My Brilliant Friend director talks about bringing Elena Ferrante’s beloved novel to life for HBO

Italian director Saverio Costanzo spoke with Fast Company about the challenge of adapting the first novel in the Neapolitan series (as a man, no less). In 2007, Italian director Saverio Costanzo wrote to the publisher of Elena Ferrante’s novella The Lost Daughter and asked if he could option the film rights. The story had captured the filmmaker’s attention because of the way it mined a simple plot—a middle-aged professor vacationing at the beach takes a young girl’s doll—for maximum emotional and psychological effect. The publisher and Ferrante (who writes under a pseudonym and is famously reclusive) granted Costanzo his wish with one condition: He had six months to come up with an adaptation that pleased all parties. Costanzo accepted the challenge. But after six months of trying, and failing, to bring the story to life for the big screen, he abandoned the project. Read Full Story Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2018-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]

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