Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 5 april 2018
Q&A: Kenneth Lonergan on adapting 'Howards End'

By JAKE COYLE tone that they strike in that
NEW YORK (AP) — "How- movie is so specific and so
ards End," the upcoming lively and so full of feeling
four-part miniseries adapt- and humor and beauty.
ed from E.M. Forster's 1910 "Howards End" is obviously
novel, isn't Kenneth Loner- very different and it can be
gan's first foray into tele- a bit more ponderous. And
vision. That would be the the form is so different. The
animated Nickelodeon kids original film isn't over two
show "Doug." hours long. They just have
Before Lonergan was one of to pare away so much.
the most acclaimed play- AP: Why is it, do you think,
wrights and filmmakers of we keep coming back to
his generation, he was like "Howards End"?
most young writers: hunt- Lonergan: It seems to me
ing for work and for mon- that one thing it's about is
ey. He and his friend Andy people coming up against
Yerkes wrote apair of 1993 the limits of their own ex-
episodes for "Doug." How it perience, and also finding
happened, the 55-year-old the value in their own ex-
playwright can't recall. "Or perience. There are some
why they only wanted us things the Wilcoxes just can-
to write only two episodes," In this Feb. 6, 2017 file photo, Kenneth Lonergan arrives at the 89th Academy Awards Nominees not handle and that the
said Lonergan. "I guess they Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Schlegels are very good at,
didn't like our episodes very Associated Press and vice versa.
much. I thought they were AP: Especially good is the
OK." "Howards End," a BBC working on "Manchester instead concentrate sole- thing I actually came to scene where Margaret
production that Starz will by the Sea," for which he ly on adapting the book admire more and more as Schlegel criticizes Henry Wil-
premiere Sunday, may won best screenplay at last about three rungs of soci- I worked on it. cox as "muddled, criminally
be Lonergan's second TV year's Academy Awards. ety in Edwardian England: AP: What do you admire muddled" for the hypocrisy
credit but — no offense to Exhausted from the rigors the high-minded Schlegel about it? of his double standards.
"Doug" — it's his most sub- of that Oscar campaign sisters, the wealthy but ob- Lonergan: When you put Lonergan: It's just very per-
stantial small-screen effort ("Those events really take stinate Wilcoxes and the his dialogue into scene ceptive of her. She also
yet. Lonergan wrote the over your consciousness, unfortunate Basts. form, it really comes to life says in the same speech
four-hour series, directed not just your life," he says) In a recent interview, Lo- quite beautifully. Possibly that "I'm tired of your un-
by Hetti MacDonald and Lonergan opted not to di- nergan discussed making because it's a different time weeded kindness," which
starring Hayley Atwell, while rect the British series and "Howards End" — previously and place, a lot of the hu- is a really good phrase. Be-
made into the 1992 Mer- mor is more evident when cause he is kind but it's not
chant-Ivory film, with Emma you put it into teleplay form very well sorted through
Thompson and Anthony than it is when you're read- where he applies his kind-
Hopkins — seeing his 2001 ing it. It's really kind of an ness. But I often feel crimi-
play "Lobby Hero" revived amazing structure. And it nally muddled myself, so
on Broadway and whether has a great feeling of kind- maybe that's why I sympa-
the #MeToo movement ness and humanity to it. thize with him.
has been fair to "Manches- Some of it's a bit schematic AP: You wrote a letter to
ter" star Casey Affleck. and some of the charac- the college paper of your
AP: Had you been tempt- ters are better drawn than alma mater, Wesleyan Uni-
ed by television for a while? others, but as you're work- versity, defending Affleck
Was it inevitable that you'd ing through your teleplay who in 2010 settled two civil
try it? looking for material to suits of sexual harassment.
Lonergan: Probably. For a plumb, you just find more You wrote "an allegation is
long time before I started and more. not an indictment" and la-
screenwriting, I never had AP: That compassion and mented "unsubstantiated
an idea for a movie. Once wit make it a good fit for details" becoming pre-
I finally had one, more you. I imagine you're un- sumed facts. Do you think
came. It wasn't that I didn't likely to write anything that Affleck, who withdrew from
want to write for the mov- doesn't include some hu- presenting at last month's
ies. I just always thought in mor. Oscars, has been treated
terms of plays. Since then, Lonergan: Yeah, you have fairly?
I've been thinking in terms to be really good to get by Lonergan: I think he's been
of plays and movies, and without any humor. It's al- treated terribly and I wish
now, possibly, I'll think in most impossible. I had written that letter
terms of plays, movies and AP: Did the movie of "How- to everybody, not just to
television. ards End" intimidate you at my college paper. I didn't
AP: Was Forster's book all? even quite realize who I
meaningful to you? Lonergan: Not so much. was writing it to. I think he's
Lonergan: No, it wasn't, ac- I had only seen the film being treated abominably.
tually. I had tried to read it once. I liked it but it wasn't a It's not a model everyone
earlier in life and not been film that loomed large in my should be looking to follow,
engaged by it. But I read it life. "A Room With a View" is no matter what the reason
when they offered me the a film that I've seen many or what the greater good
assignment and it's some- times and that I love. The may be. q