Markus Zusak's Blog, page 11

Looking forward to the opportunity of meeting those of you who can make it to this Q&A and Book Signing on Sunday,

People often ask me why The Messenger is sometimes listed as I am the Messenger.

These two titles are exactly the same book, and the difference came only out of necessity in the USA. The book had already been out in Australia for more than a year, and the problem we had in America was that another book called Messenger was being released at the same time, with the same publisher. The author was Lois Lowry, author of The Giver. At the time, when I was asked to change it, I was pretty haughty (at least in my conjured-up internal conversations) and vowed that I didn’t care if fifty people were putting a book out with the same title. I even considered a more radical change to call it either The Joker or The Gambler. That would have meant a considerable rewrite, though, and that’s something you want to avoid when a book has already been published, as The Messenger was here at home. Still, with about eight years of hindsight, I quite like both titles. That said, if the same thing was to happen now, I’d probably be a bit more obstinate.

As a final piece of trivia, The Messenger was published as Der Joker in Germany. In some countries (Brazil is an example), the publisher used I am the Messenger as the title because they felt it sounded better or more poetic in that particular language.

FIRST BOOK THIEF TRAILER: the Girl, the books & the voice of Death.

And so it is – just on eight years after The Book Thief was first published, here are Liesel, Hans and Rosa, Max and Rudy in the first official trailer for the film, and I can’t lie – I’m writing this with my heart still loud inside me. As I said to a few people close by after watching it: “I’m fine! I’ve just got something in my eye!”

It looks absolutely stunning, and it’s very hard to hold the emotion at bay.

Sophie, Geoffrey, Emily, Ben and Nico all look magnificent…and I will just say to all the loyal readers out there who might be wondering if Death narrates the actual film, as he does in the book:

The answer is an emphatic

YES.

Whilst I’m able to tell you that detail, I can’t say anything else just yet – except that I’m looking forward to seeing how Death enters the screen, and to hearing him speak. Whatever happens, I can leave you now with two small but certain facts:

Just as he does in the book, Death will help look after us.

And he’ll do his very best.

For the people who’ve asked me about The Book Thief being made into a film, I will be posting the trailer in a matter of hours…I can’t wait for all of you to see it. 

Here in Sydney it’ll be 2.30am, and if you think I won’t be up re-watching it, you can think again. I’ll be here.

It’s not every day you read out something like this.

You think of the kitchen where you were first told stories by your parents. You think of a book maybe having a life of its own and doing more than you ever dreamed. You might even contemplate a movie being based on it…but you never imagine that John Williams will compose the score…

Casting news headlines and judgements of character aside, seeing the documentary on Mike Tyson and realising how articulate and intelligent he is isn’t so much a surprise as a revelation. Like with most things, I draw parallels with writing, especially when he says things like this:

   “There’s nothing like fighting when you’re young and you’re happy. There’s nothing more deadly or more proficient than a happy fighter. It’s not the mean or surly fighter, or the tough fighter… that’s not true, it’s the guy who’s most relaxed. The guy who loves what he does, and who’s just happy to be in there doing what he does…”

   I watched that and rewound it and watched it again, reminding myself.

   That’s how you should arrive at a blank page:

   Perennially young. Perennially happy.

   He said it pretty much perfectly.

I woke up this morning here in Sydney to see Sophie Nelisse climbing through the window of my computer screen – although not to steal anything…but to deliver stills from the movie of The Book Thief, and an interview with Brian Percival, and Geoffrey Rush.

To read Brian’s thoughts that Sophie simply was Liesel is quite amazing, and it was also a feeling I had when I met her on the set, back in April. I couldn’t even begin to imagine anyone else playing that role…like it couldn’t be any other way. Maybe it’s a bit like when you’re writing or reading a book, and something just happens. A character starts being completely herself, or himself. You believe everything they do, and say. And that’s exactly how it felt to see Sophie playing Liesel, and to look at these photos today.

It’s hard to choose a favourite shot here, but I think the one where she’s reading to Max (Ben Schnetzer) in the basement is pretty special, but I’m also a sucker for any shot with Nico Liersch in it as well, playing Rudy…

These stills are from this article featured in USA Today

What else could this be but the beginning and end sequence of Chariots of Fire? It’s a film that might be much parodied and – unfairly, unjustifiably, unconscionably! – maligned, mostly for the slow motion sequences. But as the director, Hugh Hudson, so aptly said: “So what? It works.”

   And he’s right.

   To call the film glorious makes glorious an understatement. My favourite line (of too many to count) is when Harold Abrahams says, after seeing Eric Liddell run for the first time:

   “I’ve never seen such drive, such commitment in a runner…He runs like a wild animal. He unnerves me.”

   It’s likely asking too much to be able to write the way Eric Liddell ran, but I’d settle any day of the week for a bit of Hugh Hudson –

   A bit of:

   So what?

   It works.

I’m not sure why I’ve always been attracted to certain themes in writing. One is running. One is boxing. The only fights I ever had while growing up was with my older brother and his friends in our backyard…but they weren’t really real. Sure, I was knocked senseless a few times, but it was still just joking around; there wasn’t the threat of that raw-burning doubt of what would happen next.

   So what is it?

   Why boxing?

   I think as the youngest of four kids, it always took me longer to grasp things. My brother, who was closest in age to me, was a natural at most things that seemed important (like football, like athletics), whereas I generally had to toil to get anywhere close. Maybe I took that attitude into writing (as I have into most things).

   Which brings me to The Half Brother – one of my favourites.I have to admit that whenever I give this book as a gift to someone, they don’t usually thank me; it’s unnervingly massive upon first inspection – but what a book! When I was in Norway a few years ago, I was asked by an interviewer how long my new book was taking. I said, “Four years, so far.” She responded: “Well, The Half Brother took Christensen twenty-five.” That sure shut me up…

    To be fair, there isn’t even that much boxing in the book, but the sequence, midway through – when Fred (the half brother of the title) embarks on a boxing career – is one of the strangest and most compelling victories I’ve ever read.

   Another unforgettable moment is the demise of the boys’ father. As someone who wouldn’t have minded knocking off my own dad at any number of sporting venues in my adolescence, The Half Brother does it in style – and I might be ruining things now (skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want the spoiler) but Death By DISCUS is a pretty embarrassing-yet-poetic way to go…

   In the end, there’s nothing about this book that doesn’t leave a mark on me. It’s one of the sadder books you’ll ever read. It’s also one of the toughest, one of the truest and one of the best…and I can recall the last line to this day. It’s perfect.

For a while I’ve wanted to nail my colours to the wall – or mast, as is often said – and I had a plan for how and when. Sometimes, though, things get taken out of our hands. In this case? My daughter’s homework is pretty damn beautiful this week. (She had to write about her favourite ad.)

And that’s when it hits me – she’s not the only one who needs to get her homework done…I guess we all choose to care about different things, but I’ve found it hard to meet someone who doesn’t agree that animals should see the sun.

(As a side note, a while back, I went to put one of these stickers on my car, and she said, “You can’t do that! Your car’s too dirty!” Damn kid makes a habit of being right, but the sticker has stuck, in more ways than one.)

Credit: Animals Australia: @AnimalsAus #MakeItPossible