Author Sigrid Nunez on Watching Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and Naomi Watts Bring Her Characters to Life

As a seasoned moviegoer who has witnessed the silver screen evolve over the past few decades, I must say that Sigrid Nunez’s literary journey is nothing short of cinematic gold. Her novels, now beautifully adapted for the big screen by masters like Pedro Almodóvar and Scott McGehee & David Siegel, are a testament to the timeless power of storytelling.

In Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel “What Are You Going Through”, as a woman looks after her terminally ill friend, the author draws parallels to Chantal Akerman’s 2015 documentary “No Home Movie”. Akerman captured discussions with her mother during the final stages of her life. Nunez suggests that everyone should strive to be filmmakers like Akerman.

Currently, two of Nunez’s novels have caught the attention of filmmakers – “What Are You Going Through” for “The Room Next Door,” directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and “The Friend,” which is now a movie with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in leading roles, helmed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Coincidentally, both films are making their way to the Toronto International Film Festival following premieres at Venice and Telluride, putting Nunez in the limelight as a sought-after author during this fall’s movie season, with her career spanning three decades and over ten books under her belt, along with a Guggenheim Fellowship.

She expresses her joy by saying she feels like the most fortunate writer at this moment, following her first viewing of ‘The Room Next Door’. This was on the day before the Toronto International Film Festival started. The books were deeply significant to her and she now has two stunning adaptations, creations, or works of art that didn’t require much effort from her. Her original idea inspired other exceptionally talented individuals. She is simply overjoyed.

Nunez’s two narratives share a common theme. In “The Friend,” the protagonist, Iris (portrayed by Watts), is grappling with the demise of her friend and mentor, who took his own life. His third wife requests Iris to look after the dog they both loved, a massive Harlequin Great Dane named Apollo, who was equally distraught by the loss. Both the movie and the novel delve into how individuals deal with overwhelming grief and the way we perceive animals as exhibiting human-like feelings. Notably, Bing, a real-life Dane, portrays Apollo in an astounding display of animal acting. According to Nunez, “Bing is Apollo.

Pedro Almodóvar appears to have taken some creative liberties in adapting “What Are You Going Through” into “The Room Next Door”. For instance, he introduces an unexpected ending, but the basic storyline closely resembles that of the original novel. In this movie, Julianne Moore plays Ingrid, a writer who frequently visits her terminally ill friend Martha, played by Tilda Swinton. Martha’s estranged daughter is not present in her life, which adds to her distress. As the story progresses, Martha confides in Ingrid that she has obtained a euthanasia pill from the Dark Web and wishes for Ingrid to be with her when she takes her own life at a rented upstate home. Martha explains that she wants someone there as she passes away.

Nunez’s novels are deeply personal, narrated in the first person, and frequently explore the process of writing itself. Her characters remain nameless throughout her writings, which heavily reference other literary works, serving both as fiction and criticism. These stylistic choices, it should be noted, can be trickier to adapt visually. Nunez herself has expressed that she believed The Friend had a straightforward narrative at its core – the story of a woman and her dog – which could smoothly translate into a film adaptation.

Regarding Almodóvar’s film, she recognized that “What Are You Going Through” was a perfect fit since his recent movies, like the 2019 semi-autobiographical “Pain and Glory”, were deeply preoccupied with death. Moreover, she acknowledges her Spanish translator, Mercedes Cebrian, for facilitating the submission of her work to him.

According to Nunez, What Are You Going Through has strong roots in The Friend, but they are separate texts that stand on their own. She doesn’t view the films as interconnected like the books. As individual pieces, each film distinctly reflects a unique vision. For example, The Room Next Door embodies Almodóvar’s style, from its color palette to its rhythm.

Nunez chose not to participate directly in the making of either movie, and her contribution isn’t acknowledged in the screenplays. She knows writers who have insisted on involvement but were still dissatisfied with the final product. “I believe my intuition was spot-on,” she says. “And I consider myself fortunate to have worked with these specific directors and actors.

However, none of the three directors outright disregarded her. After Bing was initially chosen for the role of Apollo, McGehee and Siegel shared a video with her showing their dog interacting with a donkey at Bill Berloni’s Connecticut farm. During the film’s production, Almodóvar occasionally asked her questions like, “What would you choose to read if you were in Martha’s situation?

One intriguing aspect of the process for Nunez was observing the actors bring her written characters to life. Nunez admits that she doesn’t typically visualize her characters while writing them, having no preconceived ideas about their appearance. “From now on,” she says, “I will always picture Naomi Watts in my mind.” She found it captivating how Watts skillfully portrayed the role with a unique blend of extreme vulnerability and dignity.

In “The Room Next Door,” she discovered that Moore and Swinton perfectly captured what her writing aimed to convey. She expressed, “I didn’t envision those women in my mind, but their relationship – that’s precisely how I felt.” There exists a section in the book, inspired by something someone told me long ago, which states that watching someone die is similar to falling in love. It’s about that level of intensity and emotion. That was the most remarkable aspect, apart from the breathtaking visual spectacle of the film.

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2024-09-07 19:06