The Oscar reaction carousel spins anew at Movieline HQ, with Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher paying a visit this afternoon to talk about his newly announced nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. His is one of six nods sent Precious's way today, and Fletcher spoke with me about the lingering shock of hearing one's name on Nomination Morning, the challenge of adapting the unadaptable, and how filming action figures innocently enough launched him on a 25-year journey to the Academy Awards.
Congratulations on today's nomination! How are you feeling?
I'm not fully aware yet. It hasn't registered yet. I feel as I did when I first heard the announcement; I feel as if I'm still staring at the screen. I heard my name, I saw the shapes and the letters of my name, but I'm just waiting for it to register. I guess it's a lot like when you stub your toe and you're waiting for the ensuing sensation.
That's a great headline: "Precious screenwriter compares news of Oscar nomination to stubbing toe."
We need to add to that! But you know what I mean.
Kind of. This has been such a long time coming; Precious has been on a tear since Sundance 2009. What are your thoughts on the last year leading up to this point?
It's just one continuous dream -- a dream I'll be able to fully assess one day in the future. There's a lot to it. It's a long journey, but one I'm more appreciative of each and every day. The journey to start work on the script was far longer. There were difficult years, and I learned a great deal about film and myself, and I never gave up. It really helped me relate to Precious on such a deep level. So it's been a long journey, but I don't really have any experiences to compare it to except for the 24-year journey leading up to it. I started as a very young person; I played with cameras and made films starring action figures. Since that moment, a day hasn't gone by that I didn't dream of being part of a feature film.
Your film is officially entitled Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. The source novelist is in the name of the movie. To what extent is this nomination shared in that way?
A great deal. She created this beautiful, difficult, honest and complex novel, and I got caught in its wave of inspiration. At the same time, her novel was considered unadaptable. It's told from the perspective of a semi-literate main character. The content is rather graphic and at times rather brutal. People warned me before I started working on the book; they said, "It's dense, it's grim, it's difficult." But I saw light. This was the most beautiful thing I'd ever read; I fell in love with the main character from page one or two. And though the work was rather hard, when you love a character so much, you find a way, and you figure it out. That's probably the simplest way I could describe the experience. My goal was always to honor the spirit and the impact of the book, but also make it a cinematic, accessible spirit.
From the outside, Precious seems like a kind of family experiencing awards season together. Maybe not always the closest family, but that kind of unit nevertheless. Do you agree?
Thinking of us as a family is... fitting. Whenever I see the cast members or producers or Lee, it's a remarkable feeling. We've gone past the realm of "colleagues." This film was made outside of the studio, and that alone creates a sense of fellowship or camaraderie that is quite special. All of us worked on this because we cared; that alone creates a very special bond.
Are you looking forward to reuniting at the Oscars?
Yeah, absolutely. Without each and every contribution it feels like the whole thing would fall apart. It feels as if the film and its response is so much bigger than any of the individuals involved in its creation. I think we all tapped into things that brought the best out of each of us. For me, there's so much of my family's love and support and guidance and values all poured into the work. At the same time I was so happy to have participated in this film, I wanted to make them proud. They invested so much time in me that I wanted to have something to show for it.
Have you talked to the others? Have they been in touch with you?
I figure they're getting bombarded by calls, so I've sent little messages here and there between my calls. My goal is to speak with them when I know they might have a minute or two to really exchange how this moment feels. In the short run? It's just a bunch of messages.