Gary Oldman and Douglas Urbanski Publishing Vampire Novel Blood Riders
Debi Moore
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When you think of Gary Oldman, it’s doubtful that you picture him as an author, but that’s exactly what he and his longtime manager/producer Douglas Urbanski are now that they have signed a deal with the Simon & Schuster/Atria Publishing label Emily Bestler Books for the upcoming novel Blood Riders.
Per Deadline, Oldman (pictured below) and Urbanski have written their first novel, which tells the story of a mysterious man fleeing a curse in a town that the Gold Rush left behind. The book is slated for publication in the spring of 2016, and Bestler has acquired world rights to Blood Riders.
Urbanski says, “…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 [were] 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. We’d always been fascinated in the area of cowboys and the Gold Rush. [Literary agent David] Vigliano came to visit…, saw the pile of notes on the kitchen table, and I said, weirdly enough, we were working on something that might work as a book. While in New York on the Planet of the Apes junket, we met with five publishers and got four offers. Now we’re finishing the manuscript and feeling wonderful about seeing the characters come to life.”
Urbanski didn’t provide many details regarding the plot, but said there is a strong protagonist who carries a curse. As for setting it up as a movie or TV project, “[Our] 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.”
Stay tuned for more as it comes!
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