January 26th, 2012
Insane!!
Guess what I did tonight–had coffee with the director, producer, and star of an upcoming short film based on one of my stories. I had met the director and producer before, and they are lovely–creative, enthusiastic, and generous with their time (not every film-maker spends time getting to know the author of the work the script is based on, I don’t think). But the star I hadn’t met before, and it was a shock to me to meet someone who is going to embody one of my characters; who will briefly but genuinely become someone who previously only had life inside my head and, I hope, inside my readers’ heads. It was a strangely emotional moment for me.
Obviously, I think this is all fantastic–fantastic that I wrote something that other people related to so much that they want to re-create it in their own way, in their own medium. And there was no dissonance for me in meeting and talking to the actress–she looks just right to me, and I was fascinated to hear how she thinks about her work. Though I don’t know exactly how it will feel to see and hear her living the role, I can’t wait to find out.
But you can see how this would all be deeply weird for me, can’t you? I hugged everyone goodbye at the end of the night–movie people are good huggers, it turns out. And when I put my arms around the woman who will become this character, I couldn’t help but think, “She’s a real person!”
Wild.
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Sweet! Any idea when we’ll see the short? Did you feel like Nicholas Cage’s Charlie Kaufman lurking at the Being John Malkovich set from Adaptation?
January 26th, 2012 at 10:04 pmThanks so much, Phil! I don’t know when (if???) the short will be released, but the filming begins in three weeks–eeeeee!! I don’t know why, but I don’t feel crazed or controlling about the differences between my story and the movie. Maybe it’s because I don’t know how to make a movie!!
February 1st, 2012 at 11:27 amWill you go to the set? And take photos for us 🙂
February 5th, 2012 at 2:55 pmFred, definitely yes to the first question, and yes to the second too if permitted! Two weeks to go–eep!!
February 6th, 2012 at 9:46 ameeek. i am so excited! shocked and excited! please keep us posted. this sounds like such a meta-experience. … i am now both sad and relieved that no one will ever make a movie of my writing.
February 15th, 2012 at 5:15 pmHi AMT, thanks for sharing the excitement! it is very meta, very bizarre–my creative process is so long over on this story that it is very much as if it’s happening to someone else. If you get really famous, someone will probably make a bio-pic of you!!
February 16th, 2012 at 12:34 pmRR
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