Peter Heller
Audio By Carbonatix
If you were one of the many readers who marveled at the 2012 release of Peter Heller’s “The Dog Stars,” a post-apocalyptic look at Colorado penned by Denver’s own author Heller, you’ve probably been waiting patiently for what was then considered to be the inevitable movie treatment. Even in the NPR review of the novel back those 14 years ago, reviewer Jennifer Reese praised the book, saying that “the story unfolds with the vigor of the film it will undoubtedly become.” It may have taken nearly a decade and a half, but that time has finally come — not just for Denver fans, but for a worldwide audience. Just last week, the new film enjoyed a huge premiere in London, with Heller in attendance. It’s a far piece from the Mile High City, apocalypse notwithstanding.
“That was a crazy experience,” says Heller. “While we were in London, these double-decker buses would go by with a huge poster of ‘The Dog Stars’ on the side, with three names on it: [director] Ridley Scott, [screenwriter] Mark Smith, and Peter Heller. We were flipping out. It’s friggin’ wild. We’re having a lot of fun.”
Penguin Random House
And the fun continues here in Denver over the coming weekend, with what are now three planned screenings and Q&A/autograph sessions at which Heller will be hosted by Denver Book Society owner Rich Garvin. While the first two screening events (6 p.m. Saturday and a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee) are either sold out or perilously close, a third has just been announced and is now open for ticket sales. All screenings will take place at the AMC 9 & CO 10; this third screening will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30, with book sales both before and after the event. The Q&A and book signing are scheduled for 8:45 p.m., and will begin with a conversation between Heller and Garvin, after which the floor will be open to attendees for questions. Tickets are $30 plus fees for just the film, or $48 plus fees for the film and a copy of “The Dog Stars.” For more information, see the eventbrite page for all three showings.
“Peter is so popular here at home that the first screening sold out in something like fifteen minutes,” Garvin says. “Peter had just put it on his Facebook, I think, and we didn’t even have time to really advertise before we saw the need to open a second show.” And now a third. “Peter doesn’t know this,” Garvin laughs, “but we’re going to have all his books there and available for sale and signing. We’re going to wear out his autograph hand.”
The local excitement for “The Dog Stars” may well be matched by a worldwide welcome for the film adaptation. In fact, Heller may be underselling just how huge the London premiere really was. Reportedly, the event shut down Leicester Square, which is something that’s only done for the biggest of the big events. The press that’s covering the movie’s release has been intense and all-encompassing. Billboards are everywhere for the film, across the country, throughout the world. It is, to put it mildly, something of a thing.
And it’s rooted firmly right here in Denver. It’s not only a book that’s set primarily in Erie, Colorado (with a danger-filled trip to what’s left of Grand Junction after a worldwide pandemic that was still only fiction in 2012), it was written largely in the late and lamented Highlands Square location of the coffee house Common Grounds, as were several of his other early novels. Heller is up to nine novels now, plus four non-fiction books; his latest, “The Orchard” was just released earlier this year, and Heller counts it among his favorites in his growing canon.
But coming back to “The Dog Stars” after the fourteen years since its initial release has been gratifying for Heller. “It’s so interesting to revisit the story and those characters in another medium,” he says. “I was shocked and surprised and sort of awed to see it come to life like that. I remember watching them film the scene where Hig has discovered this father and daughter rancher team in a remote canyon. We walked on the set up this path, and there were these little misters strung all along, and out in the meadow were these fog generators, and you immediately know you’re in a Ridley Scott set. You think about Blade Runner, right? The guy loves to shoot through fog.”
Heller laughs at that memory, but says that it was also a pretty moving moment. “It was the first time I’ve ever been on set, and we hear ‘action!’ and all of a sudden, it’s happening. Guy Pearce (who plays Pops) is talking to Jacob Elordi (Hig), and saying something like “Thanks for not killing me.” The dialogue in the movie is different, right, but I still started to cry. One of the producers saw me, and reached over and touched my arm and told me that he’d hoped this would be my reaction. I was just so moved. I’d written this thing, and then here it was, and instead of feeling a great dissonance, I was profoundly moved. I felt great gratitude.”
Garvin says he has gratitude as well — for Peter Heller being one of the only major authors who answers his own messages. “When I called him, and he actually picked up, I was like holy shit!” says Garvin. “I’m so appreciative of Peter. At DBS we’re trying to make the world of books relevant and accessible for people. We have to acknowledge that linking film to a book — ‘Project Hail Mary’ earlier this year, and this summer, ‘The Odyssey’ — really keeps books in the public eye.” Denver Book Society is gaining traction at its original location doing just that — so much so that Garvin says there are plans to open a pop-up store in the Cherry Creek Mall this holiday shopping season.
“As much fun as it was to attend the London premiere,” Heller admits, “it means so much more to come home to these events and get to share that with family and friends. I’m so thankful to be able to partner with a local shop like Denver Book Society. Small business bookstores are so important, and anytime I have an event in Denver or Boulder, it always feels like I’m with family. That’s huge, especially for a writer who’s doing a lot of the work in isolation. I’m truly honored by that, every time.”
Peter Heller will attend three screenings of the new movie release of his novel “The Dog Stars” on Aug. 29 and 30. Tickets are still available for the Sunday matinee and the newly scheduled Sunday evening screenings. All screenings will take place at the AMC 9 & CO 10 , 826 Albion St. for $30 plus fees (or $48 plus fees, which includes a copy of the novel).
