swarbles.

awritersruminations:

fuckyeahsylviaplath:

lovingsylvia:

On a hot June morning, Ms. Stiles, 29, wearing a light summer dress and sandals, talked about her vision for “The Bell Jar,” whose protagonist, Esther Greenwood, descends into mental illness under the strain of creative and social pressures.

“One side of the book is fascinating to me because of the specific time period, the 1950s, but there’s also something that’s very timeless about it,” she said. “What makes Sylvia Plath such a good writer is her ability to write imagery. If you could see this girl’s vivid imagination, it would help the audience understand the intense feelings that she has. It’s a different kind of depression that she suffers from. Instead of being numb to the world, seeing the world in black and white, she sees it almost in hypercolor, and to me that seemed perfect for a film.”

She was first drawn to “The Bell Jar” when she read it as a college student. “People started asking me, ‘If you could make anything into a movie, what would you make?’ As I’ve gotten a little bit older, there are other themes in the book that I understand more now — the whole side that deals with marriage and babies and wanting to have a career and what path a woman can take in life.”

In adapting the novel Ms. Stiles met with Plath’s friends and listened to recordings of her reading her own poetry. Tristine Skyler, a New York playwright Ms. Stiles chose to write the screenplay, did extensive research into Plath’s journals, letters and other archives with the help of leading Plath scholars.

“Julia is extremely tenacious and determined in her approach to putting a film together, and also has terrific instincts,” her co-producer, Celine Rattray of Mandalay Vision, said in an e-mail message.

Her tenaciousness has been vital. “We seemed to have all our creative ducks in order, just as the independent film market collapsed,” Ms. Stiles said, with a laugh. “Financing has been really hard.” Although the budget is under $5 million, just half has been raised so far. Nevertheless Ms. Rattray expressed optimism that the rest would arrive in time to begin shooting next spring. The cast includes Ms. Stiles as Esther and Virginia Madsen as the therapist Dr. Nolan. And after a long search for a director, Ms. Stiles and Ms. Rattray settled on Nicole Kassell, whose films include “The Woodsman,” in which Kevin Bacon plays a convicted child molester adjusting to life after prison.

I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS HAPPENING!