Local links working on N.S. thriller for the big screen

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

As Peter Riddle of Wolfville was writing his fifth novel, Coming Home Again, he had an actor in mind as he created his leading character. 

"I'd seen an episode of Sue Thomas FBI and I watched Andrew interact with a deaf teenager."

Of course, Riddle has known Andrew Jackson and his mother, Marlene, from Berwick; since just about the first day he came to teach at Acadia University in 1967. He and Marlene were both music teachers.

"I’m a long-time admirer of Andrew Jackson's work in film, television and the legitimate theatre,” Riddle says.  “I am especially pleased that Andrew will be playing the lead role."

In Riddle’s newest career as a novelist, he says he creates all his books with the cinema in mind.

"This is the first one I sent off.”

That was 18 months ago; now, a screenplay is in the works. Riddle expects to be the story consultant next year for “Coming Home Again.”

Well-known Canadian actor Andrew Jackson has secured the movie rights and is putting together the production company and financing that will bring Riddle's powerful and heartwarming story to the big screen.

"Coming Home Again is a sailing adventure, an indictment of the escalating evil of child prostitution and a very special kind of love story. It is also an examination of two troubled souls who find in each other a reason to regain lost hope,” Jackson says.

“Dr. Riddle’s story is a compelling thriller that all audiences will enjoy.”

Jackson says he’s honoured Riddle is allowing him to collaborate with him.

The plot involves a successful architect who retreats to an isolated island off Nova Scotia after the death of his wife, only to have his solitude disrupted by the sudden appearance of a frightened young girl. He eventually discovers she has run away from an abusive family situation, then been ensnared by the child sex trade. 

Riddle used a 35-foot yacht owned by another retired music teacher, Bob Rushton of New Minas, to imagine the one used by his lead character. Bridgewater is the model for the community closest to the island but, he says, the island is completely fictitious.

Riddle has three more novels finished and is seeking a publisher. 

"It's been fun to have a new career."

Meanwhile, Jackson is expecting to be in Nova Scotia this spring to film the miniseries Sea Wolf, a series based on Jack London's 1904 novel. He has been cast along with Neve Campbell and Tim Roth. Jackson was last in Halifax in Neptune Theatre’s Homeward Bound. Past film credits include Earth: Final Conflict, The Collector and the CBS movie Catch a Falling Star, shot in Nova Scotia in 2000.

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