On The Jellicoe Road – movie to come

Oh, the good news…

 
If you are following my reviews you should know by now that I am a big fan of Aussie Literature for teens. One of my favourite writers is of course Melina Marchetta.

She won my heart with the first book I’ve read by her, ‘On The Jellicoe Road‘, and she kept surprising me with every other book signed by her.

The featured interview shoes a bit of her writing experience both with the book and the script for the upcoming movie ‘On the Jellicoe Road’.

Writing the film script has been just as challenging as the novel. But I’m very proud of it as an adaptation. Without having changed the story and especially the characters and their relationships, I’ve changed the way it’s told. Telling a story visually is so different to holding it in your hand and turning a page. There are lines in the novel that Taylor speaks only to the reader and sometimes they don’t work being spoken out loud in dialogue. But the best part for me is knowing that someone out there, who loves the novel and has read it a copious amount of times, will still be surprised. I love the new scenes as much as the old. I have Taylor saying things in the film that Jonah said in the novel. I have boys in trees in dreams appearing as part of someone’s art work rather than someone else’s psyche. It was like getting to do it all over again.

Although I know I’m finished with Jonah and Taylor’s story, I know I’m not finished with Jellicoe. It’s a place I’m drawn to. It’s rich and fertile with story. Cathy Randall who will direct the feature film, and I, plot constantly about the 10 part TV series we’d love to develop. It’s the grey areas inside us as humans, the ambiguities that I’m always attracted to. As writers we constantly ask the question “What if?” What if Jessa McKenzie is now 17 years old and she loses a bit of her soul…?

Read the full article at: penguinbtl.blogspot.com

It’s funny because you read her novels and you like her so much for the lovely way of putting emotions into words, but when you read more about her and her real thoughts you get to like her even more, because she seems always so honest and open, and she is real.. Her characters are great between the covers of the books, but she is awesome outside her books too.
I am always happy to read more about her future projects, I am holding my breath for “Froi of the Exiles” (book 2 in the “Lumatere Chronicles” series) to be published and I can’t wait to see “On the Jellicoe Road” on the big screen.

Find more about Melina Marchetta on her website.
Later Edit: Read the first chapter of “Froi of the Exiles”