Five things you need to know about Andrew Pyper and his hot new horror novel The Demonologist
Bestselling Toronto writer Andrew Pyper’s newest novel The Demonologist, a supernatural thriller about old books and ancient monsters, comes out today (although Hollywood director Robert Zemeckis already optioned it over a year ago). Below, Pyper talks to us about his his fan posse, his brush with Alice Munro and why he hates writing for movies.
1. His fans are hard to spot
“I have a posse that will show up at my readings and events. It’s kind of a rag-tag oddball team: there’s the old lady who smells like mothballs; the pimply, reclusive and possibly dangerous teenage guy; the slightly sad middle-aged housewife who wants to write Alice Munro short stories. But then they’ll open their bag and pull out the entire Andrew Pyper oeuvre and ask to have it signed. I honest-to-god love them all.”
2. He can’t turn off his thriller writer’s brain
“The other day I was walking home from the Y and saw flashing lights near my house—it looked like a police car and an ambulance. I thought, what if something terrible has happened at my house? What if my children have been injured? What if one of my children has died? At very same time, I started wondering: Could this be a scene?”
3. He has already fantasy-casted the film version of The Demonologist
“I loved Flight [directed by Zemeckis]. Now I can’t think of anyone else but Denzel Washington as David Ullman, the main character of my book. Denzel has a massive talent, he completely delivers, and he’s fucking cool.”
4. He has written for movies, but hates it
“The screenwriting experience is actually quite rewarding, but there are days when you sit in a room and grin, and people just shit in your mouth for hours. I’ve had moments where I have had to call on every ounce of my by WASP-y Presbyterian repression to hold in my anger at the note-giving process, for example. There is nothing that makes me more glad to be a novelist than when I work as a screenwriter.”
5. He has waited on literary royalty
“In my teens, I worked as a waiter in Stratford. One night, during a pre-theatre dinner rush, I saw Alice Munro and her daughter standing at the door about to be told there were no tables. I went to the maître’d and said, A) that’s Alice Munro, and B) we have to get her a table. We sat her in my section.”
. Below, Pyper talks to us about his his fan posse, his brush with Alice Munro and why he hates writing for movies.
1. His fans are hard to spot
“I have a posse that will show up at my readings and events. It’s kind of a rag-tag oddball team: there’s the old lady who smells like mothballs; the pimply, reclusive and possibly dangerous teenage guy; the slightly sad middle-aged housewife who wants to write Alice Munro short stories. But then they’ll open their bag and pull out the entire Andrew Pyper oeuvre and ask to have it signed. I honest-to-god love them all.”
2. He can’t turn off his thriller writer’s brain
“The other day I was walking home from the Y and saw flashing lights near my house—it looked like a police car and an ambulance. I thought, what if something terrible has happened at my house? What if my children have been injured? What if one of my children has died? At very same time, I started wondering: Could this be a scene?”
3. He has already fantasy-casted the film version of The Demonologist
“I loved Flight [directed by Zemeckis]. Now I can’t think of anyone else but Denzel Washington as David Ullman, the main character of my book. Denzel has a massive talent, he completely delivers, and he’s fucking cool.”
4. He has written for movies, but hates it
“The screenwriting experience is actually quite rewarding, but there are days when you sit in a room and grin, and people just shit in your mouth for hours. I’ve had moments where I have had to call on every ounce of my by WASP-y Presbyterian repression to hold in my anger at the note-giving process, for example. There is nothing that makes me more glad to be a novelist than when I work as a screenwriter.”
5. He has waited on literary royalty
“In my teens, I worked as a waiter in Stratford. One night, during a pre-theatre dinner rush, I saw Alice Munro and her daughter standing at the door about to be told there were no tables. I went to the maître’d and said, A) that’s Alice Munro, and B) we have to get her a table. We sat her in my section.”){kind=link}