LONDONSPYINTERVIEWABOUTTHINGSSWEDISH!https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/16248/london-spy-writer-tom-rob-smith-talks-about-his-bestselling-novels-and-a-very-personal-family-tragedy/London Spy writer Tom Rob Smith talks about how a family tragedy inspired his gripping novel14:52 9th November 2015 by GT
Tonight BBC Two will be plunged into the dark and murky waters of espionage, as the first episode of London Spy airs on our screens.Starring Ben Wishaw, Edward Holcroft, Charlotte Rampling and Jim Broadbent, the show is a gripping, emotional thriller that sees an innocent, young romantic being dragged into the world of spies.
A few years ago we spoke with the show’s writer, Tom Rob Smith, about his superb novel The Farm, the film adaptation of Child 44 and the BBC’s latest contemporary spy thriller.
Award-winning author Tom Rob Smith has sold millions of copies of his trilogy Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6 worldwide. Now he’s back with a very different thriller, The Farm, and a TV series in the works. Rob opens up to GT about how a family tragedy inspired his gripping new novel, and visiting Tom Hardy on set for the movie adaptation of his debut novelWhat is The Farm about? It’s a psychological thriller set on a Swedish farm. The premise is simple – Daniel is in London when he gets a phone call from his dad in Sweden to say his mum is very ill and in a psychiatric hospital, and Daniel needs to visit her. Then his mum calls to say everything his dad has said is a lie and he’s involved in a terrible conspiracy. Daniel has to decide whether to believe his mother or his father.
Where did you get the idea? This happened to my family three years ago. I got the phone call from my dad and I was going to the airport when my mum called. I met her at Heathrow Airport, brought her back to my flat and she told me in a concentrated four-hour burst a series of allegations about my dad.
That must have been worrying? I had no experience of mental health problems, and I was drawing from clichés like
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, thinking as soon as she arrived at the airport, I’d instantly know whether she was ill or not. But she was so convincing, she never said anything implausible. It was like being hit by a wall of brilliant story telling. In the end I came down on the side of probability.
How did you mum feel about her breakdown being the inspiration for this story? It would have been impossible to have written it unless my mum got better, which she did after treatment. I told her I wanted her story to be the basis of my novel and I think it’s hard for someone to comprehend what that actually means. It was still hard when she read the first draft but she came around to it. It’s a story about someone who I’m very proud of, although apart from her psychosis, the story is all fiction.
Daniel has his own secrets too. Yes, because if you have a character – in this case his mother – who is telling you secrets about someone, you want the person listening to have secrets of their own. And who keeps secrets better than a gay person who hasn’t come out? I hid my sexuality from my parents for years and years, so I knew very well how people can hide things and present something to someone so convincingly and even lie to yourself.
When did you come out to your family? I was 22. I was writing a lot, and you cannot honestly be a writer and be in the closet. You have to analyse the psychologies of your characters and work out their truths. And if you can’t do that with yourself, what hope is there for you as a writer?
How did they react? I’d love to say they were thrilled and there was champagne. But the problem is I left it till the age of 22, so my parents hadn’t seen it coming. And I’d had very close relationships with girls. So my parents wondered how they didn’t see it. We hadn’t fallen out and no terrible words were said, but a gap opened up and it felt like it was going to be permanent. Then this event happened to my mum and we were thrown back together in a very intimate way.
Do you wish you had come out earlier? I don’t have many regrets but I do regret not coming out at university because it wouldn’t have mattered. I’m glad I didn’t come out at school though because it would have been a disaster as it was a very homophobic place.
Child 44 is being made into a film, starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman. Have you been on set? Yes, twice in
Prague. There were little ‘pinch yourself’ moments where I’d go into the catering tent and there’d be a menu up with the words ‘Child 44 starter’ over the soup and I’d think ‘God, that’s the title I came up with.’ There’s a scene I watched between Tom and Noomi that I clearly remembered writing on my crappy laptop ten years ago. Watching them play it out was slightly surreal.
Have you had any input into it? No, it was strange being divorced from the process but quite pleasant in some ways, because you don’t have to work on it – you sit around, enjoy the catering and watch a bit of filming. I won’t see the rough cut of it though. I am dying to see the film but I’m happy to wait until they’ve ironed out any problems and all the special effects have gone in.
Each country your books are published in uses a different cover… Yes, because the cultural differences between countries are enormous. Some of the covers are beautiful and didn’t sell well and some are ugly and sold amazingly. Some of them are just plain weird. The Iranian copy of Child 44 has a picture of a dead child on the front.
You live with your partner Ben Stephenson, drama commissioner at the BBC.
Do you let him read your stories as you’re writing them? No. He’ll read an advanced copy but only once it’s in a good state. And I never read anything he’s working on. The first time I ever see anything he’s commissioned is at a screening. We’re always sharing opinions about stuff, but I have such particular tastes it’s unfair to pick up another writer’s project and start giving my thoughts.
How long have you been together? For ten years; we met when I was script editor for Bad Girls and he worked as a development executive for the production company. It was one of the worst jobs I ever had and they hated me, so I only lasted five months; I didn’t even make the end of the series. So Ben was the only remnant that came from that experience!
Do you plan to get married? Neither of us are really into ceremonies. Three years ago, it would’ve been a categorical “no”, but now I’m less categorical. It’s a great thing to say, “listen everyone, let’s have a party and celebrate it”, but you need the energy to want to do it because it takes a lot of work. And I don’t quite feel like I have the energy for it yet.
What are you working on next? A TV series that will be finished in the summer. It’s five-episodes and a BBC2 and HBO production; a contemporary spy thriller set in London. I knew it had to be for TV because with a gay relationship at the centre of the story, it would have been impossible to fund a movie. Filming begins winter next year and I have one specific actor in mind – but I’ll weep if he doesn’t want to do it!
[
"I knew it had to be for TV because with a gay relationship at the centre of the story, it would have been impossible to fund a movie. Filming begins winter next year and I have one specific actor in mind – but I’ll weep if he doesn’t want to do it!"HA!!! We know who! Good thing it all worked out!
]
