Herman Koch has not really been receptive or supportive of this adaptation. Do you know if he’s seen the movie?
Yeah, he’s seen the movie. Perhaps wisely, I don’t know, I’ve never met him. From the very beginning I’ve wanted his blessings for the project, but my producers and I had the complete freedom to do whatever I wanted. To his credit, I think it’s wise because most authors have very complicated relationships with the film versions of their books. He stayed out of it, he saw the movie, but I did not talk to him, he did not say anything. I do not know what his reaction to it was. I would imagine his reaction to it was froth. I’ve dealt with a lot of authors in my career; for the most part, these authors were happy with the way the movie interpreted their writing.
But, I have to tell you, many years ago, I was a stay-at-home dad and one day, middle of the afternoon, I was at a cafe where Kurt Vonnegut was sitting. I actually went up to him and asked if I could have coffee with him, and he said, “Yeah.” So I sat there, with Kurt Vonnegut, having coffee, and we talked for a bit and, at some point, I said, “You’ve had adaptations of your books. How do you feel about them?” And he said, “I feel absolutely fine about them.” And I said, “Oh, really? That’s unusual because so many authors usually complain about them.” And he said, “Well, you know, my thinking about it is very simple: You have to take the book, you have to tear it down, and you have to rebuild it scriptually through the goal that you want as a filmmaker.” And I kind of took that to heart. If Kurt Vonnegut gave you that kind of approval for the process, then maybe I can please the authors of other adaptations. A movie can never work as a book; it’s not the same language. Maybe one day I can talk to Herman Koch, or maybe not, but, in any event, I’m very grateful for him having written this book.
It takes guts to go up to Kurt Vonnegut and ask if you could have coffee on the spot with him [laughs]
I have a lot of stories like that. You know I’m from Israel; we have that kind of attitude over there.
Bob Dylan is heard in this movie, and I know you have a connection with Dylan. You co-wrote “I’m Not There” with Todd Haynes; also, your other movie, “Time Out Of Mind,” shares a title with a Dylan song. What’s the significance of that Bob Dylan song playing in the background during that bedroom scene in “The Dinner”?
It was a little wink. We sorted out different songs that would be good to play for that scene, and I always think of Dylan and said, “Ok, let’s just try this one.” We popped the vinyl in and it completely worked for us. Bob Dylan makes everything better and so he’d make this scene better [laughs].
He sure does. And it’s latter-day Dylan. I’m always very fond of that phase in his career.
Of course! Also, if you noticed, the record starts skipping…
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I was just going to ask you that. Was that purposely done?
Yeah. Sometimes we use sound as a motivation for movement. The scene was written that at a certain point, the character gets impatient, leaves bed, turns off the record player, which is skipping, and says let’s go, but we thought it’d be fun if we made the record skip so that gets them out of bed and tells them, “Ok, let’s move on and get the hell outta here.”
What you did with “I’m Not There” and its screenplay was just brilliant; ditto your portrayal of Brian Wilson in “Love Aand Mercy.” Is there any other musician you’d like to tackle in the near future?
All of them. I hope there’s a movie about a musician in my future. I don’t know who that would be, but obviously you can tell that I’m very passionate about music. Maybe Bruce Springsteen, that would be great.
I’m a big fan, maybe my favorite artist.
Well, he is The Boss. If you have any contacts to get me in touch please let me know.
[Laughs] I’ll look into it.
Thank you, maybe you can produce it if you want.
Count me in.
“The Dinner” is now playing in limited release.