Author Interviews

Interview with Author and Illustrator Brian Selznick

Chloe Wright

Junior Editor

Lightly edited for clarity.

Some readers may know author and illustrator Brian Selznick from his children’s work The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Others may recognize his monochromatic and detailed style in the 20th century book covers for Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Overall, his iconic work has earned him the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Inkpot Award and screen adaptations directed by none other than Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes, alongside his Grammy-nominated audiobook version of Big Tree narrated by Meryl Streep. In anticipation for his lecture on adaptation and visual storytelling, The Purple spoke with him about his education, fascinating experiences, and his love of storytelling.

Why did you choose Sewanee to have a lecture? 

[Professor of theater] Jim Crawford is bringing me to Sewanee. He and I went to college [close] together; I went to Rhode Island School of Design, and he went to Brown. But I did theater up at Brown because, at the time, there was no theater down at RISD. So, I started auditioning for shows, and Jim cast me in the very first show I was in at school. It was a really fun production of Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer. We’ve been friends ever since. 

You’ve spent your undergrad at RISD. What was the most important thing you learned from your time there that helped you be a better artist and storyteller?

When I was at RISD, the only thing I really knew is that I did not want to make children’s books. So I spent most of my time not learning how to make them, not taking classes with the famous illustrators that taught there, not hearing [the author of Where the Wild Things Are] Maurice Sendak when he came to speak. So, I focused very deeply on the theater. 

I knew I wanted to act, but I knew I didn’t want to do that professionally. I eventually discovered set design and ended up designing a lot of sets up at Brown. I convinced the head of the illustration department to let me do a set design for my thesis project because I did become an illustration major only because, when I was at school, there were literally no requirements to get an illustration degree. You could do whatever you wanted.

One of the things I did while at RISD was take a lot of classes to help me become a better artist. I took a lot of figure drawing classes and interesting conceptual classes that gave challenging assignments every week that encouraged me to think about art/ideas in a new way. It turns out, having that focus on both the technical aspects of the drawings and the conceptual work that goes into why you’re using drawings the way you’re using them, served me really well when I figured out I wanted to make children’s books when I graduated. 

What is your favorite part about storytelling? What is something you personally wish you could improve on about storytelling? 

I’ve always been interested in storytelling, reading books, and watching movies. I loved making up stories, but I never really thought of myself as a writer growing up. I thought I was an artist: someone who could draw pictures. Very slowly over the last 30 years since my first book came out, I have come to understand the idea that the way I think about illustration, narrative, and stories are all aspects of the same thing. The desire to tell a story, come up with a character, find an adventure that suits their personality (or the reverse), trying to find an emotional reason for telling the story, and discovering throughout the process what the connection to my own life is and what I’m trying to share to the world about myself… It’s very satisfying and challenging. 

It usually takes me three to five years to make a book, and I have to be sure I’m working on something I really love and care about. I’m a naturally curious person. I love doing research, traveling, and writing books that have something at their center I’m interested in and don’t really know anything about. Whether that’s the history of silent film, deaf culture, or the history of museums, I can then dive into [these topics] while I work on the book.

What was the largest challenge of adapting The Invention of Hugo Cabret into a film?

I did not actually directly collaborate with [director of the adaptation] Martin Scorcese in any way. I basically gave Mr. Scorsese the rights to use my books and essentially had to keep my fingers crossed. Although, considering the fact I was giving it to one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, I wasn’t particularly nervous. But, you never know what is or is not going to be used from the book, and I had a lot of ups and downs which I’ll talk about in the lecture. Really, it was about coming to understand how deeply Mr. Scorsese and the team loved the book and wanted to make sure that, as much as possible, what was on screen came from the book. 

After Hugo, there was a screen adaptation of Wonderstruck, my next book. For that movie, I was directly involved as the screenwriter. There were other fascinating things and other challenges to overcome while working directly with one of my filmmaking heroes Todd Haynes, whose movies I’ve always loved since Poison (1991) which came out the year of my very first book. Then I was figuring out how to imagine a book I had created to be paper, ink, binding, words, and images to translate it to the language of cinema. By that point, I had the incredible opportunity of watching Mr. Scorsese and his team adapted my book and John Logan, who wrote the screenplay, to see what choices he made. John took me under his wing and helped me with the screenplay as well. 

What is the one thing you want people to take away from your lecture?

I like talking about my work and love the opportunity to speak to an audience, some of whom may know my books and others may be introduced to my work. I’m mostly concerned with everyone having a good time. I want to make sure the hour we spend together is entertaining and full of fun stories. There’s a lot I’ve learned while making these books, especially technical lessons about genre, theater adaptation, and filmmaking. In sharing the stories about what I’ve learned, I love the idea that someone in the audience who is interested in theater, film, books, or storytelling may learn something as well. Education is never my first priority; it’s always sharing something real with a room of people. 

Do you have any future projects?

I have my first young adult coming out in April. It’s for an older audience than I usually have worked for. I appreciate and am very happy that books of mine like Hugo, Wonderstruck, and The Marvels are read by older readers, college students, and adults. But, in April, I have a book coming out called Run Away With Me, which is specifically intended for older readers. It’s a love story between two boys in Rome in 1986, so I’m just beginning to talk about that book publicly. The 20th century of the publication of The Invention of Hugo Cabret is going to be happening in a year and a half, so I’m really excited to think about ways to celebrate Hugo’s birthday. Otherwise, it’s fun to look back on previous projects.

Selznick’s lecture will take place in Convocation Hall on Tuesday, October 8 at 5.




Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button