As an internationally bestselling murder mystery author, Anthony Horowitz has scored with new Sherlock Holmes novels, TV versions of his Alex Ryder young adult books and grown-up hits like “Magpie Murders” and “Moonflower Murders.”
Sunday’s MGM+ launch of his six-episode “Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue” opens with a light plane crashing in a mountainous Mexican jungle with, yes, nine survivors emerging from the wreckage.
It only sounds like a reboot of Agatha Christie’s classic of doomed partygoers in her “And Then There Were None.”
“The inspiration,” Horowitz, 69, said in a Zoom interview, “was always an idea I had: What would happen if a plane crashed in the middle of nowhere and you had to survive with nine complete strangers? One of whom was a psychopath?
“For me that was the inspiration. Of course, in writing it now, I see there is an obvious echo of that extraordinary and brilliant Christie novel.
“But everywhere I could, I was trying to avoid it, rather than sort of bowing into it. But of course, Agatha Christie has had a huge influence on my life. She still remains the Queen of Crime.”
If there are nine crash survivors and the title says “Nine Bodies” isn’t that a bit too grim? Shouldn’t we be attached to one or two to come out of the jungle alive?
“They all seem to have secrets. And they’re all deceiving each other in some way. But they are at the same time, largely likable people.
“And we’re saying, ‘Oh, please, let it not be her!’ And then suddenly, bang! another one is gone. Somebody else has left the cast.”
As to how Eric McCormack became the biggest name in the cast, “As I understand it MGM were very keen to have him. They worked with him before.
“Obviously, I knew ‘Will and Grace,’ just a great, great show, and I was keen to meet him. I was also nervous. You know, we hear about American actors who are going to be difficult (the same as European actors).
“I have to tell you that Eric was charming from the day I met him. He does a very, very bad impersonation of me, and everybody liked him. To a large extent he held everything together.”
Even though “Bodies” ends, yes, in a Mexican morgue, a sequel, surprisingly, is in the works.
“I have some ideas for it. It won’t be a sequel in the classic sense,” Horowitz allowed. “But if you look at what they’ve done with ‘True Detective’ where they went into third and fourth seasons, still winning awards and drawing huge audiences, we’ll follow that same route.”
“Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue” streams Sunday on MGM+
