Lara Zielin

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: A Dr. Horrible prequel! Okay, caveat time: it’s not technically made by Joss Whedon. But still. A Dr. Horrible prequel!!!

A lot of the early Oscar buzz is around the movie Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. The film looks amazing, but so too is the author’s journey getting this book to screen.

Sapphire was approached by several filmmakers about the movie rights. One was an NYU student who barely knew what he was doing film-wise; he just knew it was a compelling story and he wanted to make it. Sapphire said no early and often, because she understood her story deserved to be told in exactly the right way or it wouldn’t be told on the big screen at all. Period. Eventually, she allowed Lee Daniels, who did Monster’s Ball, to make the film.

When I read Sapphire’s story, I was really moved. If an NYU filmmaker approached me about making DONUT DAYS into a movie, would I say no? Or would I be so! excited! that someone actually wanted to make my little book into a film that I’d say yes before thinking it through? Would I have the guts to say no numerous times?

Of course, DONUT DAYS is a much, much different book than PUSH so I can’t exactly compare apples to apples here. But still. I am hugely impressed with Sapphire’s commitment to her story. If the opportunity ever presents itself to bring DONUT DAYS to the big screen, I hope I have the same respect and fierce loyalty to the story that she did.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Donut Days. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.