there was a character, very strongly based on christopher hitchens. charlie: who was a political journalist? mr. eyre: played by tim curry.

i mentioned christopher hitchens. you all were friends, the late christopher hitchens. >> thomas: yes. >> evan: great author. he appears as a character in this book. >> thomas: yes. >> evan: can you talk about the decision to include him? in some ways he sort of stands in for you, do you think? he offers commentary on events in the book. >> thomas: i wanted somebody who could fill the job that in watergate had been done by alice roosevelt-longworth. teddy roosevelt's 90-year-old daughter who was still alive during watergate. very sharp tongued, very smart. >> evan: right. say whatever she thought. >> thomas: and i wanted that figure. and i thought i was going to go for somebody very old with this. and then suddenly hitchens was on my mind very much as i was starting the book. christopher died in december of 2011. >> evan: yeah. >> thomas: i was starting to write this book right around that time. and it suddenly occurred to me, i didn't know him in this period. he was in his mid 30s, not too long in america, was writin

you basically have a guy running in republican primaries a combination of michael moore and christopher hitchensat is an opportunity. you should be organizing faith leaders to attack him for not respecting the role of faith in the public square. you should be sending iraq vets to his rallies to confront him for calling george bush a liar. he is not going to self-destruct. you have to frame the argument. people will listen. this idea that donald trump has 35% or whatever and those people are not going to move, i don't buy that. he had 10% a few months ago. there is nothing magical about this. people will listen to arguments. whoever makes the most aggressive, logical, compelling argument is going to win this race. mark: name three states you think marco rubio could finish first in between now and the end of the nominating process. henry: florida is one he has to finish first in. midwestern states, he could do well. states like virginia, you could do well. mark: name two he could win. henry: i think you have florida, virginia. colorado is a state where he could win. there is three for you. mark: s

the late christopher hitchens and others. julian barnes. christopher died, they came here to talk about christopher. it was amazing. ia was heren. something about british riders. -- writers. mr. eyre: they are the same generation. they are not all oxford and cambridge at all. sensibilitysimilar and they have become very distinct and the remarkable the top they remained of their game. that is extraordinary for a generation of novelists. charlie: somebody made a film of one of ian's books. film in 1984ade a which was about thatcherism, the politics of the right, and the kind of slow corruption of the media. there was a character, very strongly based on vista for hitchens. charlie: who was a political journalist? mr. eyre: played by tim curry. that is the film i plan to make. charlie: nothing of shakespeare. that you dramatist wanted to make and never did? mr. eyre: the shakespeare play i have never done, i've done all of the tragedies. i've never done 12th night. right never found the cast. in the next 15 years -- i am only 72. charlie: you h

there was a character, very strongly based on christopher hitchens.rlie: who was a political journalist? mr. eyre: played by tim curry. that is the film i plan to make. charlie: nothing of shakespeare. any great dramatist that you wanted to make and never did? mr. eyre: the shakespeare play i have never done, i've done all of the tragedies. i've never done 12th night. i have never found the right cast. so sometime in the next 15 years -- i am only 72. charlie: you have done that, macbeth. lear. mr. eyre: anthony hopkins is keen to make a film of lear. he would probably be the definitive lear. he is a most remarkable actor. charlie: you just worked with him. mr. eyre: with ian mckellen. it was hannibal lecter and gandalf together, feeding off each other. they had known each other. i have worked with at ian mckellen. i had never worked with tony hopkins. i have known them a long time. charlie: sir richard, sir anthony. mr. eyre: i anticipated it might be awkward having these giants working together. they fell in love. it was perfect. you could see both

running in ay republican primary whose accommodation of michael moore and christopher hitchens.is an opportunity. you should be organizing faith leaders to go out and attack him for not respecting the role of faith in the public square. you should be sending iraq war vets to his rallies to confront him for calling george bush a war criminal and a liar. he's not going to self-destruct. you have to go in and frame the arguments. people will listen. has idea that donald trump 35% or whatever and most people are going to move. i don't buy that. he had 10% a few months ago. there is nothing magical about this. people will listen to arguments and whoever makes the most aggressive logical compelling passionate argument is going to win this thing. name three states were you think marco rubio can win. henry: midwestern states he could do well. florida, virginia, colorado is a state where he can win. there are three for you. mark: who is the second most likely nominee now? stewart: i don't know. the races in a real state of flux. i am not a ted cruz guy. he has been well-positioned to do

you basically have a guy running in republican primaries a combination of michael moore and christopher hitchensthat is an opportunity. you should be organizing faith leaders to attack him for not respecting the role of faith in the public square. you should be sending iraq vets to his rallies to confront him for calling george bush a liar. he is not going to self-destruct. you have to frame the argument. people will listen. this idea that donald trump has 35% or whatever and those people are not going to move, i don't buy that. he had 10% a few months ago. there is nothing magical about this. people will listen to arguments. whoever makes the most aggressive, logical, compelling argument is going to win this race. mark: name three states you think marco rubio could finish first in between now and the end of the nominating process. henry: florida is one he has to finish first in. midwestern states, he could do well. states like virginia, you could do well. name name tw could win -- two he could win. henry: i think you have florida, virginia. colorado is a state where he could win. there is three

. >> somebody that talked about george orwell all the time was the great -- late christopher hitchens. >> i have been in north korea. i thought i was going to try not to mention 1984 because everyone says it was an orwellian state. in fact, it is a cliche. >> the same thing over and over again? >> kim il-sung founded the north korean state the same year 1984 came out. it is as if someone gave him the novel and said "do you think we can make this work? " >> did you ever read it? scott: every kid who grew up in the 1960's red 1984 and animal farm. i have read it since. it is a great work. >> where do you do your work from? scott: i presently live in the berkshires of massachusetts. i spent many years in upstate new york. i work at home, i am a full-time writer. i worked on many projects at once. books, articles, films, many different types of projects. >> how long did it take to put this together? scott: i think every book takes a writer his or her old -- whole life to produce. you have to learn how to write a book, it takes a lot of training to do that. you have to learn a lot. it take

some did google it, although it's important to remember that not many years ago, the late christopher hitchens wrote a very well received book called "the trials of henry kissinger" that looked into a lot of the criticisms of kissinger's approach to foreign policy. that book has been taught in a lot of colleges or looked at. i'm not sure he's completely delinked from young folks. i would also suggest something else. if we recognize that sanders' challenge is not so much with young voters, but with voters who are a little older, kissinger is someone that a lot of them remember. and that frankly quite a few of them may have problems with. so i'm not sure it was a wholly ineffective reference. what fascinated me was the extent to which both sanders and clinton kept going at it. >> yeah. >> it wasn't just a quick reference. sanders referenced it. clinton came back saying she likes to listen to people even though she disagrees with. sanders came back, and it was actually a rather extended exchange. >> it was. >> it suggests both of these candidates are quite interested in this issue. >> it is, and

he was running basically as a combination of michael moore and christopher hitchens but never held accountable that. that's how you win. you have to show what the consequences are that these -- what he's saying and how it affects people's lives. >> jeb bush tried a little of that. you saw how it ended with that. the question is -- people like jeb bush tried that but failed miserably. i want to talk about marco rubio. i see your point. you're basically saying if rubio doesn't change something about the way he's running this campaign, he can expect the same results he's been getting. your message about just talking about the party is interesting. he does say middle class americans are struggling and talks about his personal story and so on. is it -- what is it about him? what does he need to do to go from third and fifth to first in some of these contests? >> i think he has to show that he understands your life better than donald trump does. i think he's putting out half the argument. i think he's showing that he understands your life. he's not showing that donald trump doesn't understand your l

basically have a guy who is running a republican primary, a combination of michael moore and christopher hitchenshis is amazing, he is not going to win, but that's an opportunity and you should be organizing faith leaders to go out and attack him for not respecting the role of faith in the public square. you should be sending iraq vets to his rallies to confront him for calling george bush a liar. he is not going to self-destruct. you have to go in and frame the argument. and people will listen. the idea that donald trump has 35% or whatever and those people aren't going to move, i don't buy that. he had 10% a few months ago. there is nothing magical about this. people will listen to argument. and whoever makes the most aggressive, logical compelling, passi passiona passionate argument is going to win. >> obviously florida is one he has to finish first in, and i think, you know, midwestern states, he could do well. i think in -- >> like virginia? >> name two he could win, not do well. >> sure. again, i think you've got florida, i think you have virginia, i think that colorado is a state where he

and there was a character very strongly based on christopher hitchens. >> who was a political journalist. >> yeah. >> and all of that. >> played by tim curry. >> wow. >> so that is a film are you going to make. >> that is a film i plan to make. >> nothing of shakespeare, nothing of checkoff, nog of any great dram tises that you wanted to make and never did for one reason or another? >> the shakespeare play that i have never done, i have done all the shakespeare tragedies. the play i have never done is is 12th right. i have never found the right cast. so sometime in the next 15 years. i'm only 72. >> you have a long time. >> so you have done lear. >> i have done lear. >> you have done macbeth. >> i did lear with ian hold am and i'm talking to anthony hopkins. he's very keen to make a film of lear. and he would be probably the definitive lear. >> really? >> he's the most remarkable actor still. >> you should know, did you work with him. >> i have. >> i have worked with him on the dresser, with ian mckellen. and so it was hand i believe elector and gandalf together on stage in west london.