Australian author Aaron Blabey talks about the success of the Bad Guys story

There was a time, not too long ago, when Aaron Blabey dreamed of conquering Hollywood as an actor.

Today, he’s promoting a blockbuster movie he doesn’t star in but is based on his best-selling children’s book.

He is the popular author and illustrator of Pig The Pug and Thelma the unicorn books but his inspiration Tarantino Bad guys is the one that movie studios showed up for.

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“A lot of them were after that, they were responding to me in a lot of ways,” Blabey said.

“The only one I trusted was DreamWorks. It was the only studio that understood the tone of what I do.

“My pitch for the movie and the book was ‘Tarantino for Kids’.”

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His book was an instant hit in the United States, even without wide circulation.

“The first one Bad guys The book hit book fairs in American schools and within (of) weeks it sold half a million copies,” Blabey said, as he took a break from promotion. of the movie.

Despite his success, Blabey said he was still worried about how people would react to his stories.

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“Yeah all the time, I’m a nervous wreck half the time, because what I’m doing is so weirdly nervous for children’s books,” he said.

“I have days where I think I’ve lost my mind because I’m alone in my studio 90% of my time and you have times when you say ‘I’m certifiable’.”

But he shouldn’t worry anymore.

The film grossed over $50 million within five weeks of its release in Australia and Europe.

It opened in the huge US market today and expectations are so high that DreamWorks execs are talking about a sequel and adapting its other books for the screen.

Tarantino for Kids – turns out to be a pretty good pitch.