LESLEY PATERSON IS IN THE RUNNING TO ADD AN ACADEMY AWARD TO HER ALREADY IMPRESSIVE RESUME
ACOUPLE OF YEARS before Scotland’s Lesley Paterson began making a name for herself in the off-road triathlon scene, she made a decision that has been the focus of her life in the 16 years since. This decision had nothing to do with triathlon but, instead, with the completely unrelated world of Hollywood. Paterson and her writing partner, Ian Stokell, purchased the rights to the World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front, and they began adapting it into a screenplay. It took Paterson and Stokell 14 years before anyone gave them, and their script, a chance, but now, 16 years since they originally optioned the rights, All Quiet on the Western Front is a top film on Netflix and nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s easy to look at Paterson’s two identities—world champion triathlete (she has won three Xterra world titles and two ITU Cross-Triathlon crowns) and screenwriter—and dismiss them as completely unrelated, but she says that’s not the case, noting that her time in triathlon has taught her extreme perseverance, both in her athletic pursuits and everyday life. “I gained this relentlessness, the idea of never giving up, that sport has taught me every step of the way,” she says. “Many times in the past 16 years did we think, ‘This film isn’t going to happen,’ but we kept on going.”
One of the driving forces that kept Paterson committed to this project was the story’s message, which she says is still important today, more than 90 years after it was first published. Unlike most books and films on the World Wars, All Quiet on the Western Front follows the stories of German soldiers and their struggles at war. It was never meant as a proGermany or anti-Allies story, but instead one of anti-war sentiments.
“It’s such a powerful novel,” Paterson says. “It’s an absolute piece of art. The way it’s written, the message it’s held and it being about the other side. It’s such a unique anti-war message, because we’re used to hearing stories told from the Allied side, the winning side.”
From 2006 to the day Netflix gave her and her team the green light to make the film, Paterson amassed many accolades in triathlon, including those Xterra world titles in 2011, 2012 and 2018 and the World Triathlon titles in 2012 and 2018, along with many other podiums and top-10 results at events around the world. Paterson basically completed an entire triathlon career—and an impressive one, at that—between the time she started her journey with All Quiet on the Western Front and today, as she prepares for the Academy Awards.
As someone who knows what it’s like to win, Paterson says she’s focusing on enjoying where she is right now. “When I won my first world title, the next year I came back as the favourite with all these expectations. I thought, ‘This is the worst.’ I felt like a fraud.”
She ended up defending her title, and in the process, she learned an important lesson: “I was living for the future too much and not in the moment,” she says. Today, she’s living in the moment and loving the ride, and if all goes well, she’ll have yet another piece of hardware to add to her trophy case after the Academy Awards on March 12.