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Man and Boy
Writer David Nicholls talks about the process of adapting Blake Morrison's memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father? for the big screen, with Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth cast as father and son
‘ t's not my story. ol' c‘ottt'se. ltis Blake's I stot‘y.‘ stty‘s screenwriter l)tt\'ltl Nlcltolls
ol' his latest project. llitVlttg ctit his teeth on TV drama ('o/(l l-i'el. Nicholls sttc‘c‘essltllly adapted his own now] Starter For 72'” lot tlte cinema hel‘ore he agreed to give Blake Morrison‘s paiiil‘ully honest memoir .-lm/ When Did You Last See Your Hillier.” the same treatment. “But although it's someone else‘s story. the way Blake wrote it made it into something tiniy'ersal. and it resonated with a lot ol‘ people. including me.‘ says Nieholls. ‘So my joh was to get that may personal story to work as a film without sol'tening the material.‘
Blake Morrison‘s I‘M} hook was a candid and uiiseiitimental \‘iew' ol' his lather. written in steely prose and with an uncommon emotional honesty.
‘When I was asked ahotit any pet projects I might want to write. Blakek hook was one ol the lirst things I thought ol'.‘ says Nicholls. ‘.-\t last I tell a hit daunted ahout working on it: my haekgrouitd was more to do with comedy than doing a straight drama. But I really wanted to adapt the hook. and that pt'oy'ed to he the beginning ol a four year process...‘
To capture the essence ol‘ a largely internal struggle within the mind ol' the author. the hook had the luxury of shuttling through Morrison‘s memories in non-sequential order. But to generate the momentum required to keep audiences engaged in a film. Nicholls l‘elt he had to connect the audience the same material htit without resorting to cliche.
‘For me it‘s very much a process ol shaping
material: the hook is y'er ruminatiy'e. and lull ol
personal anecdotes. ()l'ten poetic. it depends on incident rather than plot. and the last thing I wanted to do was impose some dopey Hollywood three-act structure on it.‘ says
Nicholls. ‘ln a Hollywood film. lather—son
82 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE .14 Aug-'5 Set -
reconciliations are tisually made up ol' unspoken tension. rows. a reconciliation and then death. But in this hook. the death ol the lather is descrihed in detail hall-way through. So there was no way we could do that kind ol tearltil ‘l loye you l)ad‘ ending. it just wouldn‘t haye heen true to what Blake w rotef
Morrison‘s studied description ol the dil’l‘erences and similarities he l‘ound in comparing his Me with his lather‘s proy‘ided Nicholls with a chance to e\pand the tone olllml illicit Did liiu Ins! See lit/tr l'iiI/ieri'
‘lllake‘s description ol' the process ol' illness and dying is Very tltoy iiig to read. hut representation ol' death cinematically can he a real test ol‘ the audience‘s patience. So I did try to make the tone a little lighter. to create some warmth lrom the comedy ol emharrassiiieiitf
‘THERE'S A SCENE OF BLAKE MAST URBATING IN THE BATH WHILE HIS FATHER LIES DYING IN THE NEXT ROOM'
\tt}\ \Ic'ltillls \Mtlllc‘tl til hUCl‘ lll‘lkl til lllt‘ l‘lls which had most allected me one e\aiiiple would he Morrison's tiiilhnchiiig description ol a disastrous camping trip lie took with his lathei iii tlte l.ake l)I\lt‘lct..
'l‘lie directorial i'espoiisihility tell to .\naiid 'l‘ticker. who helped l‘.ltlll_\ \\atson and Rachel (irillith to ()scai nominations iii llilaiy and Jackie. lile l'i‘om the point ol \ iew ol her sister
'.'\tt;tlttl had giyen me a lot ol input with the script while we e\pei'iiiiented with dilleieiit ways ol approaching the story. so I lully trusted ltiiii to make the script work says \ic'liolls. ‘\\'hen l lirst heard ahotii the casting. looking lorwards to going out loi dinner with (‘oliii l‘ii'th. .liiii llroadheiit. and the otheis. hut alter the read—througli. I didn't leel I wanted to \ isit the set. l'd itist haye got in the way.‘
.‘lllt/ ll/lt'll [Ht] liiu luxl Xi'i' li'll [til/1t! ‘ deals l'rankly with the less attractiye ways in which indiyidtials deal with teiisioiis created hy illness. and \ic‘liiills admits he's surprised hy some ol' the content ol the liiial ctit.
'“illlle l always intended lltost ol lllL' tllttltigtlt' to he pretty much as Blake wrote It. surprised that almost e\erythiiig I wrote in the script ended up in the liliii.‘ .\'icholls says. "There's a scene ol' Blake iiiastiirhatiiig m the hath while his lather lies dying in the mo room; I really didn‘t think they id use the scene. htit it‘s yery much part ol' the honest way that the hook was w ritlen.‘
Amongst the audience lot" the films ladiiihiirgli International l-‘ilin liestiyal pi'eiiiiei'e will he Nicholls‘s lather. \Vhat adyice would his son giy'e him ahotit seeing the liliii'.’
‘l‘m sure that he‘ll understand that this is an adaptation. nothing to do with our own relationship] says Nicliolls. 'l hope he‘ll eiiioy it lor what it is; someone else's story.‘
l‘l‘lx's accotiiit ol .lactpiehiie dti l’ie's
l was
also
I was
Dominion, 623 8030, 23 Aug, 8pm; Filmhouse, 25 Aug, 7.20pm, both £7.95 (£5.50)
Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth play father and son in And When Did You Last See Your Father?: and. above. Matthew Beard plays young Blake