They found a clever way in, by creating a backstory.
The novel had no backstory, just a hint that Allie Fox had a disturbed past.
Hes hyperactive, may have spent some time at Harvard, as well as in a hospital.
Paul Theroux ‘The Mosquito Coast,’ Helen Mirren Harrison Ford in the 1986 film adaption. Justin Theroux and Melissa George in the TV series.David Levenson/Getty Images/Everett Collection
I suggested in the book there was something wrong but didnt say what it was.
And that his wife, Margo (Melissa George), has a history of being an eco-terrorist.
I didnt have that, and its a very substantial basis for the narratives that follow.
THE MOSQUITO COAST, from left: Justin Theroux, Melissa George, ‘The Damage Done’, (Season 2, ep. 201, aired Nov. 4, 2022). photo: ©Apple TV+ / Courtesy Everett CollectionApple TV+
THEROUX: As the author of the book, Im fascinated by what theyve made of it.
Theyve done such a great job writing and directing, and the acting is terrific.
Im hoping that it goes into a third season just to round it off.
Is he a Colonel Kurtz figure like Marlon Brando played in Francis Coppolas Apocalypse Now?
The Mosquito Coast fits into that territory.
I dont believe in superheroes.
Allie is a mechanical genius, and also he has a screw loose.
It creates a great narrative for the beginning, for what I wrote in the novel.
A man on the run who creates a kind of utopian society.
And if he falls, Margot will pick up the baton and shell do it.
Not what were used to seeing in movies a lot, the hero without flaws.
One of the things I loved about Joker, he was a very complicated character.
Very funny, very dark, very clever, and very dangerous.
Allie has those same qualities.
Hes very dangerous and reckless.
That recklessness gives him a kind of wisdom, which we often see in great movies.
Thats also true of Colonel Kurtz.
Very reckless, very insightful, and he knows how to lead.
Marlon Brando played him flawed.
Margo has those same abilities.
One of the things that I love about the series is Margo.
I didnt create a believable woman when I wrote the book.
I was obsessed with Allie.
In the book, and the movie with Helen Mirren, Margo mostly goes along.
Shes not a patsy but is passive in a way.
She goes along and trusts Allie.
Margo resists, and thats a great thing.
I didnt put it in the book.
I wish I had actually, but a TV series is a second chance.
We always wish, gee, I wish I could have done that.
When you make a movie or write a sequel, you have the chance to get it right.
DEADLINE: Thats gracious for an author to say about his best known work.
THEROUX: Margo resisting him, thats the human element I wish I had done in the book.
The reason Im flexible is, this is a TV series.
A movie is a completely different art form.
I love what Peter Weir did in the movie.
I collaborated with him on it a lot, but I didnt get a credit.
Paul Schrader did, but Peter Weir and I did a lot of the work there.
And it was the first time I realized how effective music is in a movie.
Music, sound, creates a complete atmosphere that you cant create in a book.
The artistry of film and TV is something I envy.
DEADLINE: There is now a media fixation with nepotism in show business.
How did your nephew come to be the star of this?
THEROUX: It wasnt nepotism.
He did it off his own bat.
I said, really?
I didnt know that.
I said, go for it, thats great.
I had no influence on him other than encouraging him.
He got it on his own and good for him.
DEADLINE: Hed started as a screenwriter, but got a lot of acclaim for The Leftovers.
I felt obliged to ask, because the media has made it a thing.
THEROUX: I know it is.
But, either youre right for a big part, or youre not.
Youre not getting it because youre related to the director, or the author.
Im sure directors girlfriends get parts, but I dont think they get starring roles.
But Americans are very bad expatriates.
Thats why Colonel Kurtz is a good analogy for Allie.
He goes away, he fits in.
It was Africa in the Joseph Conrad novel and the Congo in the movie.
He fits in enough to have all these people protecting him.
Thats Swiss Family Robinson and The Mosquito Coast ideal.
Well start again, make friends and create this little village in the jungle.
In the series, Allie is being pursued so in a way he has to do it.
In the book, he brings an invention that makes ice in the jungle…
I had always thought of a sequel for the book.
Allie dies at the end of the novel, and in the movie too.
He would take the place of his father.
I thought I would let some time pass and I never got around to it.
But I never imagined that the mother would have the mojo to do it.
Her most compelling feature is her resistance against Allie, when she knows hes going wrong.
Melissas character has reason and accountability; she is a complete person.
DEADLINE: But the dark tale they would pick up in Season Three is the same.
Leave a corrupt civilization to start over, and then find the same problems?
THEROUX: Yeah, thats right, because there is no such thing as utopia.
You cant create a pure society, especially if youre basically a flawed character.
Something is gonna go wrong no matter what happens.
You create this society, it seems to be going well, but theres always a flaw.
And the flaw is in the creator.
One of the inspirations for the book was Jim Jones.
Mid to late 70s, Jones was trying to create a utopia in Guyana.
More than 900 people dead.
Talk about an idealist who really had a screw loose.
And it all ends to the mass suicide.
That to me was an American tragedy.
DEADLINE: Thats an extreme comparison to Allie Fox.
But this wasnt a sexual thing with him.
It was power, and paranoia.
Allie isnt demented or paranoid.
