'The Last Five Years' was a musical in 2002, and it's a deconstruction of a marriage. Richard LaGravenese More Quotes by Richard LaGravenese More Quotes From Richard LaGravenese . . . I felt that making her one-dimensional would be an insult to the audience, and also not as interesting. All destructive people have an inner side to them, and the more three-dimentional your characters are on screen the more compassion you can open up in an audience . . .. To me, that involves the audience more, it stimulates them and asks more of them. Richard LaGravenese compassion character people I just really have an affinity for women. Watching them go through journeys is more interesting to me than watching men. Richard LaGravenese journey men interesting I've always shot on film, but the times are changing. Richard LaGravenese times-are-changing shots film I tend to believe, when you're in a relationship, if you don't fight, it's not a real relationship. You have to have arguments and tensions, otherwise I don't believe it. My mother always said, "If you don't fight, you can't have a marriage. You have to fight for each other. If you don't know how to fight, relationships tend not to last." Richard LaGravenese real mother believe If I can make a living as a writer, I can do anything. Richard LaGravenese i-can ifs can-do Women have to take more control of their careers. They can't just wait to be cast in a film. Richard LaGravenese film careers waiting I tend to believe, when you're in a relationship, if you don't fight, it's not a real relationship. You have to have arguments and tensions, otherwise I don't believe it. Richard LaGravenese fighting real believe What I do usually is read the book first, for pleasure, to see if my brain starts connecting with it, as a movie. And then, if I say yes, I read it again, only this time I take a pen and, inside the book, I say, "Okay, this is a scene. I don't need this. I'm going to try this. I'm not going to take this." And then, I use that book like a bible and each chapter heading, I write a menu of what's in that chapter, in case I ever need to reference it. And then, I start to outline and write it. I get in there and it starts to evolve, based on having re-read it again. Richard LaGravenese brain writing book When I was young, I had two older sisters, and since I was the youngest in my family, my mom took me around with her all the time. I was forever with her when she was having coffee in the middle of the afternoon with her three sisters. And they would talk about men. I absorbed a lot of that. Richard LaGravenese coffee mom men It wasn't the intention to do something important, or to even relate about social issues. The ground is so fertile in the justice world, dealing with the death penalty and the Innocence Project, for characters that have a moral ambiguity, which we were both attracted to. It's the idea that everybody has their reasons. Whatever their actions are, whether you agree with them or not, you can understand why they're feeling that way, in terms of racism or even the death penalty. Richard LaGravenese issues character ideas You can take the high moral ground intellectually, but if it ever happens to you personally, I don't know that I could honestly say that I wouldn't want to kill someone who took someone away from me. So, it's a rich, fertile ground for great characters and great storytelling. That was the impetus. Richard LaGravenese moral want character The death penalty issue is obviously a divisive one. But whether one is for or against, you can not deny the basic illogic - if we know the system is flawed, if we know there are innocent people on Death Row, then until the system is reformed, should we not abandon the death penalty to protect those who are innocent? Richard LaGravenese you innocent death people The thing that I love is human behavior - why people do what they do, who they are, and the choices that they make - and that has to always be plot driven. Richard LaGravenese behavior love-is love people I think musical theater fans - obsessive fans - are very much like Comic Con fans in our personalities. We're very possessive, and we're very obsessive, and we're very critical. So don't screw with our stuff. Richard LaGravenese i-think like think fans Academy Awards don't really solve anything. Richard LaGravenese really anything academy awards TV is where a writer can write his novel. Richard LaGravenese his write where novel You can have ambiguity in television that you are not allowed in film... at least in Hollywood studio films. Richard LaGravenese you hollywood film television I really like Rosamund Pike very much. Richard LaGravenese really much very like I'm very much interested in doing actual theater. Richard LaGravenese interested much doing very My true nature, I believe, is writing. Richard LaGravenese true nature writing believe
