Author Carl Hiaasen stopped by CBS Sunday Morning to discuss his abiding love for his home state of Florida.
Hiaasen is the author of more than 15 humorous crime novels set in the Sunshine State. His 2013 book Bad Monkey was recently adapted into an Apple TV+ series starring Vince Vaughn; the show premiered last week.
60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl visited the Florida Keys, where the Bad Monkey adaptation was being filmed, to visit Hiaasen. She pointed out that the novel, which takes on real estate developers in Florida, was inspired by Hiaasen’s own life in the state.
“Everywhere I went as a kid, went hunting and fishing and catching critters and all that stuff, is all paved over,” Hiaasen said. “It’s all concrete now. I saw it happening from a very young age, 6 or 7 years old, and I was pissed off then and I’m still pissed.”
Hiaasen discussed the landscape of Florida, telling Stahl, “It’s the overwhelming beauty of the place is what makes my characters behave the way they do … It is very spiritual. You just turn a corner in a mangrove swamp, and all of a sudden you see a beautiful spoonbill up in a tree or something, that’s it. That’s when you’re reminded, We can’t screw this up.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
