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Matthew Reilly

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Matthew John Reilly is an Australian action thriller writer. His novels are noted for their fast pace, twisting plots and intense action. Since 2021 he has also begun delving into film directing.

Early life[]

Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, New South Wales, the second son of Ray and Denise. He grew up in Willoughby, an affluent suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Reilly graduated from Sydney's St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point, in 1992. Reilly then went on to study Law at the University of New South Wales, where he was also a contributor to the student law society publication "Poetic Justice".

Career[]

Reilly wrote his first book, Contest, at the age of 19 and self-published it in 1996. It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading Reilly to self-publish 1000 copies using a bank loan. Reilly was discovered when Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore. Pan Macmillian signed Reilly to a two-book deal. Reilly wrote his second book, Ice Station, while studying at the University of NSW. It was quickly picked up by publishers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.

He has since sold over 4 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011. Two more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: Seven Ancient Wonders (2005) and The Five Greatest Warriors (2009).

In 2007, Reilly wrote a half-hour television script titled Literary Superstars. The script was picked up by Darren Star (Sex and the City) and bought by Sony Pictures for the ABC Network. Jenna Elfman signed on to play the lead role. The pilot episode was at the casting stage when the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, paralyzing Hollywood. The pilot was placed on indefinite hiatus before ultimately being dropped by the ABC.

On March 04 2021, it was announced that Reilly would be directing an original film for Netflix, Interceptor, the screenplay of which was co-written with Stuart Beattie. The film was released to mixed reception in June 2022.

Personal life[]

Reilly owns several movie prop reproductions such as a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from Star Wars, a golden idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future. A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hoped to one day direct a movie adapted from one of his own books; he would later direct an original film, Interceptor, for Netflix.

In 2004, Reilly married his childhood sweetheart, Natalie Freer. Freer attended a nearby high school, Loreto Kirribilli, and also went to the University of New South Wales, where she studied Psychology. Reilly attributed Freer as encouraging him to self-publish his first book. In early December 2011, whilst Reilly was in South Australia on a book tour promoting Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Natalie, who had suffered from anorexia and depression, booked in to a hotel in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales and committed suicide. Reilly subsequently cancelled his remaining book tours and announced his intention to take a break from online communications for a while.

Reilly later entered into a relationship with Kate Freeman, moving with her to Los Angeles, California in 2015 and later marrying in April 2023.

Written Works[]

See: Novel

Stand-alone Novels[]

Shane Schofield[]

See Shane Schofield Series
  1. Ice Station (August 1998)
  2. Area 7 (October 2001)
  3. Scarecrow (November 2003)
  4. Hell Island (2005)
  5. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves (October 2011) - (Scarecrow Returns in the United States)

Jack West Jr[]

See Jack West Jr Series
  1. Seven Ancient Wonders (October 2005) - (7 Deadly Wonders in the United States)
  2. The Six Sacred Stones (October 2007)
  3. The Five Greatest Warriors (October 2009)
  4. The Four Legendary Kingdoms (October 2016)
  5. The Three Secret Cities (October 2018)
  6. The Two Lost Mountains (October 2020)
  7. The One Impossible Labyrinth (October 2021)

Hover Car Racer[]

  1. Crash Course (2005)
  2. Full Throttle (2006)
  3. Photo Finish (2007)

Troll Mountain[]

  •  Troll Mountain (June 2015) - (Initially released as a three-part e-book series)
  1. Troll Mountain Episode I (April 8th, 2014)
  2. Troll Mountain Episode II (April 15th, 2014)
  3. Troll Mountain Episode III (April 22nd, 2014)

Short Stories[]

See Online Short Stories

Related to Novels[]

One-Shot Online Stories[]

Graphic Novels[]

Film and Television Works[]

Film[]

  • Interceptor (June 2022) - (Netflix film; Director and Screenplay)

Television[]

  • Literary Superstars - (Unproduced pilot for ABC Network; Screenplay)

Future Works[]

MRNF-Interceptor-set2 176891220

Reilly and Elsa Pataky working on the set of Interceptor

Matthew Reilly has previously indicated future plans for new installments in the Shane Schofield series and a potential sequel to The Great Zoo of China.

In October 2021, Australian Story featured an insight into Matthew Reilly, during which it was confirmed that Reilly was already developing a sequel to Interceptor. Reilly hinted in the back-interview of The One Impossible Labyrinth that he may direct a film adaption of Ice Station, and that he still hopes to one day direct an adaption of Contest.

See Also[]

Trivia[]

  • Reilly is name-dropped as a racer at the International Race School in Hover Car Racer: The Graphic Novel, being the driver of a car named the Outta Time (referencing the DeLorean DMC-12 of the Back to the Future film trilogy, one of the props of which Reilly owns).

External link[]

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