[phileysmiley]

<font color="maroon">by Larry Richman </font>
<font color="gray" size="1">January 24, 2007 3:12 PM</font>

In the Q&A after the world premiere of <em>Snow Angels</em> on Friday night, writer/director David Gordon Green discussed at length how much the film differs from the book. A good deal of the film is from his hand. In fact, he brings no script to the set. For example, in the film, Arthur (Michael Angarano) and Annie (Kate Beckinsale) both work in the kitchen of the same restaurant. They see each other constantly. There are many scenes with them together. As it turns out, they were all essentially improvised. Green basically tells them what is happening, and they come up with the dialog themselves. It is rehearsed, of course, so it's not necessarily "impromptu," but much of the film was not in the book and was not even in a script. Unlike the book, there are no scenes of Annie babysitting Arthur when he was young. It is often referenced in the dialogs between them, though.

I wrote quite an extensive review. But it's been so hard keeping up with the external ones. It's impossible for me to follow everything the way I normally do, and ironically when you're surrounded by journalists all day you actually see less of what they are writing about than if you're at home! I have been talking about <em>Snow Angels</em> constantly, since almost every single person I come into contact with asks what I've seen and liked. I've spent so much time talking about it. I'm just waiting for the acquisition deal to close.