Interview (Written): James Lapine (“Into The Woods”)

An SSN interview with James Lapine who wrote the book for the Broadway musical “Into the Woods” and the screenplay adaptation for the movie just now in release. Excerpts:

SSN: Was adapting your own stageplay a big jump for you?
Lapine: I thought it was going be easy, but it wasn’t that easy (laughs). Through the years, I’ve written about five screenplays, unfortunately none of which have gotten made. Each time I’ve written, I’ve learned from doing, so I was ready to do this. It turned out to be quite an interesting challenge.

SSN: How so?
Lapine: We had certain dictates from the studio, none of which were unreasonable. They wanted to do a two-hour movie, which made total sense. [Woods] is 2:25, and when I went back in, I realized just how intricately the piece is plotted. That became a bigger challenge than I imagined because 25 minutes is a long time.

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SSN: The original Broadway production of Into the Woods debuted in 1986. The world was a different place than it is today. Did you have that in the back of the your mind while adapting?
Lapine: I had written it as a young man. My wife and I were expecting a child, which generated why I wrote it and my fears of parenthood. The ’80s was a scary time for us, particularly in theater, with AIDS. We lost so many people. That was something I couldn’t help but be thinking about.

SSN: Did you bring all of that in to the adaptation?
Lapine: Coming back to it was interesting to remind myself of what the forces were when I wrote it in the first place. Here I am 25 years later, seeing the world in an entirely different manner. I think the story has taken on more resonance.

SSN: How so?
Lapine: Looking back on it, and looking at my daughter, who’s now 28, I think, what kind of job did I do? My generation made the world we’re living in today. What kind of job did we do? What happened to us? We were so idealistic. These things were on my mind as I came back to work on it. I don’t know if it filtered into the screenplay or not, but on a personal level it was an unexpected journey.

For the rest of the interview, go here.

For a Variety interview with Lapine, go here.