By the Book: How ‘The Fugitive’ Director and an Investigative Reporter Collaborated on 2024’s Most Timely Thriller

By the Book is a feature-length series in which journalists discuss their fiction and nonfiction works.

The traditionally slow end-of-year news cycle recently received a major blow when residents of New York and New Jersey reported mysterious drone sightings in the skies of both States. While state and federal government officials said there was no cause for concern, the scenario rang bells for the filmmaker. Andrew Davis and investigative journalist Jeff Biggers. The duo recently wrote the topical political thriller Disturb the boneswhich features a drone attack on the streets of Chicago among its many thrilling action sequences.

This isn’t the only part of Disturbing the Bones that rhymes with recent realities. The book also features a nuclear incident in Siberia, a global disarmament summit in the Windy City, and a presidential race pitting a conservative candidate who hates the press and is clearly taking inspiration from Donald Trump against a progressive black woman.

“A lot of this book is headline-grabbing,” notes Biggers, 61, who is the author of nine nonfiction books and writes for outlets including the New York Times, The Atlantic and NPR. The continent-spanning story is sparked by the discovery of a skeleton in rural Illinois that may belong to a long-lost journalist. This journalist’s now-adult son leaves his job as a detective in Chicago to piece together his mother’s disappearance. In doing so, he learns of a conspiracy involving a red-hot American general that reaches the highest echelons of power in the White House and the Pentagon.

“We’re clearly focused on entertainment and keeping you engaged, but we also put a lot of research into this novel,” says Biggers. “That comes from my background in journalism, and I would then hand it over to Andy to put this incredible thriller together.”

As the director of action favorites like The Fugitive and Under Siege, Davis knows how to deliver thrills. But he’s also a J-School graduate himself and makes a point of grounding his heightened Hollywood stories in real-world concerns. And, like many of us, he has his own concerns about the current state of the real world.

“It’s a scary time,” admits the 78-year-old filmmaker. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.” That’s why he felt comforted by being able to control the narrative that unfolded on the page. “It was a good exchange,” Davis says of working with Biggers, who is making his fiction debut but has previously written for the theater.

“The story started as a screenplay,” Davis recalls. “But we were frustrated because he had done all this research, and I kept trying to develop the characters and the reality of their behavior. So we decided to make a book out of it: there’s no way no page limit problem!

We spoke with Biggers and Davis about mixing fact and fiction and their feelings on the current state of journalism in America.

[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity]

One of the things I like about this book is that, like an in-depth article in a newspaper or magazine, it begins with a small incident and then works backwards to encompass a broader point of view . This reflects your experience both as a journalist.

Andrew Davis: Well, journalism is in a strange state right now. I was just reading ABC News Rules on Georges Stephanopoulos‘ comments on Donald Trump. The idea that everyone must kiss the new president’s ring to avoid being subject to restrictions or losing their license is pretty astonishing. I think back to being a student and listening Walter Cronkite. When he spoke out against the Vietnam War, it was over! It took a while, but it happened. Who is the next Cronkite now?

Jeff Biggers: In our story, the media plays a role in the Chicago summit, but we also have this rogue general who can create disinformation through technology. Ultimately, people don’t know what’s real anymore. We wanted to tease readers with the idea that we’ve reached this age where it’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s not. The ability to create [disinformation] and spreading it is a really powerful and dangerous situation.

It did not escape my attention that the general aired his argument on Fox News. Jeff, you have been a guest on several news networks. Where does Fox fit into your impression of the current media landscape?

The biggest: It’s hard to say, because there are now so many offshoots of Fox that are becoming equally important. I’m more concerned about our side of the aisle, as far as the news media being watered down and people not tuning in and listening anymore. NPR’s audience declined dramatically, and after the election you saw MSNBC collapse. People get a lot of their information from social media, and it’s not very in-depth.

On the other hand, as someone working in this field, there is a lot of amazing investigative analysis happening, and I deeply appreciate fellow journalists who roll up their sleeves. For example, this series On the edge of the abyss that WJ Hennigan what the New York Times is doing about nuclear weapons is simply fascinating. This is truly thorough journalism that provides an incredible service.

Davis: Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has become so thin it’s unbelievable. And it’s one of the biggest newspapers in the country. So we’re having real difficulty getting the information out there, because people are also saying, “I can’t watch the news anymore.” Of course, we’re also learning now that this election was much closer than people were initially talking about. It’s not carte blanche [mandate].

Andy, the book was written before Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as Democratic leader. Did you see this as a possibility and create the candidate in the book accordingly?

Davis: This character is based on Michelle Obama. I grew up on the south side of Chicago and she went to high school near me. I am very touched that, in our story, the main character is a copy who loses his mother at the age of 14 and comes to Chicago where he is protected by this woman from the tough kids in the neighborhood. She is now running for president and he feels he needs to get involved in her campaign. It’s a very moving element of the story for me that they have this relationship.

Jeff, as someone who had primarily written nonfiction and journalism before this, was there any sort of learning curve?

The biggest: With non-fiction you have these boundaries and protocols, whereas with fiction you are free to create however you want. I’ve done a lot of work in theater, so I was able to bring that experience to the dialogue. One of the key elements of writing fiction is having the character speak their truth in a way that feels authentic to you. So it worked out well.

And again, I think our novel is about taking these headline-grabbing stories and putting them on the page in a way that makes the reader wonder what’s going on in the real world. When the New York Times reviewed Under Siege in 1992, they said something like: “Andrew Davis blends art and action to ask provocative questions about nuclear weapons.” “That’s precisely what we’re trying to do with Disturbing the Bones: blending art and action to ask provocative questions about media, nuclear weapons, and America’s social divisions.

The book ends on a cliffhanger. Are there plans for a follow-up?

Davis: This is my first time in the book business, and you’re pretty much on your own. For me, the question is whether it makes sense to spend another two or three years writing the next novel. This might be easier because we have the fabric laid out. Or we can ask the AI ​​to take the elements from this book and give us another one! [Laughs]

If a studio or streamer calls you, would you be interested in making it into a movie? I could see this becoming an AppleTV+ series.

The biggest: Yes, we have the next eight films planned. [Laughs]

Davis: Well, I think the pilot should be a two-hour movie. It’s funny, I’ve seen a few movies in the last few weeks, and the pace is so much faster now than when I did The Fugitive. I saw Gladiator II the other night, and the obvious choice for the detective would be Denzel Washington. So I would love to make it a feature length film with Jeff, and then I would be open to doing something longer based on what we come up with. Maybe you should produce it! [Laughs]