EBIt’s time for part 2 of the olive interview between Jessica Anya Blau, author of Summer of Naked Swim Parties, and Larry Doyle, author of I Love You, Beth Cooper. Let the shenanigans begin! (Jessica’s questions in bold, see yesterday’s post for part 1 and a cute photo of the two of them.)
Tell me about what you’re working on now?
I’m working on an unnecessarily complicated second novel, which has also been sold to the movies. So I’m doing the screenplay and the book simultaneously. [The novel/film is called Go, Mutants! and already has an A-list director attached to it.]
Do you enjoy working on several things at once, or if you could control everything in your world would you pare it down a bit?
If I didn’t have to make money, I would never write another screenplay again.
Why?
Because when you write for the movies, you’re not the author of the movie.
Director is?
Director or studio. Even these days a lot of directors can’t put their stamp on it they way they want. But the director is considered the author of the movie.
In the next few months see how many times you see the phrase, “Chris Columbus’ I Love You Beth Cooper.”
That must be strange.
It’s a little odd. Especially odd because I wrote the book first. But that can be good and bad. I Love Your Beth Cooper looks to be a good movie, so his getting authorship is a little strange. On the other hand, I really don’t mind that they call it “Danny DeVito’s Duplex” [referring to the movie Duplex, written by Larry and directed by Danny DeVito.] ‘cause in a lot of ways it is his Duplex and certainly not what I had in mind for that movie.
If I were in a position to write and direct, that might be something I’d want to do. But I’m not sure I would. It’s really hard to make a movie. I like movies, I like watching them. Maybe if I had absolute freedom to do what I wanted, I would. But it’s not an easy way to make a living. It’s a hard way to make a great living. Virtually none of the people who try to do it manage to make a living out of it. The percentage of people who want to write and direct movies versus the people who do it, it has to be smaller than any other profession. Unless you count little girls who say they want to be a veterinarian. There might be more people becoming princesses than being working writer-directors.
What’s your writing day like? Do you have a particular thing you wear, or eat, while you’re writing?
Eat coffee. I wear same thing every day. Jeans, tee shirt. And in colder months, a button down over the tee shirt. I change my underpants every day.
Is there anything in the writing process that you don’t like? Anything you’d hire out if you could?
The writing. No. I like the writing part. All of the publicity stuff that comes afterward. It would be dishonest I know, but I sure wouldn’t mind having an assistant who blogged for me. You know you’re supposed to blog every day and I just don’t do that and won’t ever do that. [Larry’s referring to the common wisdom handed down to writers who are promoting a book that you should blog every day to keep people interested in your work.]
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever written?
I’ve written so much it would be really had to pick out one thing as terrible. I can think of whole eras that were terrible. I wrote the Pogo comic strip for a couple years when it came back in late 80s. I wrote and Neal Sternecky drew it, and I’d say on the whole I really botched it. It wasn’t good. That’d be two years of work, all terrible.
What do you think is the best thing you’ve ever written?
I like the way I Love You Beth Cooper turned out. Although when I reread it for the paperback, I ended up changing it a lot. I removed stuff I didn’t like and added a bunch of new stuff. In the movies, the thing I like best is a screenplay based on a New Yorker piece I wrote called “Life Without Leanne.” Miramax bought it but then it died. I handed it in a week after Duplex, which was a huge bomb. I’d like to get it back. That would be the kind of thing that, if I could, I would direct.
Who’s the most interesting person named Beth Cooper to have contacted you since the publication of I Love You Beth Cooper?
I’ve heard from a bunch of Beth Coopers. There’s a page of their pictures on the book’s website. There’s a famous dollmaker, an architect, a painter, a couple of actresses and real estate agents, and a ghost tour guide. There’s even a Beth Cooper who is a high school varsity cheerleader, which sent a shiver down my attorney’s spine. Each and every one of them was the most interesting. I picked the name precisely because it was common, that she could be anyone. There are more than 1,600 Beth Coopers in the United States alone, according to some website [howmanyofme.com]. I recommend titling your book after a common name, by the way. I’m sure I sold a couple hundred just as gag gifts.
After all the interviews you’ve done over the years, what’s the one great question no one has ever asked you?
That one. That question.
