One
of the closing highlights of 2010’s Bouchercon in San Francisco, was Rap Sheet Editor
Jeff Pierce passing me a US ARC of Dennis Lehane’s Moonlight Mile, which provided great company for my
long flight[s] back to London. Finally, Moonlight Mile gets a UK release thanks to Little, Brown UK, who have taken over the reins from Lehane’s former UK
publisher Transworld. There are many reviews peppering this long awaited return
of Boston PI’s Kenzie and Gennaro due to the book being released in the US last
year, and now the Shots are getting in on the act.
Despite
Lehane’s busy schedule, Little Brown UK managed to grant our Assistant Editor
Ali Karim, an interview, prior to his upcoming visit to the Theakstons Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. During
our exchange, Dennis
Lehane tells us his thoughts on the film version of Shutter Island, writing on the ‘high wire’, his
favourite Robert B Parker novel and how the novels of Alistair MacLean made an
impact on him.
I know you’ve been busy
with last year’s launch of Moonlight Mile in the US, so can you tell us what the
American reception for the return of Patrick
Kenzie and Angela Gennaro [and Amanda McCready]?
Folks
seem to dig it, and we’d had a long break from each other so it was nice to
hang out again. Amanda McCready [from ‘Gone Baby Gone’] just popped into my
head. I’ve always idly wondered what happened to her, so that probably explains
why she successfully lobbied for a comeback.
Despite being a family
man now, Patrick has not lost any of his ‘blue-collar’ annoyance at the
injustices he sees around him, so do you find it cathartic using Patrick Kenzie
providing a social context to your work?
Patrick’s
always been my way of looking at the world through a kind of modernized version
of my father’s eyes. My father was working class; I’m the son of a working
class, but I’m no longer working class myself. It’s very important to me that
Patrick remain working class.
I know in your early
work, you stated you didn’t plot heavily but did you have to plot more
extensively for Moonlight Mile?
No,
it was high wire all the way. I knew where Amanda was and why she was gone but
everything else was made up as I went. Probably shows too!
And considering the
success of film versions of your work, including ‘Gone
Baby Gone’ - has there been any interest in filming Moonlight Mile?
None
that I’ve heard. The characters are 15 years older than their film versions so
Casey and Michelle would probably have to spend a lot of time in the makeup
chair. Plus the film, as great as it was, was not a commercial success.
Talking of films, are you
interested in writing for the screen after your work on ‘The Wire’? Especially
as your name is now mentioned reverentially in Hollywood circles?
I’ve
written scripts. They just haven’t been produced yet. George Pelecanos and I just wrote one together for
HBO that we’ve got high hopes for.
Your 2003 novel Shutter Island has been one of my all-time favourite
gothic thrillers, So let me know your thoughts about what you felt about the film version?
I
thought it was terrific, made special when I visited the set and met with
Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sir Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo.
I also met Max Von Sydow; it’s a singular experience to shake the hand of The
Exorcist, himself, believe me. Too cool for words!
And what did you feel
about the last line Teddy said at the end of the film which
perhaps made it more accessible for general film audiences?
It’s
an interesting line. My concern was that it be clear that Mark Ruffalo’s
character not hear it. As long as that was crystal clear then I had no problem
with the line. It’s an interesting way to go.
And what did you make of Christian De Meter’s graphic novel version of Shutter
Island?
Loved
it. Gorgeous panels in there. Really well done, I loved it.
Returning back to PI
Fiction, we were all devastated when Robert B. Parker passed away and
reading your fine piece on how important his work was to the Crime /
PI genre, I noticed that you were reading his work from an early age, so which
of his books would you state made an especially ‘big’ impression on the young
Lehane?
A
good half dozen of the books made a huge impression and the sense of humor in
those books had a watershed impact on me, but the one I loved most was probably
LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE.
At last year’s Bouchercon, we noticed that you arranged fellow
Bostonian Chris Mooney to read out your ‘Appreciation of Lee
Child’ speech. Would you care to tell us why you enjoy the
adventures of Jack Reacher? And why Lee Child’s work has risen to the top of
the crime / thriller genre?
Because Lee
does something that looks deceptively easy but is actually near impossible to
pull off. I sure couldn’t do it. He creates a series super hero and makes him
interesting, book after book. And Lee writes pure suspense better than almost
anyone alive.
Talking about Chris
Mooney, why do you think his work is more popular in the UK than he is in his
native USA?
Beats me. I don’t engage in that kind of thinking.
Chris’s publisher should probably figure it out. I love his work, though, so I
wish it were different for him but trying to figure the tastes of an entire
country is a recipe for madness.
I know one thing you
share with Lee Child is that both of you read a lot of Alistair
MacLean in your youth, so tell us a little about what the appeal of
this Scottish thriller was to you, and what were your favourite novels from his
work?
Alistair MacLean would always set up his books with
a basic foundation in which not a single thing you learned would turn out, in
the end, to be true. After you read a few of his books, you’d start to look for
the twists, but you could rarely see them coming. For a twelve-year-old boy,
this was heaven. Plus, a good half of his novels were set during World War II
which I’ve always been fascinated by. WHERE EAGLES DARE is probably my favorite, though I
love them all and he wrote like 30 or 35 of them. Another I loved was called—if
memory serves—SOUTH BY JAVA HEAD.
While at Bouchercon I met up with your agent
Ann Rittenberg and complemented her on her book ‘Your First Novel’ that she wrote with Laura
Whitcomb. I really enjoyed your introduction / preface, so tell us how she was
when you told her that Patrick and Angie would return after ‘The Given Day’?
I told her when we were on a flight to Sweden
together. She was very excited, but I’d also just told her my wife was pregnant
and she was even more excited about that, which is sweet.
I really enjoyed the
political dimensions in The Given Day. Were you surprised that not many people
picked up on the mirror you placed when it came to today’s
‘so-called-war-on-terror’.
I wasn’t surprised, no. Some books take longer to
connect on certain levels than others
Last time we met was in 2009 at Borders UK in Charing
Cross Road in London, and we discussed the economic crisis and the effect on
Publishing. Since then Borders UK went bust, Borders US is not in great shape
either so what are your thoughts on the situation?
I think globalization is starting to reap what it
sowed, which is a terrible result. The problem is that I just write and don’t
know what to think, maybe e-Books will help, but I just don’t know. It’s a
troubling time for the industry.
So with a visit to the
UK this summer, what else have you planned for 2011? And are you writing? And
if so, any hints what might be ahead for your readers?
I’m working on several TV projects here and then my
next novel which involves one of the characters from THE GIVEN DAY and the
Prohibition era in the US.
Thank you for your time
and insight.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Read SHOTS' review on Moonlight Mile
For more information click
here for a video interview with Dennis Lehane as walks the Boston
Beat, that forms the backdrop for Moonlight Mile.
If you want to meet Dennis Lehane, mark your
diaries [21 – 24 July 2011] as he is one of the special guests at this years Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival.
More information about Dennis Lehane’s work is
available from –www.dennislehanebooks.com
An edited version of this feature interview was
first published at www.therapsheet.blogspot.com
