EXCLUSIVE: The estate of author Roderick Thorp, whose 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever inspired the classic Bruce Willis blockbuster Die Hard, is moving to activate additional titles from Thorp’s catalog for film and television adaptation.
Spearheading the initiative is Judy Coppage of The Coppage Company, which repped Thorp for much of his career and has already overseen the adaptation of several of his novels for the screen.
“Thorp was far more than a single title, and his track record as an adapted author speaks for itself,” Coppage told us. “There are multiple titles in his body of work that remain unmined, including Hot Pursuit, his only other action novel. I look forward to helping reintroduce audiences to the author behind one of the most iconic action movies ever made.”
Hot Pursuit is a thriller following a Coast Guard lieutenant commander who, after his wife is kidnapped, is forced into a deadly game of pursuit after crossing a powerful drug lord. Written earlier in Thorp’s career but not initially picked up by a publisher, the manuscript was published posthumously and has since been adapted into a feature screenplay as part of the current revival effort.
An American crime novelist born in the Bronx in 1936, Thorp’s early exposure to investigative work — including time spent around a private detective agency — helped shape the grounded procedural detail that became a defining feature of his fiction. His breakthrough came with 1966’s The Detective, a novel introducing the character of NYPD cop Joe Leland, which was adapted into a 1968 film starring Frank Sinatra. Serving as the model for Willis’ John McClane in Die Hard, Leland subsequently appeared on the page in Nothing Lasts Forever, in which the aging cop battles terrorists who seize a Los Angeles skyscraper during a Christmas party — a premise famously reimagined for the screen by director John McTiernan.
Other works from Thorp that have already been adapted include Rainbow Drive and Devlin, both of which were adapted into TV movies for Showtime.