Ronny Cox - Ronny Cox Writes Deliverance Book

Cox got his big break when he was cast as businessman Drew in the 1972 adventure thriller, about a group of pals whose canoe trip turns to horror when they encounter a set of backwoods hillbillies.

Now he has put pen to paper to recount his time on the Georgia set in Dueling Banjos: The Deliverance of Drew, which hits shelves on Tuesday (26Jun12).

He tells TheWrap.com, "It was my first film and it just changed my life. I've carried these stories with me for 40 years, and they just bubbled up to the surface.

"This book has no pretensions about being a literary tome, I'm a storyteller, and I wanted it to feel like we were having a coffee or a beer and talking about this complete novice who got to be in a number one Hollywood film."

Cox has hailed Deliverance for its "timelessness" and insists the movie is just as terrifying four decades later.

He says, "When you look at this film, it has a sort of timelessness. It hasn't lost its power and the things it says about the world around us still resonate. None of the clothes scream period and the cars may be a bit older, but besides that it could be four guys out on a boat trip today."