"I should've gone to lunch with Martin Amis, because by that point I loved him." Carol Morley
My Martin AmisShow Notes
Martin Amis's 1997 novel Night Train followed a trifecta of bestsellers: Money, London Fields and The Information.
Written as a dark parody of the noir genre, Night Train follows female detective Mike Hoolihan on an investigation into the suicide of a woman named Jennifer Rockwell. Her death is near total mystery to everyone who knew her, including Hoolihan. Prior to her death, Rockwell appeared to live a perfect life accentuated by her own physical beauty. Stranger still is the suggestion, based on the forensics, that Rockwell had shot herself in the head three times.
Night Train was adapted to screen in 2018 by film director, screenwriter and producer Carol Morley. In this episode, Morley speaks to Jack about how the opportunity came to her, her first impressions of the novel, and how in the process of adapting it she found a deep connection with both Hoolihan and Amis. The adaptation was named Out of Blue, a though it received mixed reviews, Amis emailed Carol to say he was pleased it had been made.
Carol speaks candidly about the process of collating the images around which to build the story, her research into American police investigations into homicide, and her last thoughts about the mark Amis left on her as a reader and film director.
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