Arts and entertainment

January 20, 2012

From 'American Knees' to 'Americanese'

“Americanese” is being released later in 2012, and there will be a Seattle screening at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the SIFF Uptown Cinema. What are your feelings now that this film is finally going to meet the public?

As you can imagine, it’s a monumental effort to go from novel to film. It requires patience, commitment of a team of people, and boatloads of money (at least from my perspective).  As a novelist, the film, I hope, brings more people to my novel, “American Knees,” as well as to my other books.

Also, so many UW students have taken writing classes from me and/or have read my novels; it’s nice for them to be able to see the film and for me to be able to talk about the production from a writer’s point of view.

It’s also great that the University of Washington Press has reprinted “American Knees” and will benefit from the release of the movie in bringing more publicity to the novel.

The film was completed in 2006 and won awards on the festival circuit, but will be fully released in 2012. Do you know what has delayed its release?

I’m not entirely sure why it was delayed (something beyond my pay grade as novelist), but I’m happy that it’s going to be released and distributed.  So many people put so much effort, attention, belief, and money into this movie, it’s nice to see all that work being rewarded with the release of the movie.

Youve said that film critic Roger Ebert really “got it” with his review. (You also note that Eberts credit of you as screenwriter is an error; you wrote early versions but not the final one.) What did Ebert notice and comment on that made you feel he understood the film?

Ebert understood the ideas about relationships I was trying to convey in the novel and the issues of race and identity.  I loved his comment about “Americanese” being a movie about real adult relationships where adults actually behave like adults and have real conversations.

On the whole, did you enjoy the process of a film being made from your writing? What were some challenging parts of that process for you? Would you do it again?

I did enjoy the process.  I’m a patient man.  It took nine years for the producer, Lisa Onodera, to find funding.  Once she had funding, she put together the perfect production team, the best actors, and worked tirelessly to see her commitment to the novel through to the end.  The entire production team was Asian American, which was great for me, in that I didn’t have to explain the subtleties or nuances of race, culture, identity.

The process was new to me and I learned a lot about filmmaking, screenwriting, etc.  I loved the collaboration between producer, director and actors.  It was thrilling and somewhat surreal to see real people playing the roles of fictional characters that only existed in my imagination.

What do you like to read for pleasure?

So much of my reading is determined by my teaching and writing, but when I do read for pleasure, I like reading the works of friends and colleagues and former students.  It’s such a rare privilege to be able to read something and then talk to the author about their work.

After such a film adaptation, do you now see cinematic possibilities as  you write?  Does that affect the choices you make as a writer?

When I write, I don’t think about the work might be made into a movie.  I write for myself or for someone in particular.  My novel “American Knees” was written for my late wife, Vicki.  She told me one day that she wanted me to write her a book she could read at the beach.  So I did.  I wrote a whole novel for one person in order to make her laugh. That it was a good story and made into a movie is a bonus and brings the story to a wider audience.  As I gain more experience writing screenplays, it affects how I teach fiction writing.  I think I’m more concerned about teaching my students how to write a compelling story.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on my third novel entitled, “The Ancient and Occupied Heart of Greg Li,” and several screenplays.  I’m working on a screenplay for a feature film with UW Drama professor Andrew Tsao and I wrote a two screenplays for short films, “Dolci” and “Club Sandwich,” for director Paula Bennett, a UW grad.  She’s finished one and is starting production work on the next one.

Also:

• An extended Q and A with Wong and director Byler

• Production information for “Americanese”