Last week after a packed book signing and lecture at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, best-selling political thriller author Vince Flynn (American Assassin, Pursuit of Honor) generously took a few minutes to fill me in on his thoughts about dealing with Hollywood and what looks like his finally soon to go into production first film project. 

“Most of Hollywood thinks it has a ‘moral’ mandate to defend the leftist status quo.”  Flynn tells me with conviction.  “Their leftist bias won’t allow them to do anything other then make crappy anti-American war movies where America is the bad guy.”  Movies nobody goes to see.  I get the strong impression that what he’d really like to say is, “When are these snobby elitists going to get their heads out of their asses.”

Flynn published his first book Term Limits fifteen years ago, and it was a runaway hit.  So why hasn’t even one of his twelve hugely popular novels made it the screen?   He remembers with not a little irony, “After Memorial Day was published (dealing with a possible nuclear attack by terrorists on American soil) Sherry Lansing, the head of Paramount called me and said, ‘I read your book and I hated it.  It’s more Bush then Bush.’  My response was ‘Can we at least get on the same page that terrorists blowing up Washington D.C. or New York City would really be a bad thing?’”  Lansing meekly agreed.

The first thing that crosses my mind upon meeting the New York Times best-selling writer is that he just might be the real life inspiration for his fictional CIA black ops specialist Mitch Rapp.  He’s tall, rugged-looking and likes to shoot – evidently pretty well.  If it wasn’t for his friendly and down to earth demeanor you get the idea he could be pretty damn intimidating, too.  He would probably make a really great Agency black ops type, except for the fact that such types need to be under the radar and Flynn’s commanding bearing would attract attention in any crowd.  Unlike more passive writers Flynn can also raconteur up some really great anecdotes.  If Flynn were an actor any studio exec worth his six-figure plus salary would be a fool not to cast him as the provocative and appealing character he has created. (more…)

Among my former associates at the FBI, New York Times bestselling novelist Vince Flynn is a favorite. His protagonist Mitch Rapp, a counter-terrorism specialist for the CIA, is the talk whenever Flynn releases a new political thriller. Possibly the highest compliment any FBI agent ever paid me was when he called me “the old, ugly, domestic version of Mitch Rapp.” I wear the accolade with pride. What makes Flynn’s novels so captivating is the authenticity of his writing. In fact, at least one novel came under scrutiny when it hit a little too close to home detailing our nation’s nuclear security efforts.

His latest novel “Extreme Measures” was released last fall but once again Flynn may end up just a little too real. I won’t give away the plot but Mitch Rapp finds himself in front of a Congressional committee explaining why he needed to employ “extreme measures” to protect this nation. Sound familiar? Attorney General Eric Holder named a federal prosecutor this week to examine the abuse of prisoners during interrogations by the CIA. I wonder if Mitch will be called as a witness.  (more…)