Submitted by admin on Sat, 2005-10-08 07:00. ::
Hollywood is a strange place, and for me, the most exciting thing about making a movie is the excuse to buy all those tabloids and read them -- In Style, In Touch, Star Touch (laughs.) Now, I know more about Lindsay Lohan than Lindsay Lohan does. I think she's too thin.
For me, I think the funniest thing was watching (the movie) filming at 11 in the morning, and saying "Is Cameron around?" and hearing "No, she's at the gym." And at 5 p.m., someone asks "Did Cameron come back?" and she's in the gym. She'd been in the gym for six hours. That was interesting. She's lovely, of course.
I've seen (the film), and I'm so happy with it. I feel so lucky. I think I'm the very rare writer who gets a (movie) adaptation of their work that's so faithful to the story they wanted to tell.
Q: I'd read that there was some initial distress at the movie posters, that show just a big huge picture of Cameron Diaz, when it's really more of an ensemble piece.
I decided really early on that I wasn't gonna be one of those oppressive writers who can't let go, who try to micromanage. I don't know how to make a movie, but I know how to write a novel. It's still going to be my novel, at the end of the day, with not a word changed. I have to trust that everyone involved knows how to do their job, even with the poster. If you have Cameron Diaz in your movie, you want her on the posters. There are other posters that are not so Cameron-centric, but honestly, if that's what it takes to get people to buy tickets, there you go.
You really do have to roll with the punches. Any writer who's had their book adapted will tell you that the hardest thing is to let it go. But it's working out really well.
Q: One of the things I love about your books, including the new one, "Goodnight Nobody," is that they fit into that whole "chick-lit" phenomenon, but with heroines who don't fit into that tiny, WASP-y girl in New York stereotype.
Someone asked me once "Why are the (heroines) in your books Jewish?" And I asked "Why is Bridget Jones (a) Christian?" I'm Jewish, so it's easy. These books are about people who will feel familiar for the reader who doesn't live in Manhattan, work in publishing, live in Jimmy Choos and wear a size 2. ("Goodnight Nobody" 's) Kate Klein does have her New York story, but it's wearing Old Navy cargo pants and feeling dislocated. It's about how women fit themselves into the world.
For a couple of reasons. I love Susan Isaacs' books. She has these smart, funny Jewish heroines solving crime, and they do it while being wives and mothers and dealing with suburban living. I wanted to tell that kind of story as a homage, to see if I could do it. I knew I wanted to talk about suburban motherhood, about profound unease and dislocation. And there are few things that make you feel more uneasy and dislocated than showing up for a playdate and finding a body on the floor. That seemed a good way to get the story moving. Detective stories with women in them are not just about solving crime. They're about figuring something out for themselves. It seemed a good fit for Kate.
Q: I liked how this book, like your others, deals with the specter of motherhood and family for women in a specific generation, those former Generation Xers. What are some of the specific issues that this generation -- our generation -- seems to have with those subjects?
We are the generation that has had more choices than any other generation of women in history, like "When do I have these kids, in my 20s? My 30s? My 40s? Do I go back to work, stay home, or do the part-time thing?"
We have more choices, and then more pressure. I think of the way my mom parented. It was very relaxed, the kids were playing by themselves, while the mothers could talk and have coffee. Mothers now, I think, don't give themselves that break. There is a pressure to be present for that child, every minute of the day. They had an education, in some cases, and left that career behind. So now they're home with the kids, and they don't just sit on their butts and watch "Oprah." It's parenting with a capital "P."
Q: That sounds exhausting. Speaking of pressure, let's go back to the subject of the pressure to be thin in Hollywood, which I hear presented some issues with casting "In Her Shoes," because the main character, Rose (played by Collette) had to be heavier than the average actress.
I was very happy with "In Her Shoes." (Collette) gained weight for the role. I saw a movie where she had been super-skinny, and I was terrified. I thought "Oh, my God, no one will believe that!" But she gained 20 or 30 pounds. If I could have waved a magic wand, I'd have made her even bigger, but you're asking real people to gain and lose weight. There's only so much you can do.
Q: Yet you've been extra vigilant about casting the role of Cannie Shapiro, the smart, funny, plus-sized writer in "Good in Bed." Didn't HBO have the rights to that?
HBO had the rights for two years, but in the wake of "Sex in the City," I guess somebody decided (not to make) more stories about young women in an urban setting, which was disappointing. But we own the rights again.
I try not to get really involved with the movies, but with "Good in Bed," I am never going to let a woman who is not plus-sized play that role. I will go to bat for it. That would break my heart, break the readers' hearts. That's why I have a really hard time with Hollywood. There is no one big enough anymore! Look at Sarah Rue (formerly of ABC's "Less than Perfect"), who was all of a size 12. Now she's thin and she looks like every other girl. She's beautiful and talented, but she's too skinny now for my purposes.
There is so much pressure in Hollywood. I'm the mother of a daughter, and I read all of these tabloid magazines now, but I will not have them in the house when Lucy is old enough to see them. The message they send is "This is what beautiful looks like, and if you don't look like this, you're not beautiful."
I don't want to denigrate anyone's choices. If people are having health problems, weight loss is a godsend. But I worry that there are women who are size 12, size 14, size 16, who are healthy, vibrant, vital women feeling lousy about themselves because they never see anybody as big as they are on TV.
Q: I thought it was interesting what happened with the "Bridget Jones" novels and movies. In the first movie, Renee Zellweger was heavier, but beautiful and radiant, and got Hugh Grant and Colin Firth chasing her around. But in the sequel, they shot her all splotchy and gross, and made her look ridiculous, like she was being punished for daring to be happy and heavy.
I feel a lot of responsibility there. The message I send is that I write about full-figured women who get a happy ending. In other books, first you get thin, and then you get to kiss the guy. In my books, you don't have to lose weight, and you get to kiss him anyway.
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