Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Mohsin Hamid a Eefa Khalid e pubblicata ieri da Dawn. Taking a hermit to a party and letting him dance:
'Was it hard to readjust the novel when it came to writing the screen-play?
Very hard. I didn’t want to do it. I thought it would be best to stick to writing novels and leave the film to Mira [Nair]. But after two years, Mira couldn’t find anyone she thought could do the screenplay. Some people could write Wall Street but not Pakistan, others could get the desi context but not the corporate one. So she asked me to get involved. I wound up working closely with her and two other writers.
How different was it in collaborating with a screenplay writer?
Completely different. But mostly I enjoyed it. Once I let go of control I was fine, because in a film it’s the director, not the screenwriter or the novelist, who gets to shape the final vision. (...)
When you’re writing a novel, do you have a specific physical description/perception for each character? And in the film are they similar or did you have to re-create them?
I tend to keep physical descriptions of characters pretty spare. That way readers get to create them in their imaginations. So I didn’t really have a “mind’s-eye view” of my characters. More of a feel. And that feel was obviously going to be different from everybody else’s.
How involved were you in the filming process?
I was involved, but more like a consultant rather than someone working on it full-time. I visited the sets and gave feedback on the rough cuts of the film. I went to the Lahore recording sessions for the sound-track. Mira’s a very generous, inclusive film-maker. She regularly asked for my opinion. But a novel writer is part of the supporting cast in making a film, not the star. (...)
In these changing days and times, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is more relevant than ever, where would Changez be today?
Ah, that’s for you to decide. The novel leaves his fate to the reader. With any luck, he’d have fallen for a sexy literature professor and be enjoying life in Lahore, except for the power cuts'.
Vedi anche Le prime del 17 maggio 2013: The reluctant fundamentalist, 11 maggio 2013
