Angela Workman talks about Brontë

A few days ago we were approached by Angela Workman, the director and script-writer of the new Brontë biopic film. Despite the usual constraints she kindly answered a few question we asked her.

She herself has cast all of the actors in the production "including Michelle Williams, who I believe to be ideal for the role of Charlotte. My collaboration with her, and with others in the cast, has proved invaluable."

When asked about the long, long way her script has come, this is what she says:

The film was indeed written originally for Dreamworks. From there it changed hands many times until Alistair Maclean-Clark agreed to produce it. Screenplays develop over time, and this is no exception. The script resembles itself in early drafts but I'd like to think it's improved over time, as I became a more mature writer and as various artists spoke to me of the work.

We felt very curious as to the origins of her idea to film a movie on the Brontës, and how her love for the Brontës had been born:

I first decided to write about the Brontës after reading a book review of one of the biographies. I won't say which, as the reviewer took issue with a certain revisionist theory about the family, but I was so taken by the reviewer's description of the lives of the family that I ran out and read every biography I could find. My research eventually took me to the British Library and to the parsonage in Haworth, where I was permitted access to many original documents and other things which deeply influenced the script's writing.

As you know there are other biopics on the Brontës' lives, and so we asked her about her opinion on them:

I've chosen not to view the Téchiné's film, nor 'The Brontes Of Haworth'. Let's not waste our time on 'Devotion'!

And what about the Brontës' literary legacy, what is Angela Workman's favourite?

As for the novels, I don't believe I have a strong favorite, although there's a sadness that seeps through 'Villette' that makes my heart ache. Lucy Snowe's simple description of her family being lost as if a ship has sunk affects me in a way the other novels don't, but that perhaps is because I'm so aware of Charlotte's having written it after she had lost all but her father.

Of course we were very curious about how she was conceiving the screenplay in order to cram such intense lives, events and characters in a standard movie. We know some characters and events will have to be left out or condensed. Ms Workman understandably doesn't want to reveal anything before the movie hits the cinemas:

The script does cover quite a bit of time -- 30 years over all -- but it is difficult to explain how a filmmaker makes choices to cover that kind of ground. What you might consider elemental to their lives to me might seem not so, or vice versa -- so, to tell you, yes, this is in, but no, this is not in, can only invite premature disagreement. I will say that I've made every attempt to paint an authentic portrait and to be as true to the family as I can, while still being forced to gracefully push past time over the course of two hours.

Finally, we asked Ms Workman about the English-female-writers biopic "invasion" that is currently in production (Becoming Jane, Miss Potter...)

This is not Jane Austen-lite, it is not Beatrix Potter talking to her animals. It is, I think, a more serious, more dramatic, more sexual, muddier, hotter, more tragic and ultimately more triumphant story than those biopics which will precede it. That's the reason I wanted to do it, and the reason why I've spent so many years trying to get it done.

Sounds like we can expect something very, very good to come out of all this. It looks like once again the saying "good things come to those who wait" will prove its truth.

Many thanks to Ms Workman for her time and answers :)

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV