Contemporary
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What if Hollywood finally called — only to hand you the role of lifetime victim?
Rodney Mullins is a failed screenwriter with a stack of rejections and few shreds of hope. Then Oscar-winning director Marc Kessler offers him the job of a lifetime: shadow the great man, chronicle his films, and maybe — just maybe — Rodney will see his own script reach the screen.
Once on his roller-coaster ride, Rodney’s confidence grows, but attempts to have an influence on what’s happening around him often result in unintended, awkward and sometimes hilarious consequences.
But working with Kessler is no dream. He is capricious: sometimes brutal and humiliating, sometimes a mate, encouraging — and all is complicated by Gloria, Kessler’s dazzling wife, who Rodney is totally smitten by. Does he really believe he can be a better partner to her than Marc Kessler?
Rodney is caught between ambition, obsession, and betrayal in a world where everyone steals something — ideas, hearts, or lives.
When the credits finally roll, will Rodney discover he’s written his own comeback… or his own ruin?
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
A fast moving page turner with continual "laugh out loud" moments. When reading at night my wife complained that my guffaws were making the bed shake.
I loved this book, brilliant characters, especially the protagonist Rodney. Great concept and loved the insight into filmmaking. Look forward to seeing what the author writes next
A quite superb read. Thank you
Unique and entertaining, Peter Wise's super first novel reads as a turbo-charged film script. Reading it felt like I am standing over the shoulder of a mad director re-cutting the scenes an hour before the deadline - you know how the story ends but you're not really sure until the director's "final cut" is screened. One is constantly losing and regaining empathy for the main characters, and the laughs and extreme locales liven up the gloom of Rodney's inevitable heartbreak and disenchantment. But then Peter gives us an ending so fresh and surprising that you smile as you picture the credits roll for the second time. I loved the book and couldn't put it down!
Gore Vidal reportedly once remarked that, when a friend scores a success, a little something dies within him. How wrong the old narcissist was, as I discovered when my friend and fellow septuagenarian produced his very first novel recently. Intriguingly titled “Now a Major Motion Picture” it is a substantial tale taking us through the curious experiences of an unexceptional chap, an unsuccessful script writer, caught up in a bizarre but thrilling experience with a monstrous and successful film director. The story unfolds at a breathless rate, weaving from London to NY, various parts of the States and the Amazonian rainforest. Those familiar with Fitzcarraldo can expect a distant frisson, encouraged perhaps by the overt structure of the novel, unfolding as if it were a film script, complete with stage directions for chapter headings. A large and colourful cast of characters, not a cardboard cut-out in sight, keeps the interest sharp, helped by one magnificent female character of the kind rarely encountered in real life. The plot unfolds in intriguing ways, the pace is controlled yet driving, the characters emerge, strut their stuff, leave the stage, the scenes change and change again, the drama goes on to the neatest, unexpected yet most satisfying, closure I’ve met in a long time. A great achievement, a pleasure to read, a real success; it deserves a sequel. Very highly recommended.
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