Markus Zusak, author of bestselling novel The Book Thief, answers questions from Guardian children's books site members about the film of his book, which is released this week
How did you respond to the news that your book was being adapted, when did the feeling settle in?
When I found out that the film was going to be signed up I thought that it was never going to be made – everyone says that. So I thought that's what would happen and I turned out to be totally wrong. So the feeling didn't really settle in until I found out last year that they were filming in Berlin. That was a shock! And then I thought, right, now I can start worrying...but I never really worried as you can't worry about things you can't control. So I just enjoyed what was happening at every stage.
How involved have you been in the film?
It took three years of constant work and (happy) struggle to finish writing the book. By the end I was a complete mess but I was also very happy and that's the perfect state to finish a book in. I realised that to then try to break the book into little pieces and write a screenplay would have been too much – it would actually have been heartbreaking – and I wanted to start writing a new book. So the only credit I can take for the film is that when they were really struggling to find the right character to play Liesel, the main character, it so happens that one of the only films I saw in 2012 was Monsieur Lazhar with Sophie Nélisse and I said to my wife that that girl would be great. She said that I should tell the producers. Such commen sense! So we did and they ended up asking her to take the role. It only struck me recently that there is a justice in that it took the writer of the novel to find the girl to play the main part. I like that.
Which part of the book (character, event, place, etc) were you most concerned with representing well on film?
I think that, knowing that the most important part of any story is the ending, I probably thought most about what was going to happen at the end. Interestingly, while essentially the same things happen in the ending of the film and the book, they couldn't be more different in the way it was done. In the book the ending is years and years later and she ends up in Sydney whereas in the film it's New York. That's the difference between an Australian writing a novel and a film produced by Americans. Those things help you see the difference between the book and the film, and to distinguish the two things as separate, as different pieces of work.
Which scene are you looking forward to seeing most? And how is the (bad) language in the book being handled?
The scene I was looking forward to seeing the most was probably the incident in which Rudy paints his face black with charcoal and runs the 100 metres at the local football grounds, in honour of his idol the African-American Olympic hero Jesse Owens. When I was writing the book that was a moment that fell into my lap and made Rudy into my favourite character.
As for the language, the book is not a "PG" but the film does have a PG rating and the language is lighter in the film than in the book. It's not a problem for me – I like that there are differences and, again, it does distinguish them as two separate things and that's not because I want to distance myself from the film but you want something like that to have it's own life. A film is not about simply delivering the book – if you want that you should sit in a room and let someone read the book to you.
How do you film a narration by Death and how well that is cinematically achieved?
The biggest hurdle for the film-makers was what to do with Death. In the book, and it makes me so grateful to be a writer of books, you make it all happen on the page and it costs nothing. In the film the hardest decision was whether to have someone on screen or not. Effectively, in a book 99% of the book is voiceover with dialogue in between. You just can't do that in a film. So the first thing they had to do was pare back Death and try to achieve that effect in different way, such as quite high camera angles. Choosing the right voice was another issue and I didn't envy them that task! Every reader of the book has their own version of Death and its voice – in my case, Death speaks in an Australian accent.
My parents recommended the book to me. Was it written/published for children?
No, because I thought it would be my least sucessful book and nobody would buy it! Now I don't write for any category. Now I just try to write someone's favourite book. If you don't try to do that you shouldn't bother writing. And there are so many great books in the world, it's no disgrace if you fall short of that. You still make that attempt and that's a much better ambition to have.
Should I read the book before seeing the film?
I'm not a purist in that way at all. Lots of readers say they have to read the book first but I quite like to do it the other way round. In most cases when people see the film of a book they've read they say the book's better, usually, so I think there's less chance of disapointment when you do it the other way round. A film is just two hours and so there's more time in a book to go into different areas - it's a bit like coming across this vast new country with more treasures to be explored with greater depth. Either way is fine with me! I wouldn't swap the readers of this book for any other readers on the world, this book has found the right readers. I'm very lucky with that.
What impact has making the film had on your writing? Has it been a distraction?
It has had an impact. I haven't been able to work on a book for about the last three months. It's made me more grateful for my job as a writer of novels. I see how complicated it is to make a film and how many people are inviolved and I love the fact that I get to sit in a room on my own and the set costs nothing and the actors cost nothing and I'm the director and it's so simple. You just need a pen and paper to make a book. You don't need a huge budget or a gaffer or a best boy...
How do you hope that people will feel when they walk out of the film?
That's a hard one as I would never presume to tell people how they should feel. On the whole, I hope they feel like … in this case I would focus on the performances. I hope they feel and understand how that group of actors felt about this story and each other. I think you can see how much they love and got on with each other. When I went on the set for a couple of days, that's all I cared about – how happy everyone was. They all grew to love each other and I think that comes through and I hope that's what people come away with.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/feb/25/book-thief-markus-zusak-interview
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