"I have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles"–first-time novelist Daniel Depp talks about LOSER'S TOWN and his famous sibling
December 18, 2008
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Posted by Part-Time Poet
Daniel Depp sat down with journalist Graeme Neill to talk about his first novel, Loser’s Town, and how that Hollywood detective thriller came into existence. The book was finished at his younger brother’s home in France, and with his blessing. Neill writes, “Depp explains that he gave his brother an early version of the novel, saying to him ‘regardless of what everybody says, it’s not about you,'” and that Johnny Depp’s reaction when Loser’s Town was accepted for publication was “ecstatic.” Loser’s Town, described by Neill as “a funny and readable tour through the sleazy underbelly of Hollywood,” is no blatant roman a clef; Daniel Depp “play[s] down assumptions that the book would be full of easily recognisable caricatures of Hollywood stars and moguls.” The elder Depp tells Neill, “It would have been a great opportunity to pay back some people but that wasn’t on the agenda. Maybe it should have been.”
The plot of Loser’s Town features David Spandau, a stuntman turned private investigator, who takes the case of Bobby Dye, a rising star who is having problems with an ambitious gangster named Richie Stella. This is Philip Marlowe territory updated for the 21st century, and Depp’s inside knowledge of the City of Angels gives the novel authority to match its panache. “I have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles,” Daniel Depp says. “It’s like Oz [. . . ]. Everybody is completely made up. Little Betsy Smith from Iowa gets a publicist and becomes Paris Hilton.”
Depp will undertake a nationwide book tour when Simon & Schuster publishes Loser’s Town in March 2009; advance reviews have been glowing. “I don’t think this is grand literature,” Daniel Depp says modestly, “but I wanted to write something entertaining. I love the genre. A lot of the best social criticism comes out of the mystery and thriller genre.”
The Zone thanks Emma for bringing us the interview with Daniel Depp; we hope it is the first of many. You can read the full interview on the Porch forum, or HERE. ONBC has already scheduled Loser’s Town as a book club selection for the spring–be sure to stop by the Zone and join what is sure to be a memorable discussion. –Part-Time Poet
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