82 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine perspective ple… People are the same wherever you go. An island just accentuates behaviors in people more than a city. The city accentu- ates different ones, too. You’re just experi- encing yourself slightly differently. I was al- so a mother for the first time. There were a lot of new things going on when I lived there, but the rhythm of the day was the big difference. The rhythm of the day and the slowness. It was fantastic. You’regoingtobedirectingafilmadaptationofyourfirst book,Monkeys.Whathasbeenthemostdifficultpartof thatprocess? W ell, it’s the fourth script I’ve written. Two of the movies have been made [Stealing Beau- ty, Evening], and I’ve adapted another one of my books and am developing that as a movie. Difficulty? It’s just the logistics. In- stead of it being all up to you to finish the last page at your desk, you need a hundred things to be lined up before the making of the movie happens. Myhusbandwasafilmstudentandisabigfanof Bertolucci(TheLastEmperor,LastTangoin Paris),soIhavetoask,whatwasitlikeco-writingStealing Beautywithhim? It was fantastic. It was a wonderful time. I wrote the movie based on an idea of his, and then I would write some ideas and we’d meet again and confer. He’d say, “Oh, I want to have three generations in the sto- ry,” so I’d go back and write something else. He’d say, “This should happen here,” and I’d say, “No, I don’t think a girl would do that.” It was that kind of conversation. Then I was on set all summer. That was my mas- ter class. Howdidyougettheassignmenttowritewithhim? Bertolucci was looking for an American or English woman writer to give credence to the main character point-of-view; a mutual writer friend mentioned me as a cinephile. My books had recently come out in Italy, and he read Lust & Other Stories. WasBertolucciawareoftheMaineconnectionthatyou andLivTylershare?HasTylerevervisitedNorthHaven withyou? No awareness at all. Liv’s childhood was in Portland. She has rented houses a couple of summers on North Haven and loves it. DidyouwriteanyoftheStealingBeautyscriptin NorthHaven? I wrote the script in New York, Rome, and Sabaudia, a seaside town south of Rome. Youcomefromafamilyofwriters,sodoyouplayoffofone another’swork? My sister Eliza–who lives in New Jersey with her four children–she is working on her next book. She writes beautiful essays and short stories she shares with me. I’m continually inspired by her. I aspire to be as good a writer as she is. n william trevaskis HAPPY HOUR 5PM-7PM MONDAY-FRIDAY CONGRESS SQUARED RESTAURANT & BAR WWW.CONGRESSSQUARED.COM 157 HIGH ST. • PORTLAND, ME