Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Tagebuch eines Skandals
Interview with Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Since his play "Closer", which has been produced in over thirty languages all around the world, Patrick Marber is a star writer in the international theatre business. He was able to adapt his West End hit into a feature film in 2004. Julia Roberts and Nathalie Portman took on roles in the oscar-nominated film version of Closer directed by Mike Nichols. He has since adapted Patrick McGrath's Asylum and Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal for the screen. His latest work is on a screenplay for the film The Tourist, directed by the Swiss Marcel Langenegger. OutNow.CH met Patrick Marber in Berlin.
» Das Interview in deutscher Sprache.
OutNow.CH (ON): When you adapted Zoë Heller's novel "Notes on a Scandal" for the screen what was the most difficult?
Two Leading Ladies
Patrick Marber (PM): Deciding how to tell the story. The book doesn't have a big plot. It took a while to figure out the central events. But I wasn't surprised that it was going to be difficult.
ON: Is that the reason why you decided to write the script?
PM: I really loved the book. And I couldn't bear the fact that some other writer would do it. I knew that the haunting, black comic tone of the book would make a very interesting film.
ON: How was the collaboration with Zoë?
PM: We met early on and I made sure she didn't have any intentions to make an adaptation herself. And I warned her, that I would take many liberties. But the book is always the book. If it's a bad film it will be good for the book. If it's a good film it will be good for the book. A film always makes the book better known.
ON: Is it difficult to work with characters who are not your own?
PM: It's easy. The book is brilliantly written. I didn't change the character of Barbara. But Sheba is quite different. In the book she's not quite exotic, and not as bohemian. She's a more conventional upper middle class woman. I know Cate Blanchett very well and I wanted to write a good part for her.
Nobody minds having her on his mind.
ON: Do you often have actors in your mind when you write a script?
PM: With any book I'm offered to adapt for the screen I always think of who could play this part. When I can see a person living all these things it makes it easier to write.
ON: What is it that you like about Cate Blanchett?
PM: She has got everything in her armory that a director needs. She's really smart. And when you talk to her about the script, she doesn't only talk about her role like most other actors. But she has an absolute understanding of what her character's job is within the story. She doesn't want to play good parts; she wants to be in good films. Whithin the next ten years she will be a director herself I think.
ON: Do you have any intentions of becoming a director?
PM: I don't have any plans but I have a vague desire.
ON: Is this desire getting any bigger?
PM: No. It's still on a controllable level.
