The problem with papers? Too many ads and not enough articles. Here's an interview that didn't make it to the page:
"It was a pretty demanding adaptation," screenwriter Christopher Hampton said of his work on the film, Atonement. "People have said to me that they enjoy it more the second time."
Understandable, considering that the story folds over on itself when a giant plot twist is revealed in the final scenes -- the twist of fate that Hampton helped visualize for the big screen. He had initially planned on bookending the film with a confession revealed from the start, but thought better of the full disclosure.
"The problem was, because the book is so interior, we had to find a cinematic equivalent," said Hampton. "We wanted to do it without well-known props such as voiceovers and framing devices."
"I rather enjoyed making all those pieces work," he admitted, referring to scenes that change meaning with multiple viewings. "It's amusing for the audience to speculate."
The story revolves around young, privileged Briony whose lack of worldly experience leads her to misinterpret an event which results in her sister's lover being sent to jail. Briony is tormented by guilt in the years to follow, and her family is torn apart by the accusation.
Though the Oscar-winning screenwriter (Dangerous Liaisons) is usually approached to adapt books, Atonement was a personal discovery for Hampton. "Quite rarely is there something that I find myself and find passionately enough to pursue," he said. "I need to have that sort of spark of recognition or sympathy, or else it’s a temperamental unity," he said.
Hampton immediately felt connected to the central character and sympathetic to her despite tragic flaws. "It's a book about a writer and the morality of writing in a way," he said. "That is what attracted me in the first place."
Actor James McAvoy thought Briony was a terrible person, "but that's because he's playing (the accused lover)."
When Hampton first under took Ian McEwan's novel, Richard Eyre was set to direct the film. When Eyre left to direct Notes on a Scandal, Hampton was not surprised. "There was sort of a moment when none of us thought it would work."
He was then approached by director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) who said, "Well, I like your script, but can we start from scratch?"
Despite the hard work, Hampton felt this was a reasonable step. "When you are working with someone, you try to accommodate their vision," he said. "We wound up with a more interesting result."
Hampton was drawn to the idea of a child doing something so terrible and irrevocable that her action taints everyone she knows. "What was a very important decision for us all was to cast a real 13-year-old to portray Briony as a child,” he said. "It was vital for the audience to sympathize."
"There are lots of ripples and reflections and complications," said Hampton. "But I am very faithful to the book -- that was always my intention."
Hampton’s future projects include reuniting with Stephen Frears for the third time (after Dangerous Liaisons and Mary Reilly) with Chéri, a classic French story about the relationship between a rich, retired courtesan and her young lover. He is also bringing his own stage play to film with The Talking Cure, under the direction of David Cronenberg. It follows the true story of psychoanalysts Jung and Freud with an intriguing Russian patient.