I met Michael Punke, author of The Revenant(now at a theatre near you)

In April of 2003, my friend Faye invited me to join her book group’s May meeting to discuss The Revenant.  She extended the invitation because the author of the novel, Michael Punke, was a colleague of a book group member and had agreed to come to the group’s discussion.  A title I would never have otherwise picked up turned out to be a great book. 

A quick synopsis -- A piece of historical fiction, the novel focuses on Hugh Glass, an 1830’s fur trapper.  While scouting for his group he is mauled by a bear.  The leader of the group clumsily sews him up (wounds to the throat, scalp and back) and they try to make him comfortable, but it seems clear to the group that he will almost certainly die.  Because the party cannot afford further delays, two men are chosen to stay back with Glass to give him a decent burial and then catch up with the rest.  Glass lingers on, however, and Fitzgerald, one of the men who seems pretty slimy and unsympathetic, thinks about just shooting him.  After almost a week, some hostile Indians threaten and the two abandon Glass, stealing his rifle, knife and other belongings.  Glass miraculously recovers, crawling first, then walking 300 miles down river to the nearest fort where he talks them into resupplying him.  He hooks up with a new trapping party but his goal is vengeance against Fitzgerald.  Along the way there are exciting scenes including Glass fighting a pack of wolves for food.

What was interesting about talking with Michael Punke was learning about what research he had done and what little is actually known about Hugh Glass.  Punke took 5 or 6 incidents that had been reported in the St. Louis newspapers and filled in the gaps.  He also did research on geography and weapons, and he read a number of wilderness survival guides to try to figure out plausible things to give his character to do.  He even spent an afternoon in his back yard trying to build traps with his six year old to see if it could be done with minimal tools.

At the time, Punke was a partner in a big K Street law firm, practicing international law, but he was soon leaving to move to Montana to write full time.  While his book had not been a bestseller (yet! – fast forward 12 years!), he sold the film rights to Warner Brothers and that was enough to give up law, at least for a while.  He shared with us that the studio said the movie would only get made if they could get one of about five or six stars for the part – Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day Lewis, among them – because it would be too expensive to make and they needed someone who would sell tickets.  Punke’s personal choice was Daniel Day Lewis, but he can’t be too disappointed that the film, just out, stars Leo DiCaprio.