![](//www.4rfv.com/images/no_image.jpg)
By Stephanie Ornelas
There's a unique partnership between the director, the screenwriter, and the author when adapting a book for the big screen. When handled collaboratively and honestly, this collective magic can make the viewing experience for new and old fans of the literature that much more meaningful. And although the end product speaks for itself, like every film, these types of projects can present their own production challenges.
These were the main topics of conversation when Eugene Hernandez, Sundance Institute's new Festival Director, led a panel discussion on adaptation during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Hernandez, who will be officially stepping into his new role for the 2024 Festival, sat down with Debra Granik (Leave No Trace), Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), and partners Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan (Wildlife), to talk about the inherent challenges that come with directing movie adaptations. Their lively discussion in Park City had audience members laughing and fellow panelists intrigued by each other's insight.
For Paul Dano, this was his first time directing and he had been thinking about Richard Ford's Wildlife for over the course of a year. He did a lot of journaling and through that process, he really thought: Why does this book obsess me? Why does this book haunt me a little bit?
What got me to do [the film] was thinking of what the final image could be, recalls Dano. Once I had this certain scene or image, I said, Okay. I think I can actually do this.'
Eugene Hernandez, Debra Granik, Lynne Ramsay, Paul Dano, and Zoe Kazan at the Sundance Film Festival Cinema Cafe in 2018. The film is based on Ford's 1990 novel of the same name about a teenage boy forced to deal with his mother's complicated response after his father temporarily leaves them for a menial and dangerous job. When I wrote [Ford], he immediately gave me a gift, which I sort of wish every author would do for any filmmaker, and that was he said, My book's my book and your picture is your picture. I think you'd be doing both of us a disservice if you don't make what is you.'
And when Dano wrote his first draft, it was not formatted as a screenplay. That was conscious because I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. I was really just trying to understand how one takes internal life and narration and translates it to an image. So, I wrote something that I thought was really good. Then I gave it to Zoe and she tore it apart, Dano laughs.
But the ideas and the story were there. As Kazan says, Paul had already pulled all of the treasure from the book. She just had to learn how to understand Dano's interpretation, and they needed to work on conveying that back to the larger audience.
Paul had done a lot of the heavy lifting. He fell in love with this book and I could see why it obsessed him. I told him, I think you should let me do a draft of this and sort of translate what you see in your head so other people can see it,' Kazan explains. I did a lot of restructuring and I learned to see the film that he saw in his head and speak in the voice that he was trying to speak in that was half his and half Richard Ford's - then it became mine too. I had never done that before.
Director Lynne Ramsay had a similar experience when writing the screenplay for You Were Never Really Here, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Her film is based on Jonathan Ames' novella of the same name about a teenage girl who goes missing and a jaded enforcer who attempts to rescue her. Ramsay explains that when she wrote the first 60 pages [of her screenplay], It read like a novel. It was just thoughts in my head. So I started in that similar way [as Dano]. A lot of it for me is trying to translate what your vision is.
While making her 2011 thriller, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ramsay faced an additional challenge that many independent filmmakers can relate to: budget cuts. In the middle of working through her film, she was told the budget was going to have to be massively reduced and that could mean reworking, and perhaps even removing, some crucial parts of the film. And when it comes to adapting a book, deciding what scenes to trim can be a major hurdle.
I had to reconceive the whole thing. That was a real challenge. I had been working on this project for ages, and I said, I'm still going to do my damnedest to make it.' It was a 450-page novel and a 70-page script in the end.
Paul Dano talks about his journey creating Wildlife (2018 Sundance Film Festival). Like her fellow panelists, Debra Granik saw the importance of collaboration with screenwriter Anne Rosellinias as she recalled her journey directing the 2018 Sundance Film Festival screening Leave No Trace. The film is based on the true story of Peter Rock's novel My Abandonment and follows a military veteran father with PTSD who lives in the forest with his young daughter.
Granik looks back at how the collaboration between her and Rosellinias was crucial in shaping the overall story: I would send her a draft and she'd send me a lot of notes. She's someone who I always work with on casting and locations heavily. We scout together. After taking tons of photos of real places or meeting some real characters who we might want to work into the story, she knows exactly what I'm talking about and who I'm talking about. Then we try really hard to make sure other people know why we like it, whatever that location was, or specific type of person or animal.
Through their distinctive projects, each director brought their own unique perspective to the panel discussion, giving audience members a fascinating window into the world of film adaptation and the obstacles they had to overcome.
While the adaptation from origi
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
26/07/2024
by Ianeta Le'i
I honestly don't remember the first time I met Bryson Ch...
26/07/2024
(L-R) Louise (Karen Gillan) and Antonina (Margaret Sophie Stein) strike up an un...
26/07/2024
Last month, Spotify's annual Songs of Summer predictions made their return, ...
26/07/2024
Summer is peak season for some of our favorite sports and events. Whether you're rooting for the home team at the ballpark or cheering for your country as i...
26/07/2024
Nine talented young professionals completed their vocational training at SGL Carbon in Meitingen from the beginning of June to mid-July, achieving an overall gr...
26/07/2024
Orders1 of $5.2 billion; book-to-bill of 1.0x
Revenue of $5.3 billion, up 13%
...
26/07/2024
(Editor's note: TVTech reached out to several station groups to determine the impact of the CrowdStrike outage on operations. Many, including NextStar Media...
26/07/2024
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. Bitcentral has integrated Pixalate's ad fraud protection, privacy and compliance analytics solution Post-Bid Analytics and Reporting i...
26/07/2024
Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World is a science fiction thriller set in a murky future with a highly ordered society. While Huxley and other sc...
26/07/2024
Hollyland Adds Pyro 7 All-in-one Video Monitor, TX and RX to Pyro Series
Brie Clayton July 26, 2024
0 Comments
Seven-inch 2.4/5GHz wireless monitor wi...
26/07/2024
Geddy Lee Asks Are Bass Players Human Too? Graded Using DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton July 26, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic today announced that t...
26/07/2024
Another reminder of the popularity of ad-supported connected TV comes in a survey by Premion and Advertiser Perceptions which found that 61% of the marketers th...
26/07/2024
Nielsen's Gracenote unit said it is selling its metadata about the content of television shows and movies for use in targeting connected-TV advertising camp...
26/07/2024
CBS premieres 13 Days in Ferguson, a special about the aftermath of a police shooting of a young Black man in 2014, on Friday, August 9. The special features Ce...
26/07/2024
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the launch of their long-awaited premium streaming bundle for the United States. For $16.99 per month, subscribers w...
26/07/2024
It provides multi-voltage output (14.4V, 28V, and 48V) through two XLR4 outputs and one XLR3, offering power to cameras, monitors, and lighting equipment
By Je...
26/07/2024
The lawsuit submitted by investor Scott Baker claims the deal would cost Paramount shareholders $1.65 billion
By Jenny Priestley
Published: July 26, 2024
...
26/07/2024
Florida-based Video Village Miami provides on-set video assist for local commercials and music videos. Frank Collins established the outfit in 2019 after a 20-y...
26/07/2024
QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, will present QuickLink StudioPro at IBC 2024 (Stand ...
26/07/2024
Relo Metrics (formerly GumGum Sports), the leading AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform for real-time data decisions, today launched an industry-leading in...
26/07/2024
Anton/Bauer, a leading provider of mobile power systems for the film and television industry, has announced the launch of the VCLX LI 1600. The latest evolution...
26/07/2024
Bitcentral, the leading provider of professional media solutions for broadcast and digital video, today announces that it has integrated Pixalate, the ad fraud ...
26/07/2024
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that Secure Automated Backup with Compass , a cloud backup-as-a-s...
26/07/2024
VisualOn IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview
Sept. 13-16
Amsterdam
Stand 5.A52
As video streaming consumption surges, service providers face significant challenges wi...
26/07/2024
Quanteec
IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview
Sept. 13-16
RAI Amsterdam
Stand 1.A05
Quanteec, a global provider of video delivery technology for broadcasters, will s...
26/07/2024
Witbe
IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview
Sept. 13-16
Amsterdam
Stand 5.F84
At IBC2024, Witbe will showcase the power of its automated testing and proactive monitori...
26/07/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission has announced the launch of its new Mobile Speed Test app. The new app features an enhanced user interfac...
26/07/2024
LONDON In a notable landmark for the use of cloud-based services at the Olympics, Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), has today announced the...
26/07/2024
NEW YORK As part of a $2.5 billion media rights deal with the NBA announced on July 24, NBCUniversal and the NBA have also announced an 11-year agreement for ri...
26/07/2024
BEAVERTON, Ore. Versatile Video Coding (VVC) promises to play a pivotal role in driving advancements in video compression technology, with organizations across ...
26/07/2024
COLUMBUS, Ohio The political news channel PurpleTV has expanded it reach with news that it has launched on Channel 25.1 in Columbus, Ohio on TV Station WXOH, wh...
26/07/2024
NEW YORK As part of a push into the contextual advertising business, Nielsen's Gracenote has announced that it is developing new contextual categories to gi...
26/07/2024
Puget Systems Returns to SIGGRAPH 2024 to Demonstrate its On-Premises Generative...
26/07/2024
Dreamtek Delivers Innovative A/V, Live Production and Post Workflows with Blackm...
26/07/2024
Dejero to bring even smarter' mobile internet connectivity solutions to IBC...
26/07/2024
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are about to begin, and Capitol Broadcasting is rea...
26/07/2024
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2024 Emmy Awards Twenty-one Berklee alumni received Emmy nominations this year for music composition, sound mixing, and sound editi...
26/07/2024
Jennifer Lyons, president and general manager of WBBM Chicago, is moving into a ...
26/07/2024
Kennan Oliphant has been named VP of news and station manager at WWJ Detroit. He will report to Jennifer Lyons, who has added a regional GM role that gives her ...
26/07/2024
Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, a four-part docuseries, debuts on HBO and Max July 24. The series details the life of the baseball superstar, includin...
26/07/2024
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games present a unique and exciting opportunity for local...
26/07/2024
Paris 2024: V varo Providing Live Media Transport Services for Leading Internati...
26/07/2024
Paris 2024: BBC Sport on Its Remote Production Workflow for the Summer Games By Heather McLean, SVG Europe
Friday, July 26, 2024 - 7:31 am
Print This Story...
26/07/2024
Paris 2024: BBC Sport Unveils the Olympic Storytelling and Breathtaking Scenery ...
26/07/2024
Paris 2024: Taking a Step Forwards with BBC Sport's Olympic Studio Combining...
26/07/2024
Paris 2024: Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe Provides a First Look at Its Ol...
26/07/2024
Live From Paris 2024: NBC Olympics Set for Historic Opening Ceremony Unilateral coverage builds on impressive OBS production as NBC dives deep into Team USA cov...
26/07/2024
Live From Paris 2024: SVG's Onsite Editorial Team Breaks Down Opening Ceremo...
26/07/2024
True-crime documentary, The Body Next Door to launch on Sky Documentaries and NO...