Travelling theroux

JUSTIN KEEPS IT ALLIE IN THE FAMILY IN THE MOSQUITO COAST…

- Tara Bennett

Debuting on AppleTV+ as a seven-part drama, the new adap of Paul Theroux’s lauded novel The Mosquito Coast (1981) is a family affair both on and off camera. Framed as a prequel to the book, it’s executive produced by the author’s nephew, Justin Theroux, who also plays idealistic inventor Allie Fox. With director Rupert Wyatt (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Escapist), at the helm for the first two episodes, the series sees Allie become so disillusioned with modern society that he makes plans to transplant his wife Margot (Melissa George) and two kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman), to rural Latin America...

Justin, what was your prior experience with the book – and with the 1986 Harrison Ford movie adaptation of it?

JUSTIN THEROUX (ALLIE FOX): I have a long history with the novel, I first read it when I was a kid. And I’ve seen the movie many times. Harrison did such a fabulous job, but I wouldn’t ever try and copy from him. Although I can’t help but think that there’s probably some similar things [in our version] that maybe we found on our own.

I had the good fortune of meeting him, actually, purely by coincidence, while we were shooting in Mexico City. We had a fabulous tequila-fuelled dinner, eating and just talking, but we didn’t really talk so much about the character of Allie Fox at all. We just talked about his experience of making the film, which he says was one of the most joyous experiences he’s ever had in terms of location and things like that.