Saturday, May 12, 2018

Stephen McCauley's "My Ex-Life," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: My Ex-Life: A Novel by Stephen McCauley.

The entry begins:
I’ve had the very good fortune to have three of my seven novels made into movies. One here in the US—The Object of My Affection with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd—and two others in France. In every case, the actors bore so little resemblance to the characters as I described them, it was hard for me to connect what was going on on screen with what I’d written. Not that I objected, just to say it confused me. Perhaps as a result of those experiences, I’m a little resistant to thinking of my characters in terms of actors. In the case of The Object of My Affection, the option was bought as soon as the book came out, and then it took eleven years to get it made. In that time, the producers kept changing who they wanted for the leads, depending on who had a hit movie or had won an award, not who resembled the characters I’d written. So using that logic, I’d say Frances McDormand for the female protagonist--she just won an Oscar and actually would be perfect--and Gary...[read on]
Visit Stephen McCauley's website.

Writers Read: Stephen McCauley.

The Page 69 Test: My Ex-Life.

My Book, The Movie: My Ex-Life.

--Marshal Zeringue