The author breaks down the three major inspirations behind his latest thriller.
Writers are always searching for inspiration.
Everyone loves a Grecian yarn, and Michaelides who hails from Cyprus, is particularly influenced by his homeland.
Alex Michaelides; The Fury.Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty Images; Celadon Books
Then, there’s the two inexhaustible forces of Hollywood and therapy.
But we’ll let Michaelides tell you more as the author reveals his three big inspirations.
Bad weather traps them on the island and theres a murder.
And thats just the beginning…
I had more fun writingThe Furythan anything else Ive written.
It was inspired by three major passions of mine Greek islands, Hollywood, and therapy.
GREEK ISLANDS
I grew up on the small island of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean.
Small islands are strange places everything seems magnified, heightened, in a claustrophobic, isolated space.
Sometimes you feel so trapped, you feel desperate and you take actions that would otherwise be unthinkable.
HOLLYWOOD
I was an anxious child, shy and nervous.
I spent a lot of time alone, and I used to escape into films.
I was obsessed with movie stars from Marilyn Monroe to Cary Grant to Julia Roberts.
I imagined they all lived in Hollywood, a magical, mythical land over the rainbow.
I had the idea that if I could just get there, I would finally be happy.
Decades later, I got my wish, and I worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter.
I was around some very famous people, and they didnt disappoint.
Being on a film set is an intense experience.
you’ve got the option to run away over the rainbow but you still take yourself with you.
All the anxious, frightened feelings that plagued me as a child had followed me thousands of miles away.
He was running from his past, trapped on a Greek island, together with some larger-than-life actors.
I threw in a murder… andThe Furywas born.
