Not long before the release of Marisha Pessl's haunting new release, Night Film, an envelope arrived on my desk. Normally, any mail I receive at work is expected — things I have ordered or requested — but this small note was neither of these things. Upon opening, the envelope revealed a folded postcard requesting my attendance at the launch of Night Film. I was overjoyed. Having been a fangirl of Night Film since devouring it a few weeks before, I'd been hoping to get the chance to meet the author when she stopped in Toronto for her book tour. But then my eyes scanned to the bottom of the card, where this was written:
Please arrive promptly at 5:30 pm at the Random House Offices where you will be escorted to a secret location.
If I had to describe Night Film in one sentence, I would say that reading it was the equivalent to falling down a rabbit hole, Alice in Wonderland style. Now, I was being requested to promptly go down this hole myself!
When my friend Lauren and I arrived at the specified meeting place, a suited-up man arrived and lead us around the block and into a basement bar. The dimly lit bar was swimming with book-loving personnel, carrying the signature drink of the evening, Blood Orange Martinis. A slideshow played on the wall with images from the book, including the famous photo featured above (please forgive my cellphone-quality shots.)
After a quick introduction, Marisha Pessl spoke to us about the book and welcomed us all to come and see her while she signed books. I waited until the line died down before releasing all my fangirl excitement and gushing about my love for the book to the author herself. She was a sheer pleasure to meet and very clearly excited to speak to her readers. I held my signed book carefully and transported it back to my apartment and directly onto my favourites shelf.
To add to it's already fantastic marketing, Random House has launched a Night Film app! Check it out in the iTunes store here, and become even more enveloped by this haunting world!
After her creation of such a believable cult-horror film director, one can't help but wonder what Marisha Pessl's own favourite movies are. Thanks to our wonderful friends at Random House Canada, we were able to find out — enjoy!
Marisha Pessl's Five Most Beloved Films
When Harry Met Sally
Ever since as a child I clandestinely watched this R-rated movie at a friend's house, Nora Ephron has had a huge influence on me as both a writer and a woman. Her breakout script in this Rob Reiner-directed comedy forever changed modern courtship and our perceptions and misconceptions of the opposite sex. The fact that she gave us "the white man's overbite" is worth the price of admission alone.
Bringing Up Baby
This Howard Hawks' directed film is a perfect '30s screwball comedy--you can't go wrong with witty dialogue filled with racy double-entendres, Cary Grant, escaped leopards, a terrier named George, and one missing intercostal clavicle.
Vertigo
The most haunting movie ever made starring one of my favorite actors, the inimitable Jimmy Stewart-- this psychological thriller about a retired cop's obsession with a woman seemingly haunted by a ghost delves into the dark fissures between fantasy and reality, how love occurs first and foremost in the mind, and how our memories fracture our experience of the present.
Un Homme et Une Femme
Directed by Claude Lelouche with stunning cinematography and a gorgeous soundtrack by Francis Lai, I never get tired of watching Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant weather the complexities of falling in love in 1960s Paris.
It's Complicated
Teaming Keaton and Nicholson, I've always been a big Nancy Meyers fan and this is one of her best scripts--funny, human, and unexpected.
If you haven't already, please feel free to read our raving review of Night Film here. Happy reading!
We would like to say a big thank you to our friends at Random House Canada for throwing a fantastic launch party, inviting us and providing this extra content!