Gary Oldman Preparing for Launch of First Novel
Oct 30, 2015
Books, News, Oldman, Oldman Interviews
Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) and long time pal and manger-producer, Douglas Urbanski, have signed a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster/Atria Publishing label Emily Bestler Books, for their first co-authored book series, Blood Riders. It is not known how long the series will be, but EW reported that the pair have finished manuscripts for the first three books.
The novel is a vampire saga. Some people groan with dread, as the sub-genre of “vampire saga” has proliferated beyond reasonable control since the publication of the Twilight saga. However, we have reasons to hope for the best for this novel. Earlier this week, a press release announced the series, and gave detail into it’s plot. Personally, I think it sounds fascinating. The press release states:
‘The collaboration of Gary Oldman and Doug Urbanski is one that has spanned 30 years, as actor/manager, director/producer, as friends, and now as co-authors.
“We have always wanted to write a story of vampire cowboys, set in the Wild West, the gold rush—and we have had these characters and this story kicking around in our heads for years. We hope everyone is drawn to Magnus and we envision a series of books that follow his curse and struggles with the forces of good and evil, and also the ever present vampire ingredients of blood, and love,” Oldman and Urbanski said in a joint statement.
“BLOOD RIDERS adds a vibrant new twist to the iconic vampire story making the novel’s hero deeply human, deeply conflicted and deeply original,” Bestler said.‘
The press release goes on to state Oldman and Urbanski’s accomplishments in the film industry over the years, and can be read in its entirety, here. Urbanski gave an interview with Deadline, shortly after the press release, and discussed the book series further. Deadline reports:
‘[It] came about because of the persistence of Gotham-based AGI Vigliano lit agent David Vigliano. He had been coaxing them to write a book on the political landscape or their adventures together (which included the discovery that an imposter posing as Oldman had joined the audition process for the 1999 Andy Kaufman pic Man On The Moon). Urbanski wasn’t swayed.
“I couldn’t think of anything more boring,” he said. “But back in 2009 when Gary was filming Book Of Eli, we came up with this story that had to do with vampires. Whether it might be a film, a series of books or a TV show, we didn’t pigeonhole it but we but buzzed by the idea. We met several times in my kitchen, mapped out the story and where it would go, reinventing the rules and realities of vampires and sex and the power of love. There were rabbit trails that went nowhere, but we concluded that we had landed on something we hadn’t seen done before.‘
‘Urbanski was spare on describing the plot, but said there is a strong protagonist who carries a curse. He said plans haven’t solidified yet on setting it up for a movie of TV project. “First concern is to make sure the book comes out and is really good and we are planning a series of three of them,” Urbanski said. “The first one ends leaving you needing to know what becomes of Magnus, the hero who had a curse placed on him by a vampire.”‘
The rest of the Deadline interview can be read here. A publication date has yet to be nailed down, but the publishing company announced in the press release that they anticipate a Spring 2016 release.
