How to rewrite Charles Dickens
SIMON BLACKWELL, co-writer of The Personal History Of David Copperfield, on adapting the great author’s autobiographical tale
SIMON BLACKWELL HAS Charles Dickens to thank for his writing career. Years ago, as a prospective mature student, he went for an interview at university. “The guy who interviewed me was a Dickens nut,” he recalls. “I’d read some Dickens, including David Copperfield.” Which led to a friendly interview, which led to admission to uni, which led to a career as a writer. “David Copperfield has an emotional resonance for me,” adds Blackwell.
It then became the natural choice for Blackwell and his fellow Dickens buff, director Armando Iannucci, to adapt as The Personal History Of David Copperfield, their next project, following The Thick Of It, In The Loop, and Veep. But, given that Dickens is considered the greatest novelist of all time, where do you even start?
KILL DICKENS’ BABIES
“It’s quite a daunting task,” laughs Blackwell of adapting the 600-oddpage book, which has dozens of characters and seemingly endless sub-plots. “In the first few drafts you tend to follow more the shape of the book. One of the most famous quotes from the book is, ‘Barkis is willing.’ But in the end we got rid of Mr Barkis, and amalgamated him with the character of Dan Peggotty. Once we thought, ‘This is a quote people are looking out for and it’s not going to be there, this is now ours.’ We’ve got to make it function as a film.” As well as Dev Patel in the title role, the film boasts the likes of Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Paul Whitehouse, Peter Capaldi and sundry other talented comic actors. Which suggests a more comedic adaptation than we’ve perhaps seen previously. “Dickens, as a comedy writer, is genuinely funny,” says Blackwell. “If something lasts that long and still makes you laugh, there’s something there. We felt other adaptations took the comedy out because it doesn’t particularly carry the story. And they would cast David as a soppy sod. But Dickens was writing himself, so it has to have a spark and a life. And with such a great ensemble, we wanted to bring the comedy out.” It’s one thing rewriting Dickens. It’s another thing adding to Dickens. But that’s what Iannucci and Blackwell have done. “If you’re writing for people with the comic ability of our cast, you need to put in new stuff for them to do,” says Blackwell. “Dev is a fantastic physical comedian, so we put a lot of that in. Armando has a lot of funny running in his stuff — that can be funnier than any dialogue.” There’s a massive pitfall waiting to claim anyone who adapts Dickens, one Blackwell was all too aware of. “It’s quite easy to lapse into cod-dickens,” he says. “You feel you need to hit the style, but not make it too written and clunky and wordy. People did speak differently 150 years ago, but [we removed] anything that feels too archaic, or flowery. When you read it, it feels very modern. We wanted to get that on screen.”