"I wanted to write about monsters, but about microscopic monsters. We have more than enough big monsters. I did research and found mushrooms ...".

This is how David Copp, author of "Cold Storage" (published by Kinneret-Zmora. From English: Shaul Levin), describes his choice as the deadly heroine of his new book.

Get to know: Cordyceps, or in its scientific name Ophiocordyceps - a cool little real mushroom, whose way of spreading its spores is by penetrating the body of ants, taking over their brains, and forcing them to climb as high as possible on a tree in the jungle.

Once they have climbed to the maximum height, they will grow tufts from the head of the unfortunate ant, which will split and scatter their spores on the jungle soil in a large radius, so that more ants can be hunted - and God forbid.

The story of the Cordyceps, dubbed the "Zombie Mushroom", appears in full in David Attenborough's latest masterpiece series, "A Wonderful World", which was screened in Israel here 11.

David Cope // Photo: Mellisa Thomas,

The capabilities of this real mushroom were expanded by David Cope by flying into space, for an experiment in the first American space lab, Skylave, which crashed off the coast of Australia and the Indian Ocean in 1979. "The Internet has greatly changed our use of information," says Cope.

"On the one hand we have access to a lot of knowledge, on the other hand no one will interpret it for us. For the writer this is an advantage. You are free to understand it and process it as you wish. And so I really did: I found the scientific basis online So I sent him to a microbiologist, to wake him up and correct the gross scientific errors. 'You are allowed to read and laugh at me,' I told him, but to my surprise he came back to me and said: 'The scientific parts are not terrible. Let's sit and improve them.' I think I acted right. "With experts before I wrote the book, my imagination was limited by the scientific reality and I could not operate it freely."

Fun living for a fee

Although this is Cope's debut (58), he is far from anonymous.

He is a star screenwriter, responsible for blockbusters like "Jurassic Park," "Mission Impossible," "Spider-Man" and about 30 other movies that most of us have seen.

He has worked with Hollywood's great directors, such as Steven Spielberg, Brian de Palma and other giants, but he hangs his screenplay on another blockbuster, the first in the "Indiana Jones" series - Pirates of the Lost Ark.

Wonderful ideas.

Michael Creighton // Leonardo Cendamo / GettyImages,

"The movie came out in 1981, I was 17 or 18," Cope recalled.

"I was sitting in the auditorium, and besides enjoying the movie very much, the thought suddenly popped into my mind that someone had written the script and made it great fun. For some reason, I could actually see him doing it and enjoying himself indefinitely. "Make life fun - and they'll pay me for it."

What makes a very successful screenwriter change direction and become a writer?

"For me it was a very liberating experience. The book allowed me to write, for example, three pages about what a particular character did three years before the events described. There is no such freedom in the script. You can only write what the viewer sees or hears. You can only put humor through a sentence. "A character says. Screenwriting is a very specific art. As a writer, I felt really free from limitations."

Who are the writers who inspire you?

"The genre I write in is a science-based thriller. There are not many writers who write in this genre, but the immediate association is Michael Creighton (" Andromeda Seed, "" Jurassic Park "), and indeed he does not have many competitors. His ideas were wonderful. Jurassic Park is pure genius. But, if you want to be a successful writer - good ideas are not enough. Creighton once told me: 'Writing is 10% inspiration and 90% sweat'.

"Who else helped me dispel the mystery surrounding the writing is Stephen King. Not only because he tells fantastic stories, and he creates believable characters that are very easy to imagine in reality - I really felt I knew the characters, even the villains. I was particularly impressed by the work process. Shalev: He sits and writes every day for 4 hours, in the morning and in the early afternoon, and with that he ends the work day. But he does it every day! "

Inspired by a security guard

Let's go back to "cold storage".

You entrust the task of saving the world to a very strange collection of characters - whether a single parent, a daydreamer, an aging agent and a security guard doubting the autistic continuum.

"I started writing the book with the character of Tikake, the security man. I went one day at 7 in the morning on a steamy New York day, like there is only in this city, and in front of me walked a young man in his 20s, in a security guard's uniform and with a very non-face. Happy. To me he seems like someone who goes - or comes - from a job he really hates. "But he is mine and I have to do what is right?" And I started writing a simple story about him. Later I asked myself: "Who else works with him?"

And what about the retired agent, Roberto Diaz, who reminds me of Gandalf in "The Brotherhood of the Ring" - the man who holds the knowledge?

"I wrote his character as an older, closer to my age, so I could give him some of my personal problems, like back pain. Besides, I thought it would be very entertaining to write a superhero character, who during all the action action of the plot he lies on his back." .

The book was published before the outbreak of the corona, and before the climatic shocks the world is experiencing today.

In this respect the book seems almost prophetic.

"It is impossible to write today on almost any topic without addressing global warming. That is the reality today. The world is changing before our eyes, and unfortunately, we will see more disasters as a result of this warming."

You have two successful careers today.

Which one would you like to move on to?

"I like to write screenplays, because in the film you work with great teams, which is great. On the other hand, I also like to work alone, and writing books allows freedom. So I will continue to practice both professions. And here's a hot proof from the oven: May-June next year "A science-based thriller with two pens. It will be even more realistic, and therefore more frightening than 'cold storage'."