This bonus material from "The Ice Harvest" DVD was lots of fun, very joyful and highly interesting for aspiring writers and screenwriters out there. In it,
author Scott Phillips, who wrote the original novel, screenwriters Robert Benton and Richard Russo, who adapted to the screen, share the challenges of adapting
a successful printed work to the screen, the differences and condensations made to achieve something that could be seen, and their favorite bits that contains
on both works. Or in the case of Phillips, some of the ideas and inspirations he had while developing the novel.
The three men had a lot of fun while having this small conversation - the introduction was quite humorous to watch as they appear to be acting on the
film itself (and for those who watched the Harold Ramis movie, the annyoing cop who follows John Cusack time and again resembles a lot Scott Phillips). Their
enthusiasm through everything is just amazing, and it's a rare opportunity to see the creator of a work supporting the people who transformed it into a
different media. Those forces usually don't get along, there's always some arguement and contempt from a finished film (see Stephen King's hatred for Kubrick's
"The Shining" or J. D. Salinger who hated the cinematic adapatation from one of his works so much that he never allowed any film version of his works, which
includes "The Catcher in the Rye", so yep, if you have a test on it you have to read the book as there's no film version of it. Yay!).
It's not like they are teaching on how to adapt a book to a movie, but if you look closely you'll get some tools and means on how to make things work.
Haven't read Phillips novel but after this special I'm curious as to see if the humor presented on the screen can also be found on the page. 9/10.
