Read what is happening behind the scenes of the movie "The Promise."
The Promise becomes a film
by Lisa Clifford on March 10, 2009
Soon after its launch, The Promise was optioned to become a movie. An international co-production between Italy and Australia. Adapting a book to film is never easy, especially when half of the cast don't speak English. However, progress is being made and the producers of the movie are pleased to announce that noted Australian director, Sarah Lambert, has joined the creative team. Sarah is a former actor and now writer and director based in Sydney. She said, “this story is particularly special to me because I lived with an Italian for four years and I know exactly what Lisa goes through.” Also joining the team is writer, Simon Howard. Simon has just finished a stint lecturing in film studies in Prague and brings a weight of current experience in script development and analysis to the project. Producer Stuart Scowcroft welcomed them to the team. “Having the perspectives and experience of Sarah and Simon who both know Italy and Australian and English culture so well, is a big boost. The script is developing with a richness and energy that the book deserves.” The producers say adapting the book to a movie is going well. There is great beauty in the visual impact of Tuscany and Bondi in Sydney and the cultural conflict for the characters creates the potential for laughter and tears in equal measure.
From Page to Screen, making the Promise into a film.
Screenplay adaptation update; September 2010.
One of the biggest challenges when adapting a book to the big screen is how difficult it is to show viewers the internal thoughts of a character. In film you have to show rather than tell. In a book each reader brings his or her own experience to the page but that is not really available to them in a movie.
Lots of the key elements of The Promise the book remain in the screenplay. The Gruppo Fist, the bikes, the cultural clash, the loneliness and the fun, the Calcio Storico, the passion that demands that Lisa stays and the need for identity that demands that she goes. Dinner with the friends, The Red Garter, karaoke etc. It will all be there but now we are weaving the events into the journey of a character on the screen. The audience will be able to share the journey. It is, in many ways, a question of simplification because the internal struggle is difficult to portray. Where Lisa in the book can tell us how she feels, Lisa in the film must be seen to experience the emotion. Paolo is developing very well. Lisa Clifford once said to me that one of the great things that appealed to her about Paolo was that he looked after her….cared for her in a way that Australian men do not. For me that was a very valuable insight and has helped a lot in developing his screen persona.
We have given Lisa the driving goal of wanting to be a journalist from the outset so that there is a driving question. And falling in love is a problem because it could get in the way of her journalistic ambitions. And it is not so good for Paolo either because it could get in the way of his racing ambitions.
I think we would have a very good script. We have done a lot to show the audience what I perceive as a strong and loving relationship between Gemma and Giovanni. And, I must confess, we have taken June on a journey that leads her to contribute positively to Lisa’s life in the end. Geppa works very well as Paolo’s off-sider. The characters in general are concrete and well-formed.
Screenplay adaptation Progress Update: January 2012
FilmCome14 is now our Italian co producer. It is only a small company but they will be a good partner. I like Giotto very much and he is keen on the story. He will not direct at this stage. That is still Nadia Tass. Nadia Tass is an award winning director and she is now attached to direct the film. She recently won best director and best film at the Milan Film Festival forMatching Jack and has now won a host of awards for the film.
The film will be shot in Italy and Eastern Europe and post produced in Australia as an official co-production under the treaty between the two countries. It will be the first feature film made as an Italian Australian co production under the treaty.
Scripting is underway and the producers will cast the film later in the year 2012.
Stuart Scowcroft,
Producer,
The Promise
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