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Life After... Continued
We got a hell of a lot more time with Peter Jackson than our printed mag allowed, so here's the rest...
What was it that first brought Alice Sebold's novel to your attention? And how did it develop into a directorial project for you?
"We weren't even initially thinking of doing it as we were just simply talking about ‘how on earth you'd turn this into a film and how it would be pretty tricky'. And a result we kind of talked ourselves into doing it.
"But we inquired and found out that the film rights weren't available as they were controlled by Tessa Ross at Film 4 in London, and she had another filmmaker who was working on an adaptation. A couple of years went by then Tessa called and said that the other film had fallen over and wanted to know if we were we still interested. We immediately said ‘Yep, sure we're still interested'. At that point we were still working on King Kong but thought this would be a terrific film to do after."
Your films to date seem to be anchored through rather complex victim/hero relationships between the primary characters, from Sam and Frodo, Kong and Ann Darrow to Pauline and Juliet from Heavenly Creatures. The Lovely Bones also resonates with this kind of relationship, a dead girl looking over her grieving family. Was this aspect of the story something that drew you into adapting the book?
"I think everyone, universally, quietly asks themselves these questions sometimes. And that's what was interesting in the book. It wasn't so much the story of Susie's family coming to terms with the loss, although that is something you can relate to if you've ever had something like that happen to you. But the really fascinating thing is the way it boldly makes a statement about life after death. There are interesting observations and there's a certain amount of wit and irony involved, and obviously some greater thriller aspects as well. A part of what Susie (Saoirse Ronan) has to do once she is dead is to see her killer brought to justice. But then how important is revenge? Is it revenge that she wants and is that a noble thing?"
Was Alice Sebold involved in any way during the scriptwriting or production of the film?
"Not really. She wasn't involved in the creation of the movie, although we have certainly shared our thoughts and ideas with her at times. We met with Alice before we even started, just so she could have a sense of who was doing this film. Then when we wrote the script we sent her a copy to and met up in Los Angeles to get her notes and thoughts, which was very helpful. She wasn't concerned at all about the changes that we made, instead it was about her looking at our script and saying ‘Well I think you have an opportunity to do this or that, and do you know if you included that scene you could do this'.
"You get to a point when you've written something or made a film that you really do value people's input. Especially people you can trust, mostly because you reach a point where you can't see the woods for the trees."
And has Alice seen any of the footage?
"Alice has seen a version of the film, not the totally finished version, but an early cut that we did and she seemed to be happy and has had a very healthy attitude really; she knows we're the filmmakers, and she wanted to leave us alone to make the film. She has done her version of The Lovely Bones and given us the room to adapt it and do our version on film. She has understood the process and hasn't tried to force herself in, and we've been very happy for her to give us ideas and thoughts at the appropriate time. It's been a great relationship and she'll be coming to the premiere in London with us."
Considering how popular the book has been, do you feel any pressure to make sure the fans are catered to in your adaption?
"You have to do what's best for the film. Even though there is a fan base you are still dealing with individuals who have different opinions about the book. It's written as such that it invites you to put a lot of your own imagination to the story, so I imagine any two people reading the book will be imagining very different things at certain times. I think it's a hopeless exercise to cater to the so-called fans of the book, simply because at the end of the day they aren't a common voice.
"There comes time at the end of the process that the most important thing is that it's our personal interpretation of the book, and that's where the best film is going to come from. The best movies will always come from a very personal place. We read the book, and by ‘we' I mean the screenwriters as we collectively created the screenplay, the blueprints for the film; we read the book, we were affected by it, and this is our experience from reading it. And this is really what we're presenting to people."
The film's soundtrack has been composed by Brian Eno. Was it a challenge to get him on board and how did this come about?
"He was a personal choice of Fran Walsh, my partner who writes with me. She is very interested in the music side of the film and knows much, much more than I do. We wanted the music to reflect the period in which the film is set. Fran knew who was hot at the time and who Susie would have been listening to; what the cool songs were. The script actually names some music tracks that are playing in the background of the scenes.
"It's great being able to do that from a production view point because it means everyone, the cast and crew, have a common vision for what you're trying to achieve. They understand that this song will be playing, that we will be shooting to the beat of the song and that the pacing of the scene, the lighting of the scene... all these thing will be affected it.
"So Fran selected about a dozen songs while we were writing the script, thinking that the soundtrack could be like what Marty Scorsese does with his movies, constructed from existing material rather than a score.
"Anyway, this list that Fran had contained a couple of Brian Eno tracks, Baby's on Fire and The Big Ship, so at the beginning of the process we started to get permission from the various composers or copyright holders of these various tracks. There was no point in us filming to a piece of music if we weren't going to get the rights.
"So we get a call from Brian Eno because he had heard that we were trying to get the rights to these two tracks. He then rushed out and bought a copy of the book and became curious as to what we were doing. So we were having a telephone conversation between London and New Zealand and basically, very quickly he asks out of the blue, ‘would you have any interest in me being more involved in the score? I'm really curious about the idea of scoring this film.'
"We couldn't believe it. It was like a dream come true. We had heard that Brian Eno had done a film score or two but that he wasn't very interested in them. We never even considered it, but he volunteered and offered his services. Fran was beyond excited, he is a brilliant composer and I think she was a huge fan of his growing up."
And how was that process compared to working with a more traditional conductor?
"Brian did an interesting thing... most film scores don't get done until the film's cut together and you basically lock off the film to the point where nothing changes. The composer then writes the music bit by bit, cut by cut to that particular cut of the film. But Brian didn't work like that, he didn't want to see the cut of the film, he said ‘Let me see the script. I've read the book, show me some artwork, show me some photos and let me just write some music.' So he wrote these pieces, these long pieces of incredible moody emotional music. He asked us about the emotion is of this scene and what's appropriate, what certain scenes were about... He wrote from a place of inspiration just by talking and looking pictures.
"And it was terrific because we ended up with this great library of original Brian Eno music and were able to continue editing the movie and adjusting the film, trying out different cuts without being hampered by this locked off score. It worked out phenomenally well; there are some really beautiful tracks in the score."
The Lovely Bones is in cinemas from December 26. For more on the film, including interviews with Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, check out the latest issue of Filmink Magazine.
