Author of "A Cooler Climate"

Showtime presents

August 22, 1999

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Nicquilt: The movie was good but it was only the relationships that created the situations. Don't you feel tying that to the lack of communication between partners is the initial problem?

Zena Collier: Let me say first that somebody else did the adaptation. I wrote the book. The adaptation for the movie took a somewhat different approach from the book. I really think you would find the book especially interesting after having seen the movie. You would, I think, enjoy comparing the differences and decide for yourself how you feel the book depicts what your question just asked about. In the movie, that speech that Iris makes before she falls down and breaks her leg (and that does not happen in the book) - and that's actually a very good speech - where she says about, amongst other things, "I lost my daughter's love and respect." And she says "I lost any chance to be friends with my husband." That does suggest what the questioner was touching on, when she said wasn't there a lack of communication between partners. And in the book, something similar is suggested. But her husband, she talks about him trotting out his charm for special occasions, but the rest of the time, he's cold towards her. He ignores her. Although, there is one flashback in the book where she is thinking about her daughter who she loves dearly, about when she was a child, and Iris and her husband at that time go to see her in a school musical. And that evening, she and her husband, in their pride over Callie, their daughter, are drawn together. And so, you do get the impression in the book, too, that she remembers there were good times. You feel really that Iris just acted too impulsively in leaving her marriage.

Joey: How did you select the women who starred in the movie?

Zena Collier: I didn't select them. I had nothing to do with that. I had no choice. However, I don't think there could have been any better choices. I am absolutely thrilled by the magnificent performances of Sally Field and Judy Davis. As I watched, I was fascinated with the way they not only played Iris and Paula exactly as I had imagined them, but they even looked physically very much as I had pictured them while I wrote the book! I've gone back and read the book again since seeing the movie and now, when I read the book, it's their faces I see and it's their voices I hear. And if you read the book, after seeing the film, I'm sure you will have that same experience. Which adds to the pleasure of reading the book.

Essefjay: Do you believe Sally and Judy captured the true essence of the characters you wrote ?

Zena Collier: I do! I think they captured everything, and in addition, because it is a visual medium, there were some wonderful visual moments in the movie. And I was really so impressed when I saw these moments, visually, which I could only describe in the book. For example, one is when Iris first arrives at Paula's house. Goes to her room, which is the maid's room, and finds hanging in the closet, the maid's uniform that she is going to have to wear. Her face, as she looks at the uniform, says everything. Another moment is when she first meets Paula, her employer and calls her Paula - and Paula lets her know that she has to call her Mrs. Tanner, not Paula. Although Mrs. Tanner is going to call Iris, Iris.

DeeDee: are you planning on a sequel/follow-up story?

Zena Collier: No. I'm not. I published a second book called "Ghost Note" which has a specific meaning, in 1992. For some time, I have been working on a third novel. It's not yet finished. But, no sequels.

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