Chicago filmmaker Andrew Davis debuts first thriller novel 'Disturbing the Bones'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's Andrew Davis is an acclaimed director, best known for films like "The Fugitive" and "Under Siege." Now, he's debuting his first novel, destined to be a screen thriller.

The filmmaker says "Disturbing the Bones" is a story that puts his hometown at the center of a crisis rocking the world!

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A terrifying mystery. Explosive politics. It's personal for a Chicago cop and an archaeologist who makes a startling discovery in southern Illinois.

Davis and his writing partner, Jeff Biggers, join ABC7 in the city where the pulsating plot unfolds.

Davis took some inspiration for the book from his suspense thriller, "The Package," shot in Chicago.

"In our story there's a terrible accident that takes place, and the world says, 'we have to give up these nuclear weapons,'" Davis said. "The Russians are testing a missile that goes wrong, and kills a bunch of people one day. So there's a peace conference call, in Chicago actually, and the woman who wins the election on the peace platform is an African-American woman from Chicago.

Biggers is a journalist. He spoke about what it's like to make up his own stories.

"It's really a wonderful blend of investigative reporting and great storytelling, but working with a legacy of someone like Andrew Davis," Biggers said. "To follow up with his masterful work to set it in the crisis, but also the exciting times of today."

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"That whole history of having a kid who winds up getting raised in Chicago, who's taken care of by a young Michelle Obama character who protects him from the tough kids on the South Side , and later on when she's running for president he's gotta protect her in front of these rallies she's having," Davis said.

The director's home town is ever top of his creative mind. Chicago is its own character in Davis' latest story the way it's been in many of his movies.

"I used to ride my bike by Bo Diddley's House. Herbie Hancock grew up on Stony Island," Davis said. "This is who I am. This is the South Side of Chicago... I can tell the story and talk about the pictures and the images and my texture of Chicago, and Jeff knew all about southern Illinois."

Davis teased that he may have already had casting in mind while writing the story.

"So, I don't want to give it away, so maybe someone like Denzel Washington and Emma Stone and Tommy Lee Jones," Davis said. "I think we wrote the novel with them in mind. We wrote history. Now it's happened."

Davis will be at Columbia College at 7 p.m. Wednesday to talk about the book.

"It gets you on the edge of your seat, and you can't put it down until the end," Biggers said.

On Saturday morning, the Chicago Film Festival is hosting a screening of "The Package," the director's thriller starring Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones. It's at the Chicago History Museum at 11 a.m.

Davis will explore how the film inspired his new book - "Disturbing the Bones."