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Gayle Forman Talks If I Stay’s Journey to the Big Screen, and Her Role as Executive Producer
Young adult novels have been attracting Hollywood’s attention since before the category existed (The Outsiders, anyone?), and in recent years, many of the most successful box office hits and buzziest television series have come directly from the YA shelves. Page to Screen is a series in which authors whose novels have been adapted for the screen share their unique perspectives on the process. Some have little to no involvement, others are writing scripts and sitting in monogrammed chairs on set, but all have experienced seeing their work in a new way.
Today, bestselling author Gayle Forman shares the story of how her 2009 novel If I Stay was optioned in 2008, before the book’s release, but didn’t hit the big screen until 2014. The process? It was “slow, slow, fast,” says Forman, who eventually signed on as an executive producer for the film. Check out previous Page to Screen posts here.
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When did If I Stay first get optioned?
It got optioned before the book even came out, in the fall of 2008—right as the first Twilight movie was hitting; this became important because the studio optioning it was Summit, the Twilight studio. I was surprised because first I thought no one is going to make this and when Summit optioned it, I thought, Well it’s obviously going to be terrible. But then I saw Shauna Cross’s screenplay and it was good! And I started to get hopeful. Which is always a little dangerous.
How did the option move along from there?
So many things happened. Originally, we were very quick; we had Catherine Hardwicke attached and a script and then we were ready to start casting when we lost Hardwicke to another film and it all fell apart. Then it came back with a different director and Dakota Fanning greenlit, this time with some caveats…and it fell apart again. From what I understand, for things to get this close to the gate and then fall apart is unusual. And it happened twice.
So what made things finally come together?
After a while it became clear to me that Summit was not going to make this film. Their slate was movies like Hunger Games, Divergent, Ender’s Game, etc. I didn’t see them making this smaller, more intimate story, even though I knew they wanted to—that was why it kept getting close and pulled back. So the next time the option rolled around for renewal, in April 2013, I didn’t renew. I felt strongly we had to close a door if we were going to open a door. Our producer, Alison Greenspan, was in support of this. And we had RJ Cutler attached, and Chloe, too. I didn’t realize then what a difference that makes. When you have a whole package like that, financiers step up, and indeed we had several who wanted to do the film. I knew we were looking at a more modest budget—including purchase price—so I made a bold move and asked for back-end points, and an EP position. And I turned in my notes about the film. When they said yes, I started to think like a producer, worrying less about how things would work for me than how they would work for the film. That said, I knew if the film succeeded it would help me.
Was that the point where you thought, “Hey, this may really happen!”?
Yes. After it left Summit in spring 2013, things moved very quickly and MGM came on board—we were in production by October of the same year. Though to be honest, the minute I met RJ, I just knew it was going to happen and he was going to be the one to shepherd it through. And the moment I REALLY knew it was happening was when Jon Glickman, the head of MGM, followed me on Twitter.
You were right in the middle of it. So cool! How involved were you along the way?
By the time the project moved to MGM, I had established relationships with the producer and the director, as well as Shauna Cross, the amazing screenwriter. I think one of the reasons the movie survived all those years in development was because her script was so good. Anyhow, at this point, I was pretty involved. I worked with RJ and Shauna on the script and Alison sent me audition tapes of different actors and I was on set for prep (the period before you start shooting) and then for some of the shoot (it was in British Columbia; too far away from home to be there the whole time). And I saw a rough cut of the film and gave notes on that, too.
[caption id="attachment_9910" align="aligncenter" width="637"] Forman with Moretz and cellist Alisa Weilerstein.[/caption]
Tell me about your time on set.
When I was writing the sequel to If I Stay, I reached out to the amazing cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who wasn’t quite as famous as she has since become. Alisa gave me advice on what Mia’s life would be like in Where She Went and we became friends of a sort. There’s a scene when Mia and Adam go on a date—and in the book it’s to hear Yo-Yo Ma—but obviously we weren’t getting him for the movie. But then, out of the blue, without knowing we are connected, RJ tells me he’s getting Alisa for the film. I was there when they shot her scene. Her playing cello against a green screen. I was sitting ten feet away. It was magic. I was also there for two of the three Adam concert shoots. So great.
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When did you first see the film in full?
I saw a rough cut in maybe April. I watched the first version on a monitor in an avid bay and cried and then went to see RJ. He was getting prepped for our first big test screening the next day and he invited me to watch it again. Seeing it next to him, on the big screen, was an intensely emotional experience. I bawled. I think it was the highest compliment I could pay to RJ.
How closely connected do the movie and the book feel to you?
The movie feels like a very real emotional translation of the book, plus all that amazing music, which is my favorite part. There’s only so much you can do on the page with music but what RJ did, the classical and the rock, it’s mind-blowing. I haven’t seen the movie in a while and I just watched it with my daughter and her friend. I’ve always loved it but the further I get from it, the more I appreciate its artistry and how well it did its job.
How did having the film impact the book?
A few weeks before the movie came out, the book hit #1 on The New York Times bestseller list and the USA Today list. NYT back then was just for YA books—hardcover and paperback so a very tough list to crack—but the USA Today list represents all books. The head of Penguin called me to say that being #1 on USA Today meant that it was the most popular book not just in the country but in the world. So the movie had an enormous impact on sales. It also really lifted up Where She Went, which fans had been reluctant about until then. And yes, Hollywood was interested, and we optioned most of the other books, but as I’ve learned before, it takes a while to get things into production.
Your other books since If I Stay — Just One Day, Just One Year, I Was Here and Leave Me — are they in development too?
Just One Day and Just One Year are in development as a single film. I Was Here is too. Leave Me…we are talking to a lot of people. It’s about a middle-aged woman, so not exactly Hollywood’s go-to. I suspect if it happens, it’ll go the indie route.
What’s next for you?
More books. Maybe some work on scripts. My favorite part of writing is dialogue. My least favorite part is description. So it’s kind of a natural.