“It’s incumbent upon any screenwriter, who is adapting anything, to extract the moments and characters and events for a thematic purpose first and then for plot.” – Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kathy discuss the reason for the popularity of The Shawshank Redemption, including the script (3:00); the importance of good acting within the film (14:00); the skilled directing of Frank Darabont (26:00); Stephen King and the story behind the movie (32:00); and how watching movies has changed and whether this film will stand the test of time (45:00).
Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve is a novelist, screenwriter, film producer, and teacher at the University of Pennsylvania in their Cinema Studies department. Her most recent book, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, came out in January. For more about Kathy, check out http://www.kathyvancleve.com/
Notable Links:
- The Shawshank Redemption (film)
- Stephen King (author)
- Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (novella)
- Paris Writing Workshop (writing workshop)
- Frank Darabont (director)
- The Body, by Stephen King (novella)
- Different Seasons, by Stephen King (collection of novellas)
- Stand by Me (film)
- Pulp Fiction (film)
- Bartleby, the Scrivener, by Herman Melville (short story)
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- On Writing, by Stephen King (book)
- Brokeback Mountain (film)
- The Godfather (film)
- Chinatown (film)
- Raging Bull (film)
This episode is brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals. AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.
