Janet Evanovich Interview - One for the Money

Ok, so some days I really love my job! Well every day I love what I do, but some days I really really really love it. This was one of those days.

Today I had the pleasure of a 15 minute interview with one of my favorite authors, Janet Evonovich. She writes the Stephanie Plum Novels, and One For the Money just came out in the movie theaters.

I used small pieces of the interview for stories that ran on the air today, but figured I would share the rest with everyone.

Here's the audio (transcript is at the end of the post)

　



And here's the trailer for the movie that opened today -




and wanna go for 1/2 off... there's a Groupon if you get it in the next couple of hours!

Transcript of my interview with Janet Evanovich:

M.M. : When you saw the script, and now that you've seen the movie, how did they do in taking the book and putting it on the screen?

J.E. : Well I never saw the script. I really didn't have any part in the production of the movie. This was sold way back when my first book came out, 18 years ago. I kind of lost track of it. You know, once in a while I would get a phone call and they would say, you know we've attached a screenwriter. But nothing ever happened. So, I had become pretty casual about the whole production. When they finally really went into production my schedule was so congested that I just didn't have a whole lot of time to participate. So, I was surprised by the movie.

When they finished the movie they asked me to screen it and they brought it down here to Naples for me. I was really terrified, you know, because I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid it might not be fabulous and what would I say? But the movie is great. I love the movie. I think they did an amazing job of translating that first book. The first book is a little darker and has a little more grit to it then the rest of the series. After I did that first book I decided to homogenize the tone a little bit more and to make everything a little bit lighter.

So, this is very much an action adventure film. It has some sexy moments and it has some funny moments but by no means is it a chick flick. It really is a very good representation of the book.

Katherine Heigl is fabulous. She is absolutely Stephanie Plum. She had a voice coach so she got the jersey accent right. She had the dark, unruly, curly hair. And she is just so talented. She has such good comic timing. She's such a good physical actress. There's a scene where she just takes this guy down, she clotheslines him. Take him down to the ground and Custan. I loved it. I was so relieved when I saw the movie because, you know, I thought wow I think my fans are really going to like this

M.M. : How was it seeing, one of your babies on that screen? You've been writing these for years and to actually see how people are going to see it in that light?

J.E. : I went to the theater with the attitude of you have to keep an open mind. I tried to go into the theater as a fan and not as the author. I think anytime a book is translated into a movie you have to realize it's not going to be your perfect image. You've created these characters in your head and no one is ever going to totally replicate that. So, I tried to keep this in mind. I think that when you walk into that theater what you really hope for is a good movie experience. You hope that you enjoy it. You hope that it has some of the same elements of the product that you like, the book that you love, but you have to be a little open.

Now, having said that, they did a pretty darn good job with this movie. I couldn't have asked for a better Stephanie Plum. Joe Morelli who was the Trenton cop that she's tracking down, in my book he's this Italian guy. Of course they cast Jason O'Mara, this Irish guy. But after about 45 seconds, you really don't care. He is so much the role. He is just perfect as this cop. And I found that pretty much to be true, once the movie started I was just enjoying the movie. I was just loving being there. I was into the story. I was hooked into the characters.

I have this character grandma Mazer who I portray being kind of like a soup chicken, you know she's this little, skinny little old lady that gravity has not been kind to. For whatever reason they chose to cast Debbie Reynolds in this role. Debbie Reynolds is by no means a soup chicken. Debbie Reynolds is still a very pretty lady. And she gave her own interpretation of grandma Mazer and she was fabulous she was so funny, and I really appreciated her the second time I saw it. I screened the movie a couple weeks ago. And then, I was at the premiere this past week and I saw it a second time. I realized just how funny Debbie Reynolds was in this role and I thought to myself "Oh man, I wish I had made Grandma Mazer Debbie Reynolds. I like that character better than the one that I actually created."

M.M. : That's quite a compliment to the movie makers.

J.E. : Yeah, yeah, they worked very hard, I think, to keep the integrity of the book and the series. It really shows.

M.M. : This is a movie that anyone can go see but for folks in New Jersey that are going to recognize the locations, the accents, the hair, the stereotypes to go with New Jersey, how do you think they're going to feel going in? Is it even more personal?

J.E. : Yeah I think it is. You know, it wasn't filmed in Jersey. I'm not sure exactly why not. I suspect it was financial reasons which is usually why locations are chosen, talent pools, tax breaks, you know all that kind of stuff. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, which they tells me looks a lot like Jersey. The house where Stephanie lives really does resemble the burg. The kind of gritty part of town where some of it takes place, I call it Stark Street, they scouted a pretty good location. They actually made it a little grungier, I think, then I had in mind when I created the story. But, it's very effective. I think people in Jersey are going to love it. Anybody that can embrace Jersey shore has to have a decent imagination anyway, because that really is stereotype Jersey, and my book is not quite that far yet.

M.M. : So I have to ask this on the side. How loved are you by the Trenton cops for making them all sound hot and sexy?

J.E. : (laughs) I have a really good relationship with the Trenton police. I love those guys. They've been really helpful to me. I have a couple friends who will be friends for life. I have a very good relationship with them and they have a very hard job. I would not want to be a Trenton cop.

M.M. : So you're down in Florida now?

J.E. : Yes I'm down in Naples. We got tired of the cold and a bunch of years ago we bought a house down here. I had been living in New Hampshire which is a very beautiful but for a girl from Jersey, you know, not so much. After the first year of being granola woman I just, I needed a mall. I needed shoes. There was nothing to do it night. There was no shopping. I just missed my jersey fix. So I wasn't ready to go to Jersey. I think if I ever move back to Jersey I'd probably never get a book written because I'd always be at Macy's and that wouldn't work for me. But, we did get this house in Florida that was supposed to be a mud season house for a couple months and then we just fell in love with Naples. So we almost never go north anymore. We stay here full-time.

M.M. : You were my introduction to Jersey through the books. And then I got the job up here in New York and I'm living in Jersey and thought okay I have the basics.

J.E. : Yeah, right, I got it down. I was like that the first time I went to London on a book tour. I knew everything because I had been reading Regency romances.

M.M. : Nice! Was anything else you'd like to add about the movie?

J.E. : I don't think so. It's out now and we hope it's going to be a success because then they would make more. And I think that there are a lot of fun books out there that I would like to see translated into a movie. Especially, in book 2, Stephanie Plum kicks Joe Morelli out of the car naked. You know, he only has his gun. I would like to see that happen to Jason O'Mara, who by the way is even hotter in person than he is on screen. And he's a really nice guy. But, I could go there!

In this movie, one for the money, the one that's out now, Stephanie Heigl is naked. She gets chained to the shower curtain rod in the book and they did it in the movie. And Jason O'Mara, who plays Morelli, is going through her apartment and emptying out big jugs of cheese doodles and you know, so he tells me that that scene took all day to do. For whatever reason, he was like Darn it, I just couldn't get it right. It had to take all day.

Tanker Truck Fire in Elizabeth Nj

Today I was out covering the story of a car the crashed into a tanker truck in Elizabeth, NJ.

Once again I marvel at emergency workers and the hard jobs they do.

A car hit a gas tanker and they both went up in flames. Rescue workers had a hard battle with it from the beginning. This is a picture I got from Mario, who worked at the gas station across the street.


"About 8,000 gallons of gasoline involved in fire. Elizabeth police tried to make an initial rescue, but it was too hot and they were driven back." said Elizabeth Deputy Fire Chief Lathey Wirkus.

The driver of the car was killed in the crash. But getting the fire out was not their only problem. There was spilling fuel.

"Gasoline did get into some of the sewer systems," said Wirkus, "We've done monitoring of all the homes in the area to ensure explosion levels are not there. We continue to apply foam that keeps the vapors down.

There was a literal sea of that white foam that was floating down 1 & 9, but he said that was necessary to keep the fumes down and from being able to ignite. They spent much of the morning siphoning fuel from the wrecked tanker into a new vehicle and then clean the roadway.

siphoning the fuel


The sea of foam


a close up... looks like clouds doesn't


See how far the truck is from the traffic light behind it... it's a good distance...


but the heat was so intense it burned and melted the traffic light


A video of the foam operations by the tanker.



and a video about 1/4 mile down the road of foam blowing/floating by.