SF: Briefly describe what the book is about.

NA: Letters to Montgomery Clift is the coming-of-age story of eight-year-old Bong Bong Luwad and his relationship with the spirit of Montgomery Clift. Bong desperately wants his mother back. (She had 'disappeared' during the Marcos regime in the Philippines.) When he watches The Search, a movie where Monty cares for a lost boy then helps the boy find his mother, Bong is sure Monty can do the same for him.

Montgomery Clift is a life-saving entity for the protagonist. When everyone deserts or betrays him, Mr Clift is the only constant in Bong's life.

SF: What made you write the book?

NA: I've always been interested in Filipino politics and wanted to write about how the Marcos regime had affected the lives of millions of Filipinos around the world. I wanted that concept in my first book.

AND I'm a huge Montgomery Clift fan. It saddens me that many people (with the exception of die-hard film buffs) have never heard of Monty. He was an important and influential force in cinema. I hope my book will spark interest in a newer, younger generation. I hope this novel will, in some way, keep his memory going for many more years to come.

SF: How did you research it?

NA: I've been watching Monty movies for years and years and years. However, in writing Letters to Montgomery Clift I had a very specific story I wanted to tell. I chose to refer to Monty movies that went well with the story of my novel.

Fortunately, Monty made lots of movies with 'loner' themes. This worked well with the development of my protagonist. It was tough choosing which Monty movies to refer to in the book. I couldn't use Raintree County because nothing in the movie spoke to me about what my characters were going through.

SF: Monty Clift and the Philippines are strange bedfellows. How did that come about?

NA: Maybe because I'm a strange fellow myself. I was born in the Philippines, and interested with Filipino politics. I was raised in Los Angeles though and feel distinctly American. For my first book, I wrote about two things I felt comfortable writing about: the Philippines, growing up in the US and, of course, Monty.

SF: Tell me about your acting career, how you got into it and what you have done.

NA: A childhood in Los Angeles is probably like no other. There is something about growing up in a city where some kind of filming is going on during any time of the day or night. It was familiar to me to have other kids leave for an audition or have kids with parents who were involved in the entertainment industry.

I got my first agent when I was fifteen then went to earn a BFA in acting in college. My acting career pretty much sucked! Looking back, I'm glad it sucked. There was a lot of down time as an unemployed actor. (Yes, I'd done some commercials here and there, bit parts in TV, plays in local LA theatres, etc but work was few and far between.) Creatively, I felt stuck. I began to write as a way of dealing with my artistic frustration. Learning to write was one of the best things I'd ever done. I'd written two solo-shows (The Rice Room: Scenes from a Bar and Master of the (miss) Universe) and toured them in several American cities.

SF: How long have you been a fan of Monty?

NA: I, like my young protagonist, saw my first Monty movie as a child. It was Suddenly Last Summer. I was hooked. As a boy, I'd look through the TV guide searching for Monty movies. Thank God the VCR came along.

When I was much younger, I recognized something terribly kind and terribly broken about him. I think children can sense those things. With what I've read, Monty was very good with kids.

SF: What work do you most admire of his?

NA: I like different Monty movies for different reasons. I loved him in The Search because his presence was so fresh, appealing. He didn't know that his life would end the way it did. As for his acting, I thought his work in A Place in the Sun, and The Misfits was amazing. However, Monty Clift weeping as he blew his bugle in From Here to Eternity is burned in my mind forever. I think Monty was his most beautiful in Indiscretion of an American Wife.

SF: What do you think of him as a person?

NA: He was a fine actor and I'm sure he was a fine human being. I admire and respect the man. I've learned a lot through his movies and his life. But I don't want his path.

SF: Where is the book being published? Is it going to be on sale around the world?

NA: It will be published by Macadam Cage in the US. My novel hasn't found foreign distributors yet. It can be ordered from the publisher MacAdam/Cage or some other on-line bookstore (Amazon.com).

SF: Is this your first written work? Are you going to write more?

NA: I've had a few plays produced and some shorter stories published. I plan on writing more. With the publication of my first book, I've been having fun telling people that I'm a published novelist. I'm working on my second novel.

SF: What are your other plans for your future?

NA: I'd like to adopt someday. I think I would make a good father.