In a film version of your books who would you choose to play the roles of Kurt Stryder, Matt Hawk and other leading characters?
I think it’s every writer’s dream to achieve two things in their career, first to write a best seller and secondly to see their book made into a successful movie. The second one can be fraught with challenges on two counts, the script and the casting.
If Ronin was ever to be made into a movie the casting would be crucial. For Kurt Stryder I would choose Alexander Skarsgard. He has the Nordic look, the tall physique and he’s not a bad actor. For Matthew Hawk, who better than Chris Hemsworth? He has the broad muscular build, the quirky half smile and ice blue eyes. In my opinion he would be perfect for the role. For Zara Hardy I am torn between Gina Torres from Firefly or Rosario Dawson. General Sinclair is a bit tricky, when I’m writing his dialogue I have a certain person in mind but for everything else I think of someone like Stephen Lang from Avatar.
What’s your favourite movie and why?
I have a list of favourite movies that range from as far back as the forties to the present day. It’s incredibly difficult for any movie lover to pick just one but I think I would have to go with Avatar. I like this movie because it does what any good story should, takes you on a journey. In this movies’ case the journey just happens to be to another world. It is a world that is so complete that you sometimes forget that it is a movie. From the skyline and the creatures flying around in the bright sunlight right down to the smallest insects crawling on the incredible vegetation you feel you are there. The 3D effects only enhance this experience, as much maligned as 3D is nowadays, for this movie it worked. The journey would not be complete though without the characters and in Avatar we meet a race that lives in balance with their world who come into conflict with another species who’s only thought is to strip their world of its resources. It’s a cautionary tale, quite moralistic in its telling about what we are doing to our own world and it was not so strange to see humans as the bad guys.