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ANTHONY HOROWITZ (author of novel and screenplay):
“Spy stories were a huge part of my childhood. I still remember waiting in the wind and the rain to be the first kid in my school to see Dr No. The Bond films were always a huge event for me. Then I began to think, how could you make a spy story fresh? And, suddenly, one day, it occurred to me that the way to do it was to make him fourteen. I knew that I had to make Alex Rider completely original. The crucial thing about these adventures would be that Alex would be drawn into them reluctantly. It wouldn’t be goofy – one of those ‘isn’t it fun to be a spy’ books. It would be a real boy, in real danger, in a real adult world and then we’d see what would happen.”
GEOFFREY SAX:
“My feeling was that so many children now have access to their parents’ DVDs, and so many kids see films, they’ve probably all seen the Bond films and I wanted to do something that was a bit more grown up, and there is a thin dividing line with violence, we tried to find ways of making it stylish with plenty of jeopardy without a load of outright violence. Some people have even said, ‘Have you been too violent?’ I don’t think so.”
ALEX PETTYFER:
“The book is like a door, and you go into the imaginative world of a kid, and I always see that kids see themselves as the characters, so I really wanted to portray Alex as a normal guy. He’s not a superhero, he’s not someone who can fly. I want people to come out of the cinema and actually believe they could be that someone. That’s what I really took from the book, just being normal and a guy that people could relate to.”
ALICIA SILVERSTONE (Jack, Alex’s housekeeper):
“I tried to read the books while I was on the set, and Sarah Bolger (who is Alex’s love interest in the movie) asked, ‘Why are you reading that?’ I said, ‘I’m trying to be a good student,’ She’s like, ‘It’s the same as the script.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, thanks.’ But it’s a great young person’s book.”
ALEX on who his he favorite James Bond:
“Seeing as how Alex Rider is created on the basis of James Bond, I would have to say Alex Rider. But my favorite is Pierce Brosnan, even though I’m obviously looking forward to Daniel Craig.”
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THE CONCEPT:
