Author and musician Willy Vlautin, who grew up in Reno, will be doing a Q-and-A session at the Joe Crowley Student Union, at the University of Nevada, Reno, on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. The Q-an-A will follow a free advance screening of the film The Motel Life, based on his debut novel. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson.
You and I first talked back in 2006. Do you remember that?
Yeah! I remember talking to you, but I wouldn’t have remembered the year.
I had to look it up. But that was before The Motel Life, the book, had even come out. And it was kind of in the build-up of the book coming out. Flash forward a few years and now we’re talking right before the movie comes out.
No kidding! It’s really wild that they actually made the movie. The whole process of it is pretty amazing. You just never know about that stuff. I’m pretty excited that it’s actually going to be seen. And I think it’s really cool. So I’m excited about that as well.
So you’ve seen the final cut?
I think so. It’s like mixing a record. They just keep tweaking it. But I got to go to the Rome Film Festival when it had its big debut and see it there. I’d seen a rougher cut and it was a lot different. I thought it was really nicely made and it made Reno look really beautiful. I wish they would have done more outside shots of Reno, but you can only wish for so many things. One of my bargaining things when I sold it to them was that I was really hoping they would shoot it in Reno. They wouldn’t put it in writing because different states give different tax breaks for making movies. But they promised me they would make it in Reno. That was one of the main reasons I went with those guys. I’m really glad they did.
And you’re coming here for an advance screening this weekend. You excited to come home?
Oh yeah. I come home pretty frequently. Every couple of months or so. Reno’s always been my favorite place. When I come home, I usually just hide out, but this will be really fun. There’s not like a real arthouse theater in Reno where they can show the movie, so they wanted to do something in Reno before the movie came out, for free, to at least let the people who worked on the movie and helped out see it.
Is it surreal seeing your work made it a movie? What does that feel like? Do the changes bother you? Or is more exciting just to see it?
You have to make a decision really early on to either sell it or not sell it, and just stick by that. It would be a hard way to live if you sold it and second guessed it all the way along. I’m a huge movie fan, so I decided early on that if anyone wanted to make a movie out of my books, I’d just make the best decision I could I asked for two things: that I could read the script and give them notes, and tell them what kind of music I’d think was the best. They don’t really listen to either of those, but those were the two things I felt like I could at least state my case for, and make a stand for certain things. And then I’d feel better about it. But I found out they were making the movie,I was trying to buy this truck. And a friend of a friend of mine is Mr. Ford. He knows every year, like which years you should buy a Ford. He’s just a maniac Ford truck fanatic, so I was talking to him because I was about ready to buy this truck. And he emailed me a couple of weeks later, and I barley knew this guy, and he said, he man, they’re making a movie out of your book! And I emailed him back and he said, well, my buddy is heading to Reno because he’s working on it. And that’s how I found out they were actually making it.
You’d just sold them the option at that point?
Years before. I knew it was getting close. That was just to explain that I didn’t really have any idea of what was going on. Then luckily, they invited me down to see Kris Kristofferson’s scenes, because I’m such a big fan of his.
Did you meet him?
I meet him briefly, but I’m such a big fan, I was so nervous. What do you say? He was in a trailer, and one of the directors said, yeah, Will’s a musician too, and I was just like, fuck! Why’d you have to say that? And I say, I’m not much of a musician. His quote was, ’My friend Willie always tells me what a shitty guitar player I am, that I should just quit playing guitar altogether, but I just can’t quit.’ And he was talking about Willie Nelson. I got out of there as fast as I could because sometimes it’s better not to meet a legend, even though he was really nice. I eavesdropped on him the whole time I was there and he seemed really like a cool dude. ¡K He said he read The Motel Life and liked it, and the idea of him reading The Motel Life made my month. But to answer your question about the changes, you either have to do it or you don’t. There’s always things I would have done differently and ideas I would have shot for, but that would have missed some of the things that those guys got. But it’s a good ride and it’s fun. But the directors, the Polsky brothers, tried really hard, and they shot scenes at my favorite places, like the Halfway Club. My favorite bar, my daytime drinking bar in Reno, has always been the Elbow Room. I love that bar, and they shot a scene there.
What’s the band doing? Seems like it’s been on the back burner the last couple of years. Is that true?
We toured pretty hard though 2012. And we did some follow-up tours this last year, but you’re right, we took a break. I did a record with … there was this great band, sister duet singers out of Austin, Texas, called the Damnations. And one of the sisters sings on a few of our records and I’ve always loved her voice. But she got pregnant during the tour, so her sister came with us. And her sister has more of a sultry, kind of soul singing voice. She asked me to write her a record, so I did. We’re just finishing that up and then going in to do the [Richmond] Fontaine record in a week. I’ve just been holed up making stuff. So we’ll see if any of it is any good.
And you’ve got a new novel coming out next year?
Yeah, I’ve got a novel called The Free coming out in February. I’m doing a reading at Sundance. I love Sundance. They’re so nice to me. On Monday, February 10. I’m excited about it. You never know. I like writing the novels more than anything. And just to get them published is a huge thing, and who knows if people like it.
What can you tell me about it?
I wrote it for the patron saint of nurses. It’s a novel about nursing. It’s about a soldier that comes back from Iraq with a brain injury, and a nurse that works as a post-operation nurse at a hospital, and a guy who works at a group home for disabled men. So it’s about these three lives that are sort of shattered and handcuffed by health care and by taking care of people with long-term illnesses. It’s really pretty serious subject matter, but I tried to make a really fast and intense read. So we’ll see if I succeeded. I’m not the judge now.
Anything else you want to talk about?
The people that go to see it … don’t be mad because they shoot it as Elko, but it’s really Virginia City. On film, they thought Elko and Reno looked too similar. So the just changed the sign, so when you’re driving into Virginia City it says “Elko.“ They just wanted a town that looked different, but wanted it far enough away, like Elko. I really like Elko, and I wanted it to be seen in the movie, but what are you going to do?