The French Lieutenant's Many Women

An old issue of Granta (#86) has excerpts from Jonathan Fowles' journals throughout the period when The French Lieutenant's Woman was being sold and adapted for the screen. A variety of screenwriters, directors, actors, and actresses were considered for the film (Meryl Streep made the final cut, of course) in the years before it actually made it from the page to the screen and Fowles has an interesting (and bitter and frustrated) take on the whole process from the viewpoint of the novelist. I've yet to see the movie, but I started the book today. Harold Pinter, who adapted The French Lieutenant's Woman, wrote the script for the new flick Sleuth, an adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's Tony award-winning play.