And anyway, I would pick Amanda Seyfried if I had to pick one! And I don’t pick my favorite star in the movie. Who’s the better looking “Art of Racing in the Rain” star: Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin Costner or Parker the dog? My hope was that the film would have its heart in the right place, and it certainly does. I know that changes have to be made when you take a 360-page book and turn it into a 93-minute movie. However, my background in storytelling helped me better understand the process.

I made documentary films, so that doesn’t really translate to Hollywood. My sons (23, 20, and 12) don’t get impressed by much, but they were impressed that their old man’s book was being made into a movie!ĭid your background in film help you better understand the process of adapting your book into film? It’s a lot of fun to visit a big Hollywood set - lots of crew and extras and equipment. I also was at Pacific Raceways near Seattle for some of the racing sequences. I took my family up to Vancouver to visit for a day, and you can find me and my sons in the background of a pit stop scene, if you look closely. In an interview, Stein talked about taking his book to the big screen and what’s he’s working on next. His latest novel for adults, “A Sudden Light,” was published in 2014.ĭirector Simon Curtis’ film adaptation of the novel, also starring Milo Ventimiglia and Amanda Seyfried, opens nationwide on Friday. Stein has published a middle-grade adaptation of the novel, “Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog,” as well as a series of children’s picture books featuring Enzo. The book was inspired by Stein’s own love of dogs and his hobby of racing cars (from which he retired after crashing in - wait for it - the rain). The novel follows a mutt named Enzo (in the movie, he’s a golden retriever) who reflects on his life with Denny Swift, the race car driver who’s been his constant companion for years. He made his literary debut in 1998 with the thriller “Raven Stole the Moon,” and followed up seven years later with the novel “How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets.”īoth novels gained positive reviews from critics, but neither prepared him for the breakout success of “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” which quickly became a publishing phenomenon.

A Los Angeles native who now lives in Seattle, Stein started his career as a documentary producer.

The art of racing in the rain pages