"The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen," by Thomas Caplan
Jeff Glor talks to Thomas Caplan about "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen," a thriller about a former covert operative who has, by accident, become the number one film star in the world. It sounds outrageous, but Caplan has some great insights on how both Washington and Hollywood work. Bill Clinton, Caplan's long-time friend, wrote the introduction.
Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?
Thomas Caplan: That's difficult to say with precision. I worked for the old MGM when I was much younger, between years at Business School, and have always had a love of things Hollywood. In a way, it has often seemed to me that this astonishing country was invented twice: originally, by our Founding Fathers; then, in the world's imagination (as well as many of our own), by the old movie moguls and the brilliant artists who wrote, directed, acted in and otherwise contributed to their studios' films, especially the classics. So, in part, Ty Hunter, the spy turned movie star turned spy who is the hero of "The Spy Who Jumped Off The Screen," springs from that feeling and experience. Another aspect of Ty derives from the fact that, often for almost accidental reasons, I have been lucky to have had rather a lot of experience of Washington. As a sixteen year old, I worked at a summer job that exposed me to the White House of John Kennedy. I attended the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and so lived in the city for four years. Then, much later, having been a friend of President Clinton since our first day as freshmen (both our last names begin with C, so we were assigned rooms a few doors away on the same corridor), I was again fortunate to have an intense and sustained exposure to the presidency. Even so, the germ of the idea that fame could serve as a cloak, that a seemingly prototypical golden boy might possess more dimensions and aptitude as well as a more complicated and interesting psychology than was at first apparent occurred to me out of the blue. I was driving when it happened, on my may to the house of friends. I will never forget that moment.
JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?
TC: Many things! It's a cliche to say that characters have a way of taking on a life of their own, but it is true nonetheless. With every draft, Ty's history and perspective and emotions acquired detail, not because I would impose it, but because, as if involuntarily, I would find myself peeling back the onion skin of his life and character. The same was true for Isabella, Ty's love interest; for Oliver, his English sidekick; for Ian and Philip, the novel's arch-villain and his coolly attractive but nefarious acolyte, and even for more minor characters. The turns of the plot surprised me, too. I would be writing, perhaps hours into the working day, when something I had seen and all but forgotten would suddenly rise to the surface of my mind like once-buried treasure that had found its way loose. There is a scene with a merchant's you young son in Tangier that comes to mind, another in a jewelry workshop in Rome. Actually, there are too many to count.
JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?
TC: No doubt going mad! Just kidding. Once upon a time I might have been a lawyer or gone into politics, I suppose. And, if I had it to do over again and could go back far enough, if writing were not to be an option, there is no question I would like to have become a doctor.
JG: What else are you reading right now?
TC: "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. It's brilliant.
"Wired for War" by P.W. Singer
"The Hare with Amber Eyes" by Edmund de Waal
JG: What's next for you?
TC: The first sequel to "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen." At the moment, it is still without a perfect title, but I am about three-quarters of the way through a first draft. I hope to write one Ty Hunter novel each year. As I've said before, it is not difficult to get up and go to your desk every morning when your job consists of imagining that you are the number one film star in the world, at the peak of your powers at thirty-two, irresistible to women and armed with the strength, skills, ingenuity and intelligence to defend civilization against the intricate, devious designs of invariably charming but, beneath that, megalomaniacal adversaries.
MORE VIDEO:
Jeff Glor talks to author Thomas Caplan about his decades-long friendship with Bill Clinton, as well as his role in Caplan's new novel, "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen."
Jeff Glor talks to Thomas Caplan about his new novel, "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen" and the book's charismatic hero, Ty Hunter, a former covert operative and the number one film star in the world.
For more on "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen" visit the Penguin Group website.