Kelly Reichardt and James Schamus are stalwarts of the independent world, and both debuted excellent films Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival. And though Schamus is, in his own words, “at the tender age of 57 a first-time director” and Reichardt is a veteran who has been behind the camera for more than 20 years, they have both succeeded at the same daunting task: making first-rate cinema out of outstanding literary work.
Reichardt’s “Certain Women” stars the powerhouse trio of Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams, a virtuosic Rene Auberjonois and a radiant Lily Gladstone. It’s turned a trio of astute and emotionally powerful short stories by Maile Meloy into what the director has called “a drama about small life stories,” finely modulated and taking place in Montana.
Schamus, for his part, has taken on “Indignation,” a disturbing novel by Philip Roth set during the Korean War, casting Logan Lerman as college freshman Marcus Messner, the bright son of a Newark, N.J., kosher butcher, who falls in love with the beautiful, WASPy but troubled Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon).
“The film itself is about desire, about how in placing it you misplace yourself, you lose your footing,” said Schamus, whose screenplays include “The Ice Storm,” “Lust, Caution” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” “Everything I adapt has that aspect.”
In talking to both Schamus and Reichardt about the challenges, difficulties and satisfactions of adaptation, it was striking that their experiences were both similar and disparate, that the way they approached material reflected, as might be expected, their personal attitudes and philosophies about the filmmaking process.
Both writer-directors, for example, to a certain extent encountered the work they adapted by chance. “To say I’ve been blessed to come across Philip Roth’s novel as a mass-market paperback in an airport would be an understatement,” Schamus said, whereas Reichardt discovered Meloy’s excellent short-story collections “Half in Love” and “Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It” at a point “when I was feeling pretty lost and sort of searching.”
“Indignation” director James Schamus in the L.A. Times photo studio at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Reichardt had made several films with the writer Jonathan Raymond, but when he became unavailable for a new project the quest that led to Meloy began. “Coming across her was lucky happenstance, but I liked her writing so much, I just knew as soon as I read it. She is such a vivid writer, I immediately felt the landscape and people who were really tied into it, a lot happening that is not in the dialogue.”
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Meloy chose not to be involved with the screenplay but, Reichardt said, “She told me, ‘You go ahead,’ she gave me the space to do that, which is a brave thing for someone to do.”
Working by herself was for the director “a much lonelier experience. Because the film is a lot about loneliness and alienation, it was a very weird ride, you end up living what you made.” So it was a key moment when, waiting for her luggage at the Salt Lake City airport on Friday night, Reichardt got a text from Meloy, who had just seen the film. “She said, ‘It’s beautiful.’ I was so happy to get that text.”
“Certain Women” director Kelly Reichardt in the L.A. Times photo studio at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Schamus, interestingly enough, had a similar relationship with his novelist. “Philip Roth gave me the greatest gift,” he explains. “I sent him the screenplay and he declined to read it, the nicest gift anybody gave me in my life. I asked him to visit the set, I didn’t want to ice him out, he was the prime mover, but he said, ‘When can I see the final product?’ He’s seen it, and he provided a very generous statement.”
For both Schamus and Reichardt, the process of adaptation is, in Reichardt’s words, “breaking free of those stories to write your script, and then when you’re filming undoing the whole script as it becomes a visual experience. Every part is a letting go.”
Reichardt ended up creating a narrative link among the three stories, and in the third section, which features Stewart, changing the sex of one of the key characters from a young man who’d had polio to a young Native American woman played by Gladstone. “It’s really a process of a lot of trial and error,” she explained. “It evolves into something that is totally its own thing.”
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A key decision Schamus, a former chief executive of Focus Features who teaches at Columbia in addition to being a screenwriter, had to make was whether to direct at all. “The desire to direct is a disease that tends to strike late-middle-aged producers, and I’m not immune to that disease,” he said, smiling.
If Schamus was to direct, however, “I honestly felt, when I sucked it up and said, ‘Let’s do it,’ that it wouldn’t be worth doing unless the fear of abject failure was real. And the highest-risk proposition these days is emotion. We’re way too smart for our own good, and tackling a project that says to an audience, ‘It’s time to have an emotion,’ that’s scary.”
As someone who’s done numerous adaptations (“Clearly I don’t have an original thought in my head,” he joked), Schamus has thought a lot about the process, starting with the nature of fiction itself.
“The reason you fall in love with a novel are the pheromonal qualities, the deep satisfactions it produces when you turn the last page,” he said. “It’s a very, very particular emotion, not pure joy, not pure sadness.
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Imogen Poots, from the film “Frank and Lola,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Imogen Poots poses for a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Imogen Poots and director Matthew Ross from the film “Frank and Lola” pose for an L.A. Times photo at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Louis Black and Karen Bernstein, filmmakers from the film “Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny,” in a portrait taken at the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Chris Hegedus, left, Steven Wise and D.A. Pennebaker of the film “Unlocking the Cage” pose for a portrait in the L.A. Times studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Chris Hegedus, director of “Unlocking the Cage,” in a portrait at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Jon Shenk, left, subject Daisy Coleman and Bonni Cohen, director from the film “Audrie & Daisy,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Vincent Piazza from the film “Intervention.”
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Daisy Coleman, subject from the film “Audrie & Daisy.”
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Director Clea DuVall from the film “Intervention.”
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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
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Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”
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Michael Shannon from the film “Complete Unknown.”
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Ben Schwartz from the film “Intervention.”
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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
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Jason Ritter, left, Ben Schwartz, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Piazza, Clea DuVall, director, Melanie Lynskey from the film “Intervention.”
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Ben Schwartz, left, and Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”
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Jason Ritter from the film “Intervention.”
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Aaron Brookner, director from the film “Uncle Howard.”
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Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric, right, and filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig from the film “Under The Gun.”
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Executive producer/narrator Katie Couric from the film “Under The Gun.”
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Michael Shannon from the films “Complete Unknown” and “Frank and Lola.”
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Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”
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Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”
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Michael Chernus, left, Michael Shannon and director Joshua Marston from the film “Complete Unknown.”
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Danfung Dennis, filmmaker, and Casey Brown, producer from the virtual reality experience “Condition One.”
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Ciro Guerra, writer-director from the film “Embrace of the Serpent.”
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Josh Fox, director from the film “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change.”
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Christopher Waldorf, left, Chi Chi Mizrahi,, MikeQ, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, co-writer/subject, Sara Jordeno, writer-director, Gia Marie Love, Kenneth “Symba McQueen” Soler-Rios from the film “Kiki.”
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Kahane Cooperman, showrunner/executive producer from the film “The New Yorker Presents.”
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Frankie Shaw, director-writer stars in “Too Legit.”
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Dawn Porter, director from the film “Trapped.”
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Keith Fulton, director, Lou Pepe, director, Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”
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Lou Pepe, left, and Keith Fulton, directors from the film “Bad Kids.”
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Jennifer Coffield and A.J. Wright from the film “Bad Kids.”
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Michael Villar from the film “Carnage Park.”
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Mickey Keating, director from the film “Carnage Park.”
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Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”
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Tahir Jetter, director from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
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Alex Ross Perry from the movie “Joshy.”
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Jenny Slate from the movie “Joshy.”
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Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”
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Nick Kroll, left, Brett Gelman, Thomas Middleditch, Adam Pally, Alex Ross Perry, Jenny Slate, Jeff Baena, director, and Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”
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Jeff Baena, director, from the movie “Joshy.”
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Paulina Garcia from the film “Little Men.”
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Diego Luna, director of “Mr. Pig.”
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Maya Rudolph, star of “Mr. Pig”
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Actors Danny Glover, from left, Maya Rudolph and “Mr. Pig” director Diego Luna.
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Writer-director Richard Tanne, from left, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, from “Southside With You.”
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Tika Sumpter from “Southside With You.”
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Actor Waleed Zuaiter from “The Free World.”
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Writer-director Jason Lew, from “The Free World.”
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Boyd Holbrook, from “The Free World.”
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Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”
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Elisabeth Moss, from “The Free World.”
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Boyd Holbrook, from left, Octavia Spencer, writer-director Jason Lew, Elisabeth Moss and Waleed Zuaiter, from “The Free World.”
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Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”
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Octavia Spencer, from “The Free World.”
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Bobby Naderi, from “Under the Shadow.”
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Bobby Nader, from “Under The Shadow.”
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Jeff Daniels Phillips, right, and Richard Brake from the film “31.”
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Ashley Bell, left, Pat Healy, Mickey Keating, Michael Villar and James Landry Hébert from the film “Carnage Park.”
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Ashley Bell from the film “Carnage Park.”
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Rebecca Hall from the film “Christine.”
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Rebecca Hall and director Antonio Campos from the film “Christine.”
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Dylan Gelula from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Writer-director Kerem Sanga from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Brianna Hildebrand, left, Kerem Sanga, writer-director, Brianna Hildebrand, Dylan Gelula and Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Brianna Hildebrand from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Mateo Arias from the film “First Girl I Loved.”
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Thomas Middleditch from the movie “Joshy.”
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Lauren Weedman from the movie “Joshy.”
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Brett Gelman from the movie “Joshy.”
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Adam Pally from the movie “Joshy.”
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Nick Kroll from the movie “Joshy.”
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Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”
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Maya Rudolph from the film “Mr. Pig.”
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Danny Glover from the film “Mr. Pig.”
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Haerry Kim from the film “Spa Night.”
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Haerry Kim, left, director Andrew Ahn and Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”
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Director Andrew Ahn from the film “Spa Night.”
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Joe Seo from the film “Spa Night.”
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Asif Kapadia, filmmaker from “Ali & Nino,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Alysia Reiner, left, and Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”
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Alysia Reiner from the film “Equity.”
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Sarah Megan Thomas from the film “Equity.”
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Steven Caple Jr., writer and director for the film “The Land.”
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Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”
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Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”
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Rafi Gavron, left, Ezri Walker, Steven Caple Jr., Moises Arias and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. from the film “The Land.”
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Ezri Walker from the film “The Land.”
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Moises Arias from the film “The Land.”
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Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”
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Stephen Kijak, left, and Yoshiki from the film “We are X.”
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Co-directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg from the film “Weiner.”
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Penelope Ann Miller from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Armie Hammer from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Gabrielle Union from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Gabrielle Union, left, Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Nate Parker, director, Penelope Ann Miller and Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Nate Parker, director from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Jackie Earle Haley from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Aja Naomi King from the film “The Birth of A Nation.”
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Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, from the film “The Skinny.”
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Illeana Douglas, star-producer, left, Jill Soloway, executive producer, Rebecca Odes, executive producer, Jessie Kahnweiler, star-director-producer, and Andrea Sperling, producer, from the film “The Skinny.”
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Jill Soloway, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”
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Jessie Kahnweiler from the film “The Skinny.”
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Rebecca Odes, executive producer from the film “The Skinny.”
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Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”
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Illeana Douglas from the film “The Skinny.”
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Andrea Sperling, producer from the film “The Skinny.”
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DeWanda Wise from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
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Jenna Williams, from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
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Alano Miller, left, DeWanda Wise, Tahir Jetter, Charles Brice and producers Julius Pryor IV and Marttise Hill from the film “How to Tell You’re a Douchebag.”
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Jennifer Ehle, from the film “Little Men.”
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Jennifer Ehle, left, Michael Barbieri, Mauricio Zacharias, Paulina Garcia, Ira Sachs, director, Theo Taplitz and Greg Kinnear, from the film “Little Men.”
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Greg Kinnear from the film “Little Men.”
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Michael Barbieri, left, and Theo Taplitz from the film “Little Men.”
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Director and co-writer Ira Sachs, left, and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias from the film “Little Men.”
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Ira Sachs, director/co-writer from the film, “Little Men.”
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Mary Stuart Masterson from the film “As You Are.”
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Miles Joris-Peyrafitte from the film “As You Are.”
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Amandla Stenberg from the film “As You Are.”
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Scott Cohen from the film “As You Are.”
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Owen Campbell from the film “As You Are.”
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Parker Sawyers from the film “Southside With You.”
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Tika Sumpter from the film “Southside With You.”
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Richard Tanne, writer-director from the film “Southside With You.”
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Jeff Feuerzig, director from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
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Robert Jumper, left, director Tim Sutton, Anna Rose and Maica Armata from the film “Dark Night” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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Director Pieter-Jan De Pue from the film “The Land of the Enlightened.”
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Michal Huszcza, left, Michal Marczak, director, and Kris Baganski from the film “All These Sleepless Nights” get cozy.
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Abigail Spencer from the series “Rectify.”
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Director Robert Greene and actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”
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Actress Kate Lyn Sheil from the film “Kate Plays Christine.”
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Executive Producer Jim McNiel from the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”
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Werner Herzog, director of the film “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”
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Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
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Jeff Feuerzig and subject Laura Albert from the film “The JT Leroy Story.”
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Jason Benjamin, director from the film “Suited.”
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Jenni Konner, producer, left, Jason Benjamin, director, and Lena Dunham, producer, from the film “Suited.”
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Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”
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Jared Harris from the film “Certain Women.”
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Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”
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Q., director of the film “Brahman Naman.”
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Naman Ramachandran, left, Q., and Shashank Arora with Werner Herzog.
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Tanmay Dhanania, left, Shashank Arora, Naman Ramachandran, Steve Barron, producer, Q., director, Sid Mallya, screenwriter, from the film “Brahman Naman.”
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Ralph Rodriguez, left, Brian “Sene” Marc, Morgan Saylor, Adrian Martinez, India Menuez, Justin Bartha, Elizabeth Wood, filmmaker, and Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”
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Brian “Sene” Marc from the film “White Girl.”
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Morgan Saylor from the film “White Girl.”
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Anthony Ramos from the film “White Girl.”
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Adrian Martinez from the film “White Girl.”
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India Menuez from the film “White Girl.”
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Justin Bartha from the film “White Girl.”
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Elizabeth Wood from the film “White Girl.”
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Gavin Free for Lazer Team levitates.
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Anne Fontaine, director from the film “Agnus Dei.”
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Chloe Sevigny, left, Danny Perez and Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”
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Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”
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Chloe Sevigny from the film “Antibirth.”
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Natasha Lyonne from the film “Antibirth.”
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Rachel Grady, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
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Heidi Ewing, co-director, Norman Lear, Rachel Grady, co-director, from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
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Norman Lear from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
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Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
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Heidi Ewing, co-director from the film “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
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Kenneth Lonergan, director from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Lucas Hedges, left, Kenneth Lonergan, director, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Lucas Hedges from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Casey Affleck from the film “Manchester by the Sea.”
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Writer-director Sian Heder from the film “Talullah.”
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John Benjamin Hickey, left, Allison Janney, Ellen Page, Sian Heder, writer-director, and Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”
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Ellen Page from the film “Talullah.”
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Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
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Allison Janney from the film “Talullah.”
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John Benjamin Hickey from the film “Talullah.”
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Tammy Blanchard from the film “Talullah.”
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Brooklyn Decker from the film “Lovesong.”
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Jena Malone from the film “Lovesong.”
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Jena Malone, left, and Riley Keough from the film “Lovesong.”
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Director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
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Jonathan Freeman, left, Owen Suskind, Gilbert Gottfried and director Roger Ross Williams from the film “Life Animated.”
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John Krasinski from the film, “The Hollars,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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John Krasinski, left, Charlie Day, Margo Martindale, Sharlto Copley and Josh Groban from the film “The Hollars.”
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Josh Groban from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. ( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Sharlto Copley from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Margo Martindale, from the film, “The Hollars,” in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. ( Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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John Krasinski from the film, “The Hollars,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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David Wheeler, left, Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”
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Kim Snyder, left, director, and Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, from the film “Newtown.”
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Nicole Hockley, David Wheeler, Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, Kim Snyder, director, and Mark Barden from the film “Newtown.”
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Todd Solondz, director of the film “Wiener-Dog,” poses for a portrait in the L.A. Times photo & video studio at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
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“A bad adaptation simply reproduces every beat that got you to the last page. You can’t do that, you can’t shorthand the interior life of characters, it’s never going to work. It has to happen on set through interaction with actors.”
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Similarly, Schamus takes issue with the frequently heard notion that “an adaptation was faithful to the spirit if not to the letter of the book. That sounds like a bad marriage, like saying, ‘He was faithful in spirit but not in practice.’ That’s not something that passes muster in the real world.
“A film lives or dies not by whether it’s a good adaptation but by whether it’s a convincing interpretation. As a screenwriter you’re always interpreting. You can’t just do the book.”
