On March 15, the absolute premiere of “Sleeping Dogs” will take place in cinemas in Romania – the first film shot in Hollywood based on a book by a Romanian author. The main role will be played by Russell Crowe, an actor who won an Oscar in 2001.

Sleeping Dogs is the story of a former detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss who must solve an unsolved crime from the past.

The novel at the heart of this production is The Book of Mirrors, and it’s by a Romanian who was born in Fegeras and left his career in Romania to devote himself fully to writing.

Eugene Ovidiu Hirovici has published more than 15 fiction novels, as well as essays or special books on economics/politics. He has also collaborated with important Romanian TV and radio stations, as well as the BBC or Radio Europa Liberă, and has published more than 1,000 articles in various publications.

At the same time, he served for seven years as the Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Romania, he was also State Counselor on Economic Matters and Councilor of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania for four years, until 2012.

He then moved to England for five years, then to Brussels and Florence, cities between which he still travels.

HotNews.ro spoke with EO Chirovici to find out more about the film adaptation of his book, which at the time of its publication was considered an “international editorial phenomenon” (The Guardian).

“The Book of Mirrors” was sold in more than 38 countries around the world.

“Only in Germany, for example, the final offer for the publication of the book reached 440,000 euros”

You are the author of over 15 novels, what inspired you to write The Book of Mirrors and why do you think this one was so successful out of all your novels?

Evgeny Kirovichi: Maybe because it was my first novel written in English and published through a literary agent. Major publishing houses in the Anglo-Saxon world receive manuscripts not directly from authors, but through literary agents.

Agents forward manuscripts to both editors and producers for possible adaptation. Of course, a major film producer receives tens or even hundreds of thousands of offers a year from all over the world, so the competition is fierce.

Anyway, The Book of Mirrors was, in my opinion, the best novel I had written up to that point.

Can you tell us a little bit about how The Book of Mirrors first came out? I know that several American literary agencies rejected it at first, but a publisher in England published it, and so the book went into over 30 countries, becoming a worldwide bestseller.

There is such a confusion that exists in our country between a publisher and an agent. The publisher is the one who publishes the manuscript, the literary agent (impresario) is the one who acts as an intermediary in its sale on behalf of the author.

Yes, my manuscript was rejected by several agents (not the publisher) in the United States only to finally receive an offer of representation from a British literary agency (not the publisher).

These rejections are natural, and every author experiences them until they find the right literary agent. This doesn’t mean that your project has no literary and/or commercial value, it’s just that the agent you’ve approached doesn’t think it’s a good fit for them for various subjective reasons.

Once you sign with an agent, they, as I said, start sending the manuscript to publishers, both domestically and internationally, for possible translation.

“The Book of Mirrors” immediately aroused great interest. If several publishing houses in the same country are interested in publishing/translation, the agency representing you organizes an auction, the winner of which is the one who undertakes to pay the largest advance and secure the largest circulation.

Seven publishing houses participated in the auction in England, 11 in Germany, eight in France, and so on. Therefore, the amount received from advances was very, very large.

In Germany, for example, the final bid reached €440,000 (Random House Verlag). Only two weeks after submitting the manuscript, there were already firm offers from 27 countries. So far, the book has been translated into 39 languages.

But be careful, the advances are very high during the auctions I mentioned. If not, the advance will be no more than $15,000, at best $20,000.

In general, writers did not earn much money, even in culturally and economically strong countries such as England or Germany, and few of them could afford to live on writing alone. In Germany, for example, only about 30 authors make a living from literature alone.

How was your book adapted? How did you find out and what is your participation in the whole film project?

As I already said, in parallel, the manuscript is also offered to film producers. I received an offer from Pouya Shahbazian (one of the producers of Sleeping Dogs) in December 2015, a year before the book was published.

The financial terms offered were very good, the script was to be written by two Hollywood veterans, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, so I accepted the offer. The pandemic caused a delay of two years, but then the project took off.

I refused to participate in writing the script, even though I was offered to do it, because it is a completely different job, and in this interview I would not have enough space to explain the difference between writing a novel and writing a screenplay for a film. Of course, I kept in constant contact with the producers and screenwriters and was informed at every moment about the progress of the project, but that’s all.

In cinema, the financial stakes are huge, teamwork is important, so everyone does their job: casting tries to find the most suitable actors, producers deal with financial mobilization, etc.

Why was the title “Sleeping Dogs” chosen for the film adaptation?

The Book of Mirrors is the title of a novel, not a movie. In English, “sleeping dogs” means things that should be forgotten because once they are mentioned, they do more harm than good.

An appropriate title for a film whose main character is, in fact, human memory. The film largely retains the story and characters from the novel, but is based more on the third part of the book, centered on Roy Freeman, played by Russell Crowe.

BTW, Freeman is my favorite character too, I’ve always said that.

How do you feel knowing that your literary work will reach an international audience thanks to a film with famous actors, especially one who is very attractive to the Romanian audience: Russell Crowe?

“The Book of Mirrors” has reached an international audience since 2017. It was extremely well received by critics in all the countries where it was published, especially in England, Germany, Italy, Holland and France.

Of course, the mass appeal of a film, especially of the scale of “Sleeping Dogs”, is much greater than that of any novel. This, of course, is something extraordinary. But at the end of the day, I’m a writer and I’m more interested in my future literary projects.

The third part of the “memory trilogy”, opened by “The Book of Mirrors” and continued by “The Book of Secrets”, I mean “The Book of Shadows”, will be released by Rao publishing house sometime in late March, early April. . It was an extremely ambitious project that I worked on for more than two years, but I am happy with the result.

Do you have any special expectations for Russell Crowe’s performance in the film? How similar is his interpretation to how you imagined the main character of the novel?

Let’s be serious, I think Russell Crowe knows how to do his job without my advice or expectations. He is an exceptional actor and the role suits him perfectly. But also other important actors like Tommy Flanagan, Marton Csokas and Karen Gillan rounded out the team very well.

How do you think this film adaptation will affect the reader’s perception of your book? What about your own novel and the future novels you write?

I have no idea, honestly. We will see. But I don’t think it will affect my writing one way or the other, not at all.

“I don’t dream of living in Beverly Hills and writing over the fence with Brad Pitt”

Evgeny Chirovych. PHOTO: Personal archive

“The Book of Mirrors” is the first novel by a Romanian author to be adapted into a Hollywood film. Why weren’t there other Romanian writers (who enjoyed translations into many foreign languages ​​- I mean, for example, Carterescu) who succeeded?

Yes, I am the first Romanian author whose book was made into a film in Hollywood. Why my novel and not someone else’s? I do not know. Perhaps some writers did not intend to adapt their books.

Others may have pitched, but they didn’t know how to do it, they didn’t know how to get a big-name agent to represent them, and so their book didn’t get the attention of movie producers.

Of course, a novel written in Romanian must first be translated, preferably into English, and only then can it be presented to editors and film producers abroad.

On the other hand, a book can be very good from a literary point of view, but not necessarily have the cinematic qualities that recommend it to be adapted for the big screen.

Are you tempted now, after this experience, to try writing screenplays for films?

I answered indirectly: no, I am not tempted to write scripts. All the really important screenwriters, I would mention William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler, found the experience traumatic and regretted it, despite significant financial gains and more than honorable results from a professional point of view.

I want to keep reading my books, I’m happy with my current existence and I don’t dream of living in Beverly Hills and being friends with Brad Pitt across the fence.

What aspects of Sleeping Dogs do you think audiences will enjoy the most?

I think it’s a quality film with a clear and interesting story that has elements of psychological thriller suspense but doesn’t fall into the trap of stereotypes and it keeps you on your toes. I think this is Russell Crowe’s best role in the last ten to fifteen years.

How do you think the film will be received in Romania?

I hope that the film will be well received in Romania, especially since it is an adaptation of a book by a Romanian author. Russell Crowe is also a very popular actor here and I hope he gets as many viewers as possible.

You lived in England, in Belgium, and for more than four years you have been living in Italy, in Florence. How do you see Romania now, after so many years of living abroad? Would you consider coming back and living here?

I really laughed three years ago with French journalists during a press conference in Lyon: I am Romanian, I live in Italy and Belgium, I write in English, and my books are set in the United States.

I settled abroad 12 years ago, but I have kept my Romanian citizenship and I come to the country quite often, especially to Făgăraş, my hometown.

After all, we live in a shrinking world. I don’t think where we are physically at any given moment matters as much as it used to, given the tiny geography we live in today.

Especially in our old Europe, they are all within a stone’s throw of each other, compared to the distances of America or Australia.