Robin Swicord on Collaborating with Rob Marshall: "We did work very closely together. I sort of felt since he was there first and he had walked around with this book, literally, for a year waiting for his contract to be cleared, he had such a well-developed idea of the film that he wanted to make. Part of my job was to kind of read his mind and try to figure what it is that he wanted, how he saw it, and then I would try to sort of facilitate that. Maybe also bring in a new idea every now and then and challenge an idea that he had. But we really never disagreed or argued.
The only kind of tension that came was when we were really very close to filming, there was some question about whether the film was ending in the right way. It was kind of a second-guessing. All we did was just write it a few different ways and then once it’s up on its feet, Rob with his wonderful choreography background, can really see the difference. He can say, 'No, no, this is what I want.’ He was so decisive. It was wonderful to work with him."
Robin Swicord Compares the First Draft to the Shooting Script: "The first draft and the outline are so close to the finished film you can put them side by side. Certain things did change along the way that had to do with simplifying. Simplifying language because some of the dialogue, which was taken from the book a lot of it, was just too complicated to teach English pronouncing actors to say and so there was some simplifying of language.
There were a few scenes that we really loved but the production values were just too huge we just couldn’t afford to do it, and so we would drop a couple of things. There was a moment when the war ended where we had talked about having 1,000 cranes fly up because that image is very important in terms of the Japanese and their symbol for peace. But it was too expensive to have 1,000 cranes fly up and so we found something else. I wouldn’t say those were compromises, they’re just the kinds of things that happen along the way."
Robin Swicord's Next Project: "I’ve been working on something called 'The Mermaid Singing' but I had to set that aside for the moment because we didn’t find all of our financing in the first round. However that’s still sort of quiescently sitting to the side. We’re hoping that that will come together. Meanwhile I’m writing something to direct at Sony that’s called 'The Jane Prize.' That one’s about a family of Jane Austen scholars. It’s fun. It’s a romantic comedy and I really enjoyed getting to sit down and read all the novels again."
Arthur Golden on Turning His Book Over to Hollywood: "Well I got some very, very good advice from my agent early on. She said, 'The only protection you have is to do business with people you can trust.' And when this deal came along she said, 'This is the deal you want. These are good people. They’ll do a good job,' and in fact she’s been proven absolutely right."
Arthur Golden on Collaborating on the Script: "I did work with Rob and the screenwriter a little bit. They did most of the work, of course. But we had some conversations, some lengthy ones, about different elements. They sent me the screenplay at every stage really. After they had something coherent they sent it to me and asked for my comments. They sent me the next draft and asked for my comments so I was involved in that way. And they really listened, too. He’s a very collaborative guy."
Arthur Golden on Rob Marshall and "Chicago:" "When my daughter came back from seeing 'Chicago' on its opening night she said to me, ‘Dad, this movie was made for you.’ And I went to see it and just absolutely loved it. 'Cabaret' was one of my enduring favorite movies and I fell madly in love with 'Chicago.' So when I heard Rob Marshall was going to be doing this, I was ecstatic about it."
Arthur Golden Says He Never Considered Adapting His Novel: "There’s a writer named Andre Dubus who said a very funny thing. He wrote 'House of Sand and Fog.' He said, ‘If Hollywood calls you up and says do you want to write the screenplay, you know, you’re in your next novel. It’s like you’re sitting at home with your wife and kids and an old girlfriend calls and says how about if we go camping for a month, just the two of us.” I thought that was pretty funny and that really is about how I would have felt."
