Matthew Reilly | |
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Born | Matthew John Reilly 2 July 1974 Sydney, Australia |
Occupation | Novelist |
Genre | Action/thriller |
Spouse |
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Website | |
www |
Matthew John Reilly (born 2 July 1974) is an internationally bestselling Australian action thriller writer. [1] [2] [3]
Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, Australia, the second son of Ray (an employee at the Department of Corrective Services) and Denise, a mathematics teacher. [4] He grew up with his brother Stephen in Willoughby, an affluent suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Reilly graduated from Sydney's St Aloysius' College [4] [5] [6] in Milsons Point, in 1992. [7] He then studied Law at the University of New South Wales [4] [8] between 1993 and 1997, graduating 31st out of 250 students. [9] While at university, he was also a contributor to the student law society publication Poetic Justice. [10]
Reilly wrote his first book, Contest , at the age of 19, and self-published it in 1996. [1] It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading him to self-publish 1,000 copies using a bank loan. He was discovered when Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan, found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore. [6] Pan Macmillan signed Reilly to a two-book deal. He wrote his second book, Ice Station , while studying at the University of New South Wales. [11] It was quickly picked up by publishers in the US, UK and Germany. He has since sold over 8 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages. [12] [13] [14] [15] Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011. [16] Three more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: Seven Ancient Wonders (2005), The Five Greatest Warriors (2009) and The Tournament (2013). [17] A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer praised Reilly's writing for its bold action, but they criticised it for straining credulity and "frequent lapses in logic." [18]
In 2007, Reilly wrote a half-hour television script titled Literary Superstars. The script was picked up by Darren Star ( Sex and the City ) and bought by Sony Pictures for the ABC Network. Jenna Elfman signed on to play the lead role. The pilot episode was at the casting stage when the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, paralyzing Hollywood. The pilot was placed on indefinite hiatus before ultimately being dropped by the ABC. [19]
In 2015, Reilly, in association with Benjamin Maio Mackay's Preachrs Podcast OnLine & OnStage, premiered an audio drama adaptation of Reilly's best-selling novel Ice Station. This was the first adaptation of his works outside of a literary format. Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station Live was performed in the Adelaide Fringe 2016 and piloted the first three episodes of a proposed full audio drama. As of January 2021, no further updates on the project have been announced. [20] [21]
In 2017, he began to write a story that could be filmed on a moderate budget of around $15 million. This became the screenplay for Interceptor , whereby a female US Army captain at a US missile interceptor facility has to stop sixteen nuclear missiles aimed at sixteen American cities. The film uses one large set. Reilly collaborated with screenwriter Stuart Beattie ( Pirates of the Caribbean , Collateral ) whose efforts included partially rewriting but also introducing Reilly’s work to several producers and other film people in Los Angeles. This led, eventually, to Netflix funding the film with Reilly as first-time director, with filming being done in Sydney in early 2021 featuring Elsa Pataky in the lead role, with Australian Luke Bracey playing the villain; Pataky’s husband, actor Chris Hemsworth, is one of the movie's executive producers. The film was released in mid-2022 on Netflix. [22]
In 2004, Reilly married Natalie Freer. Freer attended a nearby high school, Loreto Kirribilli, and also went to the University of New South Wales, where she studied Psychology. Reilly credits Freer with encouraging him to self-publish his first book. In early December 2011, while Reilly was in South Australia on a book tour promoting Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves , Natalie, who had suffered from anorexia and depression, died by suicide. [6] Reilly subsequently cancelled his remaining book tours and announced on Facebook his intention to take a break from online communications. [23]
"My life pretty much fell apart; she was my everything. We did everything together; we’d done everything together for the previous 18 years. And suddenly I’d have days where I’d look at the clock and it’d be quarter past one in the afternoon, and I’d think: I’ve got ten hours ‘til I’m going to go to bed. I cried every day for six months. I howled in my car. I’d take the dog for the longest of walks that she’s ever had in her life." — Reilly on his wife Natalie's suicide. [24]
Reilly owns several movie prop reproductions such as a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from Star Wars , a golden idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark , and a DeLorean from Back to the Future . [1] [6] A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hoped to one day direct a movie adapted from one of his own stories. [25] He would ultimately get to fulfil this mission when he co-wrote and directed Interceptor .
Reilly has been in a relationship with Kate Freeman, and in 2015 he moved with her to Los Angeles, California. [26] [22] They married in April 2023. [27]
In addition to the novels, Reilly has written two short stories available on his website:
In addition to the novels, Reilly has written two short stories available on his website: [36]
Published as three mini-books in the United States: [37]
All of these short stories are available as free downloadable PDFs on Reilly's website. [38]
Arthur Bryce Courtenay, was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book The Power of One.
Ice Station is Australian thriller writer Matthew Reilly's second novel, released in 1998.
Hell Island is a horror/adventure novella, written in conjunction with the Australian Books Alive promotion, by thriller writer Matthew Reilly While it is the fourth book released in the Shane Schofield series, it is a standalone novella in the Shane Schofield universe, supplementing the storylines in the novels Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves. In the interview at the back of Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Matthew Reilly stated that "Hell Island exists as a nice side adventure for Scarecrow and Mother, and a great short book for new readers who might wish to try my work." Hell Island was released in retail stores in 2007 after only being available through the Books Alive program.
Stuart Beattie is an Australian filmmaker. His screenplay for Collateral (2004) earned him nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay and Saturn Award for Best Writing.
Seven Ancient Wonders is a book written by Australian author Matthew Reilly in 2005. Its sequel, The Six Sacred Stones was released in the autumn of 2007. The final novel in the series, The One Impossible Labyrinth, was released in Australia on October 12, 2021.
Brendan Cowell is an Australian actor and writer.
Delia Falconer is an Australian novelist best known for her novel The Service of Clouds. Her works have been nominated for several literary awards.
Andrew McGahan was an Australian novelist. His first novel Praise is considered to be part of the Australian literary genre of grunge lit. His novel The White Earth won the 2005 Miles Franklin Award.
The Six Sacred Stones is a novel by Australian thriller author Matthew Reilly. It is a sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders and The Five Greatest Warriors is its sequel. The novel was released on 23 October 2007 in most bookstores in Australia and was released in January 2008 in the US and UK.
Shane is mainly a masculine given name. It is an anglicized version of the Irish name Séaghan/Séan, which itself is cognate to the name John. Shane comes from the way the name Seán is pronounced in the Ulster dialect of the Irish language, as opposed to Shaun or Shawn.
Jonathan "Jack" West Junior is the main character in a book series by Australian author Matthew Reilly. He appears in the books Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, The Three Secret Cities, The Two Lost Mountains, and The One Impossible Labyrinth.
Jack Charles, also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in Melbourne in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).
Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves is an action thriller novel released on 12 October 2011 by Australian author Matthew Reilly. It is the latest installment in the Shane Schofield series.
Sean Rubin is an American illustrator and author of children's books.
The Great Zoo of China is a 2014 novel by Australian author Matthew Reilly. It was published in November 2014.
Sally Hepworth is an Australian writer. She wrote seven books, most notably The Secrets of Midwives, a novel published in 2015, and The Good Sister, which won the 2021 Adult crime novel Davitt Award. Hepworth and her works have been featured in media outlets that have included USA Today, The New York Times, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Jane Harper is a British–Australian author known for her crime novels The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man, all set in rural Australia.
Interceptor is a 2022 action thriller film directed by Matthew Reilly in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Reilly and Stuart Beattie and a story by Reilly. An international co-production between Australia and the United States, the film stars Elsa Pataky and Luke Bracey. It follows a tough and reality-bruised army officer who finds herself in charge of a lone nuclear missile interceptor base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after she is wrongfully drummed out of her dream job at the Pentagon.
Ian John Heads was an Australian historian, journalist, commentator and author. He was described as "Australia's foremost rugby league historian" by the National Museum of Australia.
Contest is a novel by Australian author Matthew Reilly.
I have also thrown myself into writing a new book. It's not a Scarecrow novel or a Jack West Jr book. It's got a whole new hero, some of the best scary creatures I've ever written about and it rocks [...] If I get it done by the end of this year, maybe I'll do a double-header and release two books in consecutive years, 2013 and 2014.