Brian De Palma Swaps Camera for Pen with Debut Novel

Renowned director Brian De Palma has swapped the camera for the pen—or more likely Microsoft Word or Google Drive or something—with his forthcoming debut novel.

Titled Are Snakes Necessary?, the novel is co-written by New York Times reporter-turned-podcast host Susan Lehman and is set to hit bookstores March 17, 2020.

The book can be described as political satire meets female revenge thriller, telling the story of a hedonistic senator who’s cheating on his wife with his campaign’s gorgeous young videographer. And if that doesn’t sound sordid enough, his wife has Parkinson’s.

But of course, the story takes a turn, leading to deadly consequences.

Per Entertainment Weekly, the novel’s title is in reference to Preston Sturges’ classic romantic screwball comedy The Lady Eve, in which Henry Fonda can be seen perusing a book called Are Snakes Necessary?

De Palma is known as the director of Scarface, Carrie and the OG Mission: Impossible. Hardcore De Palma fans can expect to see some nods to some of his best-known works in his book.

One of these fans seem to be famed filmmaker Martin Scorsese, whose review is quoted on the cover: “It’s like having a new Brian de Palma picture,” he says.

“It is a great privilege to work with Brian and Susan on this book and to welcome a filmmaker of Brian De Palma’s caliber into the Hard Case Crime fold,” Hard Case Crime founder and editor Charles Ardai said in a statement, per EW. “This is not just a great crime story. It’s a sharp, ruthless look at the state of affairs—both political and extramarital—in our turbulent modern era.”

See the book’s cover art in the tweet below.

And here’s the announcement, as covered by Entertainment Weekly: https://t.co/8Ho6b3CkoS

— Hard Case Crime (@HardCaseCrime) July 10, 2019