
HOWARDS END
HUSBANDS AND WIVES
I AM SAM
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE
INTO THE WILD
IRREVERSIBLE
JACKI BROWN
JAWS
JERRY MAGUIRE
JFK
JURASSIC PARK
KING OF NEW YORK
KINGPIN
KISS KISS BANG BANG
KRAMER VS. KRAMER
L’AMOUR FOU
LA DOLCE VITA
LA VITA E BELLA
LANTANA
LAST TANGO IN PARIS
LAYER CAKE
LE REGLE DU JEU
LEAVING LAS VEGAS
LETHAL WEAPON
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS
LORDS OF DOGTOWN
MAD MAX
MAN BITES DOG
MAN ON FIRE
MANHATTAN
MANHUNTER
MEAN STREETS
MEET THE PARENTS
MEN IN BLACK
MICHAEL COLLINS
MIDNIGHT COWBOY
MIDNIGHT RUN
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III
MOBY DICK
MODERN TIMES
MONSTER’S BALL
MONTY PYTHON - ALL
MOONSTRUCK
MOULIN ROUGE
MURRIELS WEDDING
MY DOG SKIP
MY LIFE AS A DOG
MY NAME IS JOE
MYSTIC RIVER
NARC
NASHVILLE
NED KELLY
NETWROK
NIGHT ON EARTH
NIXON
ON GOLDEN POND
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA
ONCE WERE WARRIORS
ORDINARY PEOPLE
OUT OF AFFRICA
OUTBREAK
PARENTHOOD
PARIS, TEXAS
PATRIOT GAMES
PLATOON
POINT BLANK
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
PSYCHO
PULP FICTION
PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
Q & A
RABBIT-PROOF FENCE
RADIO DAYS
RAGING BULL
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
RAIN MAIN
RAISING ARIZONA
RASHOMON
RATATOUILLE
REGARDING HENRY
RENDITION
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
RESCUE DAWN
RESERVOIR DOGS
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
RISKY BUSINESS
ROBOCOP
ROCKY
ROMEO AND JULIET
ROMULUS, MY FATHER
RONIN
RUNNIGN ON EMPTY
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
SCARFACE
SCHINDLER’S LIST
SERPICO
SEVEN
SEVEN SAMURAI
SHAWN OF THE DEAD
SHINE
SHORT CUTS
SIDEWAYS
SIN CITY
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
SINGLE WHITE FEMALE
SLEEPERS
SLEEPLESS IN SEATLE
SLINGBLADE
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS
SOLARIS
SOMETHINGS GOTTA GIVE
SPARTACUS
SPARTAN
SPIDERMAN 1, 2, 3
STAND BY ME
STANGER THAN FICTION
STAR WARS
STEEL MAGNOLIAS
STRANGER THAN PARADISE
STRICTLY BALLROOM
SUPERMAN 1, 2
SYRIANA
TAXI DRIVER
TEARS OF THE SUN
TENDER MERCIES
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
THE APPLE
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS
THE BEACH
THE BIG BOSS
THE BIG CHILL
THE BIG RED ONE
THE BIG SLEEP
THE BIRDS
THE BOURNE MOVIES
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
THE BRIDGES OF MADDISON COUNTY
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
THE CASTLE
THE CONVERSATION
THE COOK, THE THEIF, THE WIFE AND HER LOVER
THE CRYING GAME
THE DEER HUNTER
THE DEPARTED
THE DIRTY DOZEN
THE ELEPHANT MAN
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
THE ENGLISH PATIENT
THE EUROPEAN
THE EXORCIST
THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
THE FIRM
THE FISHER KING
THE FLIGHT OF THE PHEONIX
THE FLY
THE FOUNTAIN
THE FOUR FEATHERS
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
THE FRIGHTENERS
THE FUGITIVE
THE GENERAL
THE GODFATHER
THE GOLD RUSH
THE GOOD SON
THE GRADUATE
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
THE GREAT GATSBY
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE
THE HOUR OF THE WOLF
THE HURRICANE
THE HUSTLER
THE ICE STORM
THE INSIDER
THE ITALIAN JOB
THE JOY LUCK CLUB
THE KID
THE KINGDOM
THE LAST EMPEROR
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
THE LAST SEDUCTION
THE LAST STARFIGHTER
THE LION KING
THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY
THE LONG GOODBYE
THE LORD OF THE RINGS - ALL
THE MACHINIST
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
THE MARK
THE MATRIX
THE MISFITS
THE MORNING AFTER
THE MUMMY 1 + 2
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
THE ORDER aka THE SIN EATER
THE PASSENGER
THE PASSION OF CHRIST
THE PATRIOT
THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLINT
THE PERFECT STORM
THE PLAYER
THE PLEDGE
THE PRODUCERS
THE PRESTIGE
THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
THE QUIET AMERICAN
THE RAINMAKER
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
THE RETURN OF THE JEDI
THE ROSE
THE SEVEN SAMURAI
THE SHINING
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY
THE TERMINATOR 1 + 2
THE THIN RED LINE
THE THING
THE TREASUE OF THE SIERR MADRE
THE UNBEARABLE LIKENESS OF BEING
THE UNTOUCHABLES
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
THE VERDICT
THE WAR OF THE ROSES
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
THE WIZARD OF OZ
THE WOODSMAN
THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE
THE YEAR OF LVING DANGEROUSLY
THELMA AND LOUISE
THEY LIVE
THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
THIS IS SPINAL TAP
THREE KINGS
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
TIGERLAND
TIGHTROPE
TITANIC
TO DIE FOR
TOOTSIE
TOP GUN
TOTAL RECALL
TOUCHING THE VOID
TOY STORY
TRADING PLACES
TRAINING DAY
TRAINSPOTTING
TRANSFORMERS
TRON
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME
TWO HANDS
UNCLE BUCK
UNDERWORLD
UNFORGIVEN
UNITED 93
VANISHING POINT
VERONICA GUERIN
VERTIGO
WALL STREET
WAYNES WORLD
WHALE RIDER
WHATS EATING GILBERT GRAPE
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
WHITE MEN CANT JUMP
WHITNAIL AND I
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT
WITNESS
X MEN 1,2,3
YESTERDAY
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
ZODIAC
ZULU
Earlier this year I had a horrible feeling about Heath Ledger. I’d had similar thoughts before and I’ve long learned to trust it, no matter how bizarre, to act on it; it could be that I’d call a friend or family member to check if they were okay, and more often than not they would admit that they weren’t. I cannot explain where it comes from and with Heath it was no different other than perhaps I felt some sort of connection to this person who was not only my age but also an inspiration to me as an artist. Perhaps it was a moment of clarity on my part after having just passed through a long period of dark intensity. I started writing a letter to him that I had planned on getting my Hollywood agent to pass on. The following day, I awoke to a world where he was no longer walking among us. It was a wake-up call I will never forget, and it drives me to this day. Still, to this day, I feel sick in the stomach at the thought that this perfect actor will not shape my life in the future with anything new, and I’m not sure when I will be able to bare to re-watch his films. Here’s a small tribute that I wrote later that morning - it seemed all I could do at the time:
Heath Ledger. Go slowly. Come back quickly.
I am compelled to write something of the way that I feel on hearing the news of Heath’s passing as I think it’s our responsibility to not only celebrate the too-short life of this young Australian, but it’s our burden to think about the consequences of his death. It is always too fickle to speculate on the circumstances involved and I will not do that here. What is certain is that Ledger’s movie roles will be remembered alongside that of all the great actors who have gone before him. What I am keenly aware of is that like so many talented young people, he has left us far too soon.
I am a month younger than Heath Ledger and his trajectory and quality of work has been inspiring. Since seeing him in Gregor Jordan’s film ‘Two Hands’, I have keenly watched all his films and have always been impressed with his performances. He is by far the greatest actor of my generation. I use the present tense because he will remain so – no one of my age will surpass his talent. His body of work is that good.
One of the most interesting aspects of Heath’s career has been his choice of film roles. His latest, due for release this year, is as Batman’s the Joker. Already it’s been said that his portrayal rivals that of Jack Nicholson’s 1989 version. I have no doubt that it will, as Heath inhabited the darkness of life all too well.
The 2002 release ‘The Four Feathers’ was the film that proved to me that Heath was the guy to watch. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, in a nutshell it was a film about the fall of the British Empire through their first significant military defeat. Heath plays the star, the young soldier driven into service out of family pressure and who leaves the army when they are to be sent to war. The film spoke of many themes of what it is to be a young man, not only in that society but through all the ages. Heath’s performance transcended the screen with an archetypal set of characteristics that resonates with me today, six years on. He embodied the themes of honour, love, betrayal, and redemption so beautifully. Through his acting, he showed us, the audience, that there is a path of redemption available to us all, if only we have the courage to pursue it. It spoke of the possibilities open to us all if only we have the gumption to strive on.
Actors, like writers, give so much of themselves. We invest so much emotion, it drains what little we have left to lead our own lives. Our art takes so much, sometimes more than we should give, often more than we realise. It’s a fine line, between our work and our lives and it is all too easy to blur that line. When we bring our work home, it destroys more than those around us. It consumes the very essence of what makes us human. When we explore darkness, in particular, it’s often too hard to turn back. It’s at times too intoxicating to walk away from when in the midst of the creation. You feel you have to live it to make it true.
The truth portrayed in ‘Brokeback Mountain’, the incredible Ang Lee film based on the brilliant story by Annie Proulx, cemented Heath’s spot among history’s great actors. The heavily silent emotions Heath brought out in his character added significant weight to what was already a heady role as written on the page and brought to the screen by Proulx and Lee respectively. Heath, through his character Ennis Del Mar, proved that love is as blind as it is unforgiving. That while it may be forbidden, the price of a love lost far outweighs a future of regret.
We will never know what brilliant work lay ahead in his future. We will reflect on what he has given us, those roles that defined him as an actor and a young man that will live on. Considering that he gave us so much of himself, I will always wonder if he had enough left of himself to sleep in peace at night.
What I do know, is that he has left a legacy and a benchmark for so many of us to strive for. And I do know that for someone who sought to bring us characters who had lived with so much truth, he deserves to be remembered through time as a genius actor.
As someone Heath’s age I am more than saddened at missing out on what else Heath would have taught me. While I am angry that I will now live a life without him in it, I come away reflecting on what he gave. Too much, too soon.
Shekhar Kapur is working on a water-crisis film. Titled Paani, it is set in the not to distant futre of India. Here is a little bit of what he has written on the subject, and be sure to visit the sites below to register your support and raise awareness:
Every year, over 500,000 children in India never reach the age of 5 because of water-related diseases like diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hepatitis. Over 300 million Indians have no access to toilets. Already, 224 million Indians live in water stress. About 70% of irrigation needs and 80% of municipal water supplies come from groundwater sources. However, depleted aquifers and lowered groundwater tables mean that this is no longer sustainable. It has been estimated that by as early as 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed ALL sources of supply.
Can we make a difference? One individual thinks so. And one organization is supporting him in his mission for the cause of water. On April 26th 2008, Sharada Prasad will start a 19,000 km Motorcycle Ride across India. The objective of Sharada’s ride is to discover what water means to people across the country. The problems faced by people with respect to water are different in different parts of the country. Support him by going to;
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k/
FROM: http://www.shekharkapur.com/blog/archives/my_films/paani/
I’ve just finished editing my third novel, BLOOD OIL. As a small teaser, I can tell you that this story is the first in a trilogy concerning a major plot-line, something that was hinted at in PATRIOT ACT… more about this at a later date. It will be published by Hachette in late August 2008, with a simultaneous audiobook release by Bolinda. The audio of FOX HUNT is out now, and the audio of PATRIOT ACT will come out around June/July at the same time as the paperback release (which will contain a sneak peek of BLOOD OIL). All audio books are available on CD and digital download at www.bolinda.com
BLOOD OIL is slightly longer FOX HUNT and PATRIOT ACT, the final word count being around 100k (probably just under 500 pages). I knew going into the story that it was a bigger playing field, and it could have easily blown out to 120-140k had I not from outset written it lean. To do this, one of the main stylistic points of my writing is in the slow evolution (some might say deterioration) of my syntax. If you read the books in chronological order you’ll see it present: I’ve been chipping away at sentences to get them to the point where I now feel they’re pretty reflective of where entertainment’s universal grammar currently resides. As more and more of the global audience is consuming their writing content via film, television, and new media, why shouldn’t novels keep pace to the grammatical style that we are increasingly comfortable with. I’ve said this before on this blog - novels, particularly commercial fiction, are snapshots of the time they were written in and as writers we are biologically bound in our minds to write what we can. The one and only time that I will ever quote Zadie Smith here on this site is from a Guardian artile she wrote back in 2001: “We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can. When I was 21 I wanted to write like Kafka. But, unfortunately for me, I wrote like a script editor for The Simpsons who’d briefly joined a religious cult and then discovered Foucault. Such is life.” Ultimately, I’m thrilled with the final outcome of BLOOD OIL and can’t wait to see it in print.
Below is an author Q&A my publisher is including in the advance reader copies - they print a thousand or so of these a few months before the public release date, to send to media and booksellers. As with my previous two Fox novels, this advance print run is not the final edit and it’s a great opportunity for me to get pre-publication feedback from a test audience. Fingers crossed they like it!
When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?
As a teenager (around 15) when I read my first few current adventures and thrillers. I played around with some ideas through high school, but it was not until 2001 that I decided to dedicate the time and effort to see if I could do it. Prior to this I had started two novels which were at various stages.
What were those books that inspired you?
I can’t remember the titles but the first couple were Alistair MacLean’s UNACO series, which featured the fictional United Nations Anti-Crime Organisation as his protagonists. I’d been a big fan of the classic adventure stories and this was eye-opening as it was present day and dealing with pertinent topics – I remember thinking, “Writers can do this?” From that point on I’ve been keenly aware we read to inhabit time, not to pass time, and a good book can take you places you could not have imagined on your own.
Around that time I read Patriot Games - it got a huge amount of publicity thanks to the movie and I bought the first of the prints with Harrison Ford on the cover - proof of how much a movie deal can boost sales! Subsequently I read and enjoyed all of Tom’s stuff up until his lead character became President.
The real spurring of interest to become a writer came when a friend introduced me to Clive Cussler’s books. This guy writes purely and simply to entertain, and I believed I could write in the happy medium between he and Clancy. I was 14 or 15 and was hooked. From there it was Grisham/Follet/Archer/Crichton - anything similar.
Looking at my reading habits lately, some of my favourite novelists are Elmore Leonard, John Steinbeck, James Ellroy, Cormac McCarthy, Hermann Hesse, and Dennis Lehane. That said, some of the best writers in the world are working in Hollywood, which is hardly new but as a novelist I’m glad I’m not competing with these guys for shelf space! The likes of the Carnahan brothers, Tony Gilroy, David Ayer, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman, Aaron Sorkin, et al. They all write to entertain while making the process for us as readers and the audience to get so much out of their multi-layered stories.
And that’s why you write - to entertain?
Predominately, yes, that is the objective.
If a reader gets involved and engrossed in my story, or attached to a character, then I have done my job. Like watching a movie, I want the reader to finish up thinking it was money well spent in the entertainment department.
I say predominately, as there are other elements that drive me - writing a novel is like a drug, so amazing and addictive when you get in the creative zone - and perhaps with some other, future works, it (entertaining) may not be priority number one. To entertain is paramount in popular fiction and the most blatant key to success in this area.
How do you create characters?
In many different ways. When it comes to naming them, I quite often cheat by using names of friends or fellow writers. Sometimes even their descriptions play a part but usually I let the reader make their own picture of each character rather than really spell out how each person looks.
The journey of Fox has been fascinating for me as in ways we’ve grown up together and just when I think I completely know him he surprises me! In this book I get to explore some of the darker areas of the human psyche set against the times we are in now. This journey was important to make at this point in Fox’s life. I’ve always been interested in the grey areas of life, particularly the notion that we all have the ability to take a step too far and be perceived as the ‘bad guy’ or whatever. Fox finds himself in Nigeria, which on one hand is such a rich, interesting and exotic location and on the other it’s all poverty and desperation and someplace you don’t want to be. It’s really a clash of the cradle of civilization against modern money and power, and it proved to be a wonderful backdrop that mirrored every storyline that I wanted my characters’ journeys to go through. In the end, for Fox, it’s something of an awakening.
When and where do you write?
Mainly from my home office, a converted warehouse in Melbourne. I’m seconds away from heaps of great cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs which can be a bit of a distraction at times!
The process has been different for the three novels. One thing has always been constant - I’ve had a deadline. Usually, I like to be two sets down, to really be backed into a corner and write my way out of it. I think I like to translate that pressure into my writing, to make it faster and more immediate. I write anywhere, anytime. Home office, cafe, library, hotel, bed, wherever. Nights used to be my writing playground but for some reason I’m more often than not being more creative in the early morning and then just switching off from the afternoon onwards. Maybe I’m getting old and can’t work eighteen hour days anymore. Probably I’m just lazy.
BLOOD OIL was a dream to write, the words just poured out. I’d kicked the idea around for over a year, and I wrote it in ten weeks, which is quick for me. I probably cut out about ten percent before sending it through to the publisher, which is my usual target to trim out of my own edit. I should say that for those ten weeks, writing this novel was all that I did. Sure, I lived a life, but in terms of work, that was it. I pushed everything else out of my life and said “Nothing else matters now, this is it.” And there’s something in that kind of creative space that’s really special to have experienced. It was a profound experience, the whole thing. I look back now and think that it was a measurable accomplishment, a real peak in performance and achievement of creativity. Each novel any author writes is somehow a little snapshot in time of where they were, and I’m happy with the little snapshot of my life that this is. It was a good time but that said I’m glad it’s behind me. Bring on the next deadline.
Where do you get your ideas from?
I try to carry a notebook around at all times, in case inspiration strikes or an idea comes to me. It’s a great tool for a writer, as I can jot down overheard conversations or record something that I have seen. Every now and then I’ll flick through my notebooks and find something really useful that I’d completely forgotten about.
The central ideas of my books generally come from world news and current affairs, such as Chechnya and the Star Wars Missile Shield in FOX HUNT, to the scope of the Patriot Act and the capabilities of the UKUSA intelligence agencies in PATRIOT ACT.
So, I start with the big ideas and themes and work backwards, figuring out what it all means for my characters. Generally, I’ll have three pillars in the story that everything works around. Then come all the minor setbacks and roadblocks along the way that Fox has to overcome in order to get what he wants. And each time it’s not a very pleasant journey for him.
What research and planning do you do for your novels?
I love the research component that goes into writing thrillers, and each new book means another world that I get to inhabit for a while. I read heaps of non-fiction, which I generally buy (I am a bibliophile) but sometimes find at a library. I go over interviews with people who have been in the situations that I am depicting in the pages of my books, and I talk to them if I can. With the military pieces I am lucky enough to know some people who have served, and since publication I have some military fans and I’ve even visited some bases. I’m forever asking questions of people to fuel my stories.
The internet is an amazing tool if you can find your way around. Online newspapers are great. There are heaps of honest and often very sad blogs of soldiers and civilians that are directly affected by the circumstances that I write about, and they are something that keeps me grounded. I try harder and harder in each book to get an accurate portrayal of the lives that I am writing about. Suspending the reader’s disbelief, keeping the facts within the realm of entertaining fiction, is the fun part.
I make sure I know who’s who, where they’ll be going, what they are after etc. I need to know my characters motivation, the stakes involved, the hurdles ahead of them, and above all, I need to know where my story is going. I need to be sure that before I type anything, that I’ve written down what the feeling at the end of the story is going to be. Once I know that destination, I may deviate from the hundred or so pages of notes but I will eventually get there. And there’s no feeling like writing that final scene and seeing everything come together.
Why have Lachlan Fox working with the Global Syndicate of Reporters (GSR)?
I figure being in that job, Fox can be in all the hot spots that a spy or soldier could be in, yet he is not bound to serve his country like a spy or soldier would be. I don’t like the idea of being constrained like that, to have to have a character that is working for the government that is often complicit in the events that I am writing about. And let’s face it, people are now distrusting their governments more than ever. Not that all journalists and news services are infallible but I do like that idea that Fox is just after the truth and through that he finds out so much more. I love watching Fox at the start of BLOOD OIL set off on his quest for truth only to discover that this story, for him, will be about forgiveness and identity. He attempts to escape many of his demons yet still has to go down a romanticised version of an act of violent redemption. He seems destined to learn the hard way and I hope that readers like that.
Tell us about your cover designs.
I love them. With FH and PA, the covers were done after I submitted my manuscript to the publishers. The design team read the books and designed several covers to suit the story. My original ideas seem to always end up on the back cover - the world on FH, the Statue of Liberty on PA, the oil derrick on the back of BO. Then we (staff at Hachette, my agents, me, and some family and friends) all weigh in with our views and we choose one, often with the end product taking the elements that worked from two or three covers. BLOOD OIL was a different process in that the cover was designed based on an outline that I wrote for the story. We wanted to keep to the theme of the others, and again we went through a few good ones and picked the most eye-catching and thrilling. As the previous two covers had a helicopter and a fight jet that appeared in each novel’s storyline, I decided to write the Humvee into BLOOD OIL. So, because of this backwards process, the characters of Nix and Top were created, and their epic journey across Nigeria became a storyline. And, like so many of my storylines, I liked that their journey played out to be a plan dubious in its effect, something which turned on its head and reflected one of the moral questions in the book.
Any Lachlan Fox movies in the works?
No, as of April 2008 we have not had the right offer. I’d like to see BLOOD OIL as the first of a filmed trilogy but it needs to be the right film. While there are some screenwriters, directors, producers, and actors who I really admire, there’s still a sense that this book is my baby and I’d like to keep it that way. If I write a book, it’s filtered through my life experiences, what I think is important, how I see the world. And handing that over to someone else to adapt and apply their own vision to is a double edged argument. A film is the product of many people, which is something that does not particularly appeal to me just yet. That said, part of me would be very happy to take some studio’s millions and run! Seriously though, being a novelist is a dream job - I get to write what I want to write, how I want to write it.
Is there a political heart in the books?
This third novel is a much more emotional story than I’ve written before. There’s more morality too. There is a great appetite in the world right now to look at anything cultural that’s American, English and Australian and try to figure out who we are and who we have become in this War on Terror age.
My novels aren’t written with a political agenda in mind. With Fox’s involvement and the perception of the work he’s doing as a reporter, he’s not a piece of the political system. I don’t see this as a political novel at all, in that it’s not left or right skewed. But to me it is about morality. It’s about the way that work and the demands of work can bend people’s personal morality. About the hubris attached with absolute power. About exploring how far is too far. That’s the territory that I’m interested in looking at here.
I think that we are in a time of empathy deficit. Too often we do things without thinking of how those actions will affect others. With this book I wanted to really put the reader in Fox’s point of view, to understand what he was going through. Sometimes, sooner or later we come to realise what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. I wanted the reader to think, how would this make us feel. That’s why the book ends like it does. It’s not entirely neat; we are left in a position where we are still questioning. Perspectives are turned on their head as we think back and reconsider the story and perhaps ourselves. Empathy calls us all to task, shaken out of complacency and forced beyond our limited vision.
Where can I get a signed copy of your book?
I frequently travel the country attending writer’s festivals and visit bookstores for signings. If you have no luck on that front, Hachette, my publisher, has bookplates on file. They’re basically official publisher’s stickers that I have signed and they can send them to you to insert into the book.
