Why those in particular?
It was a choice betweenGremlinsandGhostbusters.
Theyre makingGremlins3 now of course.
Oh wow, I didnt know that.
Chris Columbus is producing.
Its apparently going to be a sequel not a remake, taking theJurassic Worldapproach, like thirty years on.
What do you make of Hollywood resurrecting those films from our childhoods?
I dont mind it if the resurrected film is at least on a par.
Im actually a fan ofThe Texas Chainsaw Massacreremake with Jessica Biel.
Whether or not the Skulduggery movie will ever happen is another story!
Which at that time was Warner Bros?
At that time, yes.
This must be when all the Johnny Depp is playing Skulduggery rumours exploded?
Was there anything to those?
And it came back with a musical segment I understand?
Well, I know the reason.
Not your vision, it would be fair to say!
[Laughs] Notreally, notreallyno, no.
Have you felt any push-back from Warner Bros about your honesty on the failings of that script?
I think it would be different if they didnt agree with me.
The producers got that script and they all went What?
I do tend to be quite upfront about those kinds of things.
I suppose Im not really a team player in that sense.
If the movie is released, itwillbe different to the books.
You say if there will ever be a Skulduggery movie, is that a big question mark now?
Its always a question mark until its actually made.
The script got really, really good if I do say so myself.
Skulduggery was one of those casualties of this change-up.
Its what, April now?
In June the option will be up again so the rights will revert back to me.
Im quite looking forward to that.
The BBC recently announced a big adaptation of the Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy.
Have you thought about doing Skulduggery on television?
Since 2007, the entire television landscape has shifted dramatically.
Some of the best stories are being told now on TV.
More and more special effects are not a problem, you get dragons for Gods sake.
The special effects, computer effects, make-up… could we do it as a TV show?
It would go on for about twenty years!
[laughs]
Stephanie would be in her mid-thirties by the time it ended!
Are you planning to do a JK Rowling in ten years time and return to Skulduggery?
I said from the very beginning its going to be nine books long.
Ive actually given eleven books with the novellas and extra stuff.
No, I said it was nine.
Thats all Im going to say.
Nine is a nice occulty sort of number.
Returning to the film screening event, would you sayNightmare On Elm Streethas a particular bearing on theDemon Roadtrilogy?
There seem to be touches of Freddie Krueger in the character of Dacre Shanks, for instance… Its all very layered.
Everything has a second or third meaning.
Or does it…?
That was me going, what is the most horrific thing I can think of?
It meant it could be a litany of horror tropes.
Like a best-of compilation…
The books have got three or four different points of origin.
Yes, absolute horror stories.
This is the area in which we are regressing and I cant understand it.
On that, theres a section at the end of the first book, when Amber confronts the cat-caller.
Youre absolutely right, I dont want to preach.
About a year ago I said on my blog or on Twitter, Im a Feminist.
I was being the change.
And then I realised that isnt enough anymore.
You mentioned Buffy earlier.
Years ago you said there would be no Valkyrie withoutBuffy The Vampire Slayer.
For me as a writer,Buffyis probably the most important TV show in existence.
I cant say enough good things about it.
And Buffy will change the world so I dont have to do anything!
But you know, shesavedthe world… a lot.
She just didnt change it as much as she should have.
Now I think its up to the rest of us to carry it on.
We self-policed quite well around those books.
I dont think Im traumatised by them.
In English class whenever we got assigned a short story for homework mine would invariably be horror.
It would either be horror or comedy.
It didnt traumatise me in the slightest.
As you said, we policed ourselves.
Content advisory stickers practically telling you what to expect in this book and this movie.
Thats obviously essential for some people and not essential for other people.
The best thing, the healthiest thing is to be open and honest and have a healthy conversation.
If you see something adversely affecting kids, you step in, but I trust them.
My parents trusted me to handle whatever I was into.
Tell me about your character names.
Derek isnt really a cool name, I wanted to be called something like Johnny Rockjaw!
Just something strong and cool.
Suddenly I had about six names that were really evocative and told me who these characters were.
Bizarrely, Im not a fan of the Dickensian mode of like…
…literary nominative determinism?
Then it went back to the old superstitions, to Rumpelstiltskin, folklore and the roots of language.
The moment you put a name on it, you own it.
Its a lion and lions are like this, that is you taking control of the conversation.
Its how language began.
Then it just became somewhat fun because I realised that younger readers would be adopting new names for themselves.
Skulduggery forums are alight with strange sounding people.
I always liked Clandestine for a first name.
Id be Clandestine Saunter.
[Laughs]
Lets talk about cars in fantasy and horror.
Classic American models like the Plymouth, the Dodge… seem to be woven in with horror stories.
Am I right that you drive a Ford Mustang?
I do have one, yes.
So cars and horror.
Theres Stephen Kings Christine, of course.
Skulduggery has the Bentley.
Milo has the Dodge Charger in Demon Road.
Whats the connection there?
Its a very specific American subset of the horror genre.
ItsChristine, itsDuel, its the truck chasing the salesman.
Then you have the Winchester boys driving the Impala, Nosferatu in Joe Hills book with his Rolls Royce.
You could really only trust America to use cars and trucks as a horror fetish.
Only they would be so bold as to imbue a car with evil intent.
I get to have a spooky car!
A Dodge Charger that is haunted.
So its part of the homage.
One of theDemon Roadreviews I read said it felt like binge-watching an exciting Netflix series.
How far do you envisage your stories visually, or in terms of TV and film?
I started out writing scripts.
I wrote two small films made in Ireland.
When I was teaching myself how to write to a professional level it was with screenplays.
Thats how I write now.
Its like how Elmore Leonard wrote, very rarely would you get into the characters head.
So thats how I write.
I dont do an awful lot of internal struggles within the thought process.
I think visually, I think in terms of dialogue.
It is very visual so I do like that binge-watching Netflix comparison, thats nice.
All of which surely makes you a contender to write an episode ofDoctor Who?
[Laughs] Well!
Patrick Ness is my friend, so come on… Patricks doingClass, give me a spin-off!
Since you did thatfiftieth anniversary story, have there been talks about contributing an episode?
There was talk of me writing a book series for one of the publishers.
It was offered to me and I turned it down.
I started in movies and moved to books and suddenly the freedom of books was astonishing.
A single script is different.
Oh, thats right!
Hes who you should probably follow on Twitter.
Presumably then, you have all the gossip aboutClass?
No, and I have resisted asking my agent for any details.
Youre unsullied, as we like to say.
Libraries and second-hand bookshops are where Ilivedas a kid.
I dont understand how they could be so neglected.
Of 22 million people?
38%?Only?
Thats still a lot…
I dont have a coherent answer because its not a coherent question.
It should not even be a question.
Its a library for gods sake!
Im going to get that printed on a t-shirt.
Derek Landy, thank you very much!
