Plus: an exclusive look at the novel’s trailer.
Was it just born out of your friendship?
What he did with the trailer is definitely his take on that, but it felt so right.
Jake Belcher; RANDOM HOUSE UK
I mean, I kind of just let him do his thing.
Lapvonais a such a good name for a place that doesn’t exist, but might have.
Do you have an easy time with titles?
It never feels hard.
Sometimes it’s as though I can hear it before I know what it is.
The book’s setting, too, could be medieval, it might be European.
Did you always want it to be nebulous, the where and the when?
It’s a permission slip to be more creative.
It’s not going to be fair and it might not make sense."
I mean, you have cannibalism and plagues, dead lambs and prodigal babies….
It does sometimes feel like something from the Bible, minus all the judgment.
Yeah, I know what you’re saying.
I don’t like literature that moralizes anything.
I mean, I think it’s the most boring way to direct a reader’s experience.
It is not an accident.
He definitely is a new, old archetype.
So I was thinking about, “Who gets to be in that position?
What does wealth have to do with it?
What does delusion have to do with it?
Who benefits and who’s suffers?”
All that kind of stuff.
All of those body feelings to me are really special and cool.
We’re the only ones who have relationships like we do with our bodies.
And that’s fun.
Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t.
There’s a point where I’m like, “Okay, clean break.”
That’s what it feels like.
I don’t go back in.
I did the audio book recording forLapvona, which I’d never done before.
It was so fun and my God, what was I just talking about?
Oh, editing when it’s done.
I’m not going to sit in one place and write a sequel.
I mean, that’s not a bad idea, but no, it is what it is.
I feel pretty neutral about how much I’m identified with that book, I’m like “Great!
it means people have read it.”
I mean, I barely think about it.
I’m not on social media, I don’t even know.
Occasionally I’ll see how much it’s selling and then immediately forget that it exists.
Are you still involved in theRest and Relaxationfilm adaption with Margot Robbie?
And is it still Yorgos Lanthimos [The Lobster,The Favourite] directing?
I’m writing it.
And there’s also still a movie coming forMcGlue?It’s a pretty wild book to adapt.
Well, that’s been a very long process.
So learning how to adapt that book into a movie, that is a movie onto itself.
I’m really, really excited about where the script is now.
We have a director attached, Andrew Haigh [45 Years].
So you’ve got both these projects going at the same time?
It’s like she was born to play that role, she’s just so exciting to watch.
AndAnne Hathawayplays Rebecca, the sort of femme fatale character.
So the movie is really satisfying, I’m excited about that.
And what point isRest and Relaxationat in the process?
The book was optioned by LuckyChap, which is Margot Robbie’s production company, and Atlas.
You’ve gone from no filmmaking experience at all to having three pretty big movies in production.
Have other random encounters or opportunities come your way from that?
Well, I’m just finishing up a piece forGQ, it’s a profile of Brad Pitt.
How do you prioritize your creative process, when you’re doing so much?
Sometimes I don’t have the time and then that just waits.
And while it’s waiting, it seems like my life starts gearing toward an experience that feels educational.
So I venture to justify putting things off in that way.
I have a couple projects like that.
How many meetings, and how much writing is really solo activity.
I mean, sometimes it is.
I really like collaborating with my husband on scripts, because we spend all our time together anyway.
It just puts a structure [on it] and gives us something to chew on all the time.
And also, I think we get to know each other better as we work together on stuff.
But anyway, other than that, I’m just sitting alone in my room with my dogs.
Well, it doesn’t sound like you really got a chance to be bored in the pandemic.
I wasn’t bored.
I have too much anxiety to be bored.
