I have to admit, I always get a little nervous when I interview people I truly admire (who doesn't?). Jane Goldman, screenwriter, is one of those people and I was so nervous I actually said "I'm totally, like, super awesome." I have no intention to preach on a soap box on the current state of feminism in the media, but Goldman is kind of the patron saint to all those nerdy girls out there, the one's who prefer bloody horror movies than the latest Katherine Heigl flick. Goldman wrote Kick Ass, The Debt, X-Men: First Class, Stardust (SO UNDERRATED) and most recently she penned the adaptation of The Woman In Black, the extra spooky Daniel Radcliffe starring movie out in theaters today.
I asked Jane Goldman about a number of things and she was effervescent. Read on to see why this lady is a role model for all you girly geeks (and even the non-geeks, of course) out there.
How did you approach adapting The Woman In Black? What was your process?
In the UK it's a very well loved novel, so I particularly have a sense of staying true to the spirit of the novel while making it into a good contemporary, a good emotional film. So yeah, it was really for me about, about finding out about the main character and trying to make it as scary as possible.
Did you watch a lot of horror films to aid your writing?
I was really excited to be working in this genre because it's actually kind of my favorite as a moviegoer. I will see any horror I possibly can, it's absolutely my preferred genre. I didn't need to do too much preparation. In terms of trying to find things that were scary I tried to reach around in my mind to find things that genuinely frighten me. Things like the Victorian wind-up dolls, I collect those, so there are times where I come down to my kitchen at night to get a glass of water and they really creeped me out.
Did you know Daniel Radcliffe was being considered from the beginning?
I had no idea when I was writing the script that he would be involved. James Watkins [the director] and I sat down and talked about casting. When Daniel's name came up I thought it was an incredibly exciting suggestion and I just couldn't believe it when he read the script and wanted to do it. I just thought he was perfect for the role. Just the fact that he liked the script just filled me with delight. He's an incredible actor and in good spirits all the time, even when submerged in mud. He's one of the hardest working people I know, for sure.
Why do you think that there are so few women writers out there? Is it hard to be a woman in the business of writing things other than romantic comedies?
It is weird because it does seem that there is more men than women in this line [of work]. But I don't think that anyone is getting doors shut in their face because of that. I've never come up against any discrimination. I think that there aren't a lot of women who want to write [different genres]- I'm sure they're out there and I think that they'd be really welcome. I'd love to have more women writing these genres. With horror, statistics show that more women go see horror movies than men. I really don't understand why there aren't more women writers for it. Espeically in the states there are so many female executives, it's a tough one to explain, I don't know why there aren't more of them doing it.
This week we found out that Matthew Vaughn had signed on to do the X-Men: First Class sequel. Can you tell me if you're involved?
Not officially right now. Matthew just signed on to do it, but you know that it's something that we definitely talked about. Certainly further down the line it's entirely possible if it works out timewise. I'm doing another project for Fox at the moment and then after that I have another movie that I'm trying to do. But gosh, if it could possibly work out timewise and everybody wants me to I would be there in a heartbeat.
Can you tell me more about these other projects?
What I'm working on at the moment is an adaptation of the book Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and that's with Fox. It's very exciting, Tim Burton is overseeing the job which is massively exciting. I'm really excited about the source material. It's a quirky story with some scary elements and some funny elements. I'm having a really good time with it right now. And the other one is this sort of science fiction movie which is based on a new comic book that I absolutely fell in love with. Science fiction is another genre that I love so the year is shaping up to be a really good year.
What's your dream cast for Miss Peregrine's?
Gosh, I don't know, a lot of the cast is very young. I always try to not think about casting because you might end up disappointed. You don't want to get too attached to an idea because it's kind of up to the director. I have to say that I've loved the casting on everything I've worked on. I haven't really thought about the cast for Peregrine, but if Mr. Burton decides to sign on in directing his casting choices are always perfect.
You seem to be working on a lot of adaptations right now. Do you prefer adaptations over original content?
I have to say that I really enjoy doing adaptations but I don't have a preference. It just sort of worked out that way. I keep getting offered really exciting adaptation jobs that seem so cool. I really haven't had a lot of thinking space between projects. I just go with whatever projects seem to be the most rewarding. But I love the process for it. It's got a different set of challenges of its own.
Ugh, don't you just want to be her? Check out The Woman In Black in theaters today and keep an eye out on Ology.com for upcoming news about Tim Burton's Peculiar Children project and everything else Jane Goldman related.
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