Written Interview: Tom Stoppard

THR has a sit-down with renowned screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard:

The Hollywood Reporter: Historically, a lot of playwrights have approached screenwriting as something they do for money while viewing themselves primarily as playwrights. What’s your own view of the screenwriting you’ve done?

Tom Stoppard: I’ve never written an original piece for film; all the original things I’ve done are for the stage. I began writing for theater, and maybe because of that I’ve always thought of myself as a theater writer who does work in film sometimes. As for the money, the answer is yes and no, I suppose. It’s nice to get most of it upfront [for a screenplay], but really the answer is no because a play that works well and is done quite a lot — I’ve never done the math — but it’s probably more remunerative than a movie. The main answer to your question is that I really enjoy working on adaptations. It’s not so much that I enjoy screenwriting, though mostly I do, but the difference is, with adaptations, somebody else has done the hard part — made up a story, provided the characters. Dialogue is something else. I enjoy writing dialogue; it comes naturally to me. So screenwriting is the best of both worlds. However, it’s probably unprecedented for a filmmaker simply to take the writers’ script and treat it as the instructions on the package. What really happens is you pretty much suppress your own instincts — and your own views on the matter — and write things the way filmmakers would like to have them, though the filmmakers often don’t know what they want. They can only find out by reading what you do.

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THR: Your plays are so verbal, and you delight in wordplay. But because film is visual, do you find yourself cutting back on dialogue?

Stoppard: I try to. My scripts are possibly too talkative. Sometimes I watch a scene I’ve written, and occasionally I think, “Oh, for God’s sake, shut up.” But I have to go with what I do, and what I do has more to do with what people say to each other than telling a story through images. Of course, you’re trying to do both. And there are some people who are brilliant at it, but I don’t consider myself to be particularly good at it. My mind gets into a verbal mode.

For more of the interview, go here.

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