1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,359 Speaker 1: The Messenger starts at eight twenty on Sunday on ABC 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: and ABC I View. It is an eight part series 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: for those unfamiliar with the stories by a young taxi 4 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: driver who becomes an accidental hero after he stops a 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: robbery and receives a playing card in the mail. And 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: the writer Marcus Sussac is with us now. Good morning, MICUs, 7 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: Good morning. Thanks for having me, Thanks for joining us. 8 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: It's an absolute pleasure. You published The Messenger over twenty 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: years ago. Did you always hope that it would get 10 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: from the page to the screen. 11 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 2: Well, I think back then I definitely did, and that 12 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 2: because I thought it's the only way it'll ever get 13 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 2: any publicity, you know, because you start writing and no 14 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 2: one care, and so it's something I need a movie, 15 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 2: And then you go, actually no, I don't. The book 16 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 2: will be all right, and then twenty one years later 17 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 2: someone might make a TV series. It's pretty funny, really. 18 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 3: It's actually pretty cool, to be honest, that's very cool. 19 00:00:59,240 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 2: Yeh. 20 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 3: A bit of this kind of thing going on, likes 21 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 3: of Leon Mariarty and the like getting snapped in a 22 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 3: lot of their work getting snapped up, which is which 23 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:07,639 Speaker 3: is awesome to see makers. 24 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's you know, I think it's just a 25 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 2: fascinating thing to see how someone else translates to book. 26 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 2: And so the righting of the show, you know, their 27 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 2: geniuses really and they get almost no credits. So you know, 28 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 2: people like Sarah Lambert and Kirsty Fisher they wrote the 29 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 2: TV so and I'm sort of in awe of them. 30 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 2: So yeah, no pressure on the. 31 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: Really speaking of that though, I mean, it is your baby. 32 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: How much artistic input do you get into the making 33 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: of a show like The Messenger or indeed when they 34 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: turn you know, books like the book theF into movies. 35 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a lot depends on how inclusive the 36 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 2: producers are, and in this case, they were really inclusive. 37 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 2: They were really respectful to the book, even though they've 38 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 2: got to change things, you know, and that's going to 39 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 2: change things because it's different mediums. But they really kept 40 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 2: the heart of the book. And so I think the 41 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 2: TV series is better than the book in a lot 42 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 2: of ways. Big humble, Well, it's true. I mean because 43 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,519 Speaker 2: across a you know, now I'm going to make excuses 44 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: that statement, which is across covering myself now, across across 45 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 2: an episode, I sort of get to they've made the 46 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 2: world of the book bigger and they can go deeper, 47 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 2: you know, more often into the characters. So you know, 48 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 2: I'm so happy with it. I really love it. And 49 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 2: anytime you want to associate yourself with something that's been 50 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 2: made of one of your books, I mean, that's such 51 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 2: a huge plas. 52 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 3: Might have surreal with the screening, And did you sit 53 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 3: down and watch the whole thing at once? 54 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 2: I saw the first two episodes with the producers and 55 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 2: and Sarah Lambert, who was the main writer, and they 56 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 2: sat up the back. I sat up the front with 57 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 2: my wife, you know, and I think that was sort 58 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 2: of thing we'll just show on the first team, you know, 59 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 2: we'll see how that goes, and you know, and I 60 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: just loved it. And then we watched the next six 61 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,399 Speaker 2: pretty much back to back at home, and I think 62 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 2: it gets better as it goes, and you know, by 63 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 2: the time you hit episode seven and eight, you're just 64 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 2: totally in and you're really invested in the characters, and 65 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 2: you know, and you're sort of cheering for them, you know, 66 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 2: and you can't ask so much more than that. 67 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: I think, Well, The Messenger was one of the first 68 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: books you wrote, but We've got to talk about just 69 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: a couple of things you've done since, particularly a book 70 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: that I think features in the top ten favorites of 71 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: most people I know, my bookie friends, and that's the 72 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: book Thief. Congratulations on one of the most beautifully written 73 00:03:58,320 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: stories I've ever read. 74 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. I mean I was writing that book, honestly, 75 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 2: and I thought, no one's going to read this. Yeah, well, 76 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 2: I thought, you know, I imagine someone trying to recommend 77 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 2: it to their friends and the friend says, what's it about? Well, 78 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,720 Speaker 2: you know, set in Nazi Germany, narrated by death, nearly 79 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: everyone dies, and it's five hundred and eighty pages long. 80 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 2: You'll love it, Yeah, you know. So I just I 81 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 2: think it just shows you that, you know, sometimes the 82 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 2: best way to achieve any kind of success, especially in 83 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 2: something like writing, is to imagine that there'll be no 84 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 2: success at all, And that's how you stay pure to 85 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 2: what it has to be. And that's every time there 86 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 2: was a risk to be taken with that book, I'd go, oh, well, 87 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 2: no one's going to read it anyway, I might as 88 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 2: well just do what I want. And I think that's 89 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 2: how it became such a pure piece of work and. 90 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: Such a best seller. 91 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I honestly could you know, I still to 92 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 2: this day, you know, and now that's going at fifteen 93 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 2: or sixteen years that that came out, and that box 94 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 2: sort of had the legs, and you sort of go, 95 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 2: I still never take it for granted. I can't. I 96 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 2: can't sit around boaking and do the on the waterfront speech. 97 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 2: You know, I never got my shot at the time. 98 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 2: I've had my breaks and then some so you know, 99 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 2: I'm just really fortunate. 100 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 3: Well that is very and you don't want writers to 101 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 3: be you know, have that in their mind about what 102 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 3: it may become later on. You don't want to alter 103 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,039 Speaker 3: what theism of the magic you might come up with. Marcus. 104 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 2: No, that's right, and you just don't know. I mean, 105 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 2: and look at this in the case of The Messenger, 106 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 2: where twenty one years later something happens for it, and 107 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 2: so you've you've got to think, I might not be 108 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 2: rewarded for this at all, or you know, to a 109 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 2: lesser extent, I might not be rewarded for this now 110 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 2: you know, it might might come later on, you know. 111 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 2: So it's just one of it's one of the nice 112 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 2: vistical parts of the job. But you don't know where 113 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 2: or how any kind of success is going to come. 114 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: Do you enjoy narrating the audio versions of your books? 115 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: I know you've done Bridge of Clay, which is another 116 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: lengthy time absolutely so different to the book They've too, 117 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: a really quintessentially Australian sort of epic tale. How do 118 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: you enjoy narrating them? 119 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 2: I'll tell you what I'm never going again. You know, 120 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 2: there's one of those things that go, yeah, all right, 121 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 2: I've done that now, purely because I wasn't very good 122 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 2: at it, I think, and you just you've got to 123 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 2: recognize where it like. Sometimes you've got to put yourself 124 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 2: into darker waters because you never know what your capabilities are. 125 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 2: And I just think, you know, when actors do something 126 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 2: like that, you might sit there and say, oh, they 127 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 2: missed a good line or they missed a good moment, 128 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 2: But for everything they miss they find ten things in 129 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 2: something you wouldn't have gone. You know, you got something 130 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 2: out of And so I think next time I'll absolutely 131 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 2: lead back to the professional I'm glad I did it, 132 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 2: but I've done that. Yeah, it was a good way 133 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 2: to say goodbye to a book that took me thirteen 134 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 2: years to write. 135 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: I was wondering how long it took to write. 136 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 3: Well. 137 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: The Messenger begins eight twenty Sunday on ABC and ABC 138 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: I view cannot wait. Marcus. Thank you from me for 139 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the joy that you have brought to my book reading 140 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: days because the book Thief and Bridge Clay are two 141 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: of my favorites, just absolutely beautiful pieces of work. 142 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 2: Thank you so much. You know it means the world 143 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 2: because you never think anyone's going to read what you've written, 144 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 2: So you know. 145 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 3: I'm glad any doubt and don't worry about it. Mircus. 146 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 3: I can see the excitement in the building and the 147 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 3: wave of excitement through book clubs across per and you 148 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 3: were going to talk to you today, so it's good, 149 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 3: absolute pleasure. 150 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you Martin. 151 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: It's lovely to talk to you same here. 152 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 2: Have a top day.