s a director, Philip Haas had spent all his time working on films set in the past or documentaries set in the present. However, when he was approached to bring Ursula K. Le Guin's classic novel The Lathe of Heaven to A&E, he suddenly found himself thrust into a future where one man's dreams can
change the world. It must have had an impact on him, because he's writing his own original science-fiction screenplay with hopes of seeing it produced next year. Lathe of Heaven will premiere on A&E on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Haas, who is no relation to Lathe star Lukas Haas, is a documentary and feature-film director whose credits include The Music of Chance, which he and his wife Belinda Haas adapted from a Paul Auster novel, Up at the Villa starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn and the cult favorite Angels and Insects. Angels and Insects was the top-grossing U.S. independent film of the year and nominated for an Academy Award in costume design. Lathe of Heaven is his first television project.
Haas chatted with Science Fiction Weekly about villains, science fiction and working with great material.
Tell us about your film adaptation of Lathe of Heaven.
Haas: It's the first time that I've done a science-fiction piece. My work as a feature-film director has focused on period. I did a film set in the Victorian times, Angels and Insects. I did a film set in the late '30s, Up at the Villa. So to do something that was set in the future was for me quite exciting and at the same time it was interesting to be able to deal with material that was very provocative, that has a psychological and emotional resonance. So I feel that the film works on a whole number of levels. It's a science-fiction film firstly, but it's also a kind of thriller. It's a romance. It's got a lot going for it in terms of the material, and that, of course, comes from the Le Guin novel.
The novel was brought to television in 1980 starring Bruce Davidson. Why do a new version of Lathe of Heaven now?
Haas: In the theater, people are forever doing new versions of plays and I think with the right kind of material it's good to revisit it. I didn't look at the first version, other than to look at five minutes to make sure that it wasn't absolutely something that I shouldn't do.
It's based on one of the great classic science-fiction stories. Did you find this difficult to bring to the screen?
Haas: Well, I was sent the script. Generally, when I've done adaptations, I've adapted the books myself or with my wife. In this case, Alan Sharp, who's a very good screenwriter—he's done Rob Roy and the Arthur Penn film Night Moves—had already done a script, which was
quite good. And then I read the novel and I felt it would be possible to make a really good movie out of it. The premise is so strong. This story of a young man who has dreams that change reality and nobody believes it. He keeps on changing the world. And so it works both on a visual level and also on
psychological one.
Everything is constantly changing in this film, from the costumes to the hairstyles to the set.
Haas: Well, it needed to be really designed. [That's why] I put together a crew as carefully as I did. You know the cast. The production designer, Sylvain Gingras, is somebody whose work I thought really exemplified what was necessary for a film like this. The same thing with [costume designer] Liz Vandal. Even the music does the same thing. One of the things I like with the music is that the voice that you hear over the jellyfish is actually a computer-generated voice. So I think that in the future, [that] even the singing comes out of machines, is quite a nice little thought.
Is this faithful to Le Guin's book?
Haas: I think pretty much. The only major change—I don't know if it's so much a departure, but I decided not to include the visitation by the extraterrestrials. That seemed to me something that she could do very well in a book, because of her great literary gifts. She could describe it and you would believe it. I felt that it wouldn't really be possible in a film, certainly in a film with our budget. To have men in little turtle suits running around, I think would not be believable. Whereas with this, I think you're never taken out of the story. You'll always think what is happening is conceivable. You know, plausible.
When you read the script, what appealed to you about this story as a director?
Haas: It's a really great story. I'm drawn to different kinds of material. The first thing I want to do is find the narrative, the what-happens-next that's compelling enough to actually finish the script. And that certainly was the case. Then you think, "Oh, this could actually be really an interesting film to make. You could design it in a way which the design of the piece reflected the changes in the storyline." And the characters were good and I knew we could get good actors. It seemed to me that it resonated.
You know, sometimes with science fiction, people who don't like science fiction wouldn't respond to it. You've got to like Star Wars to like Star Wars, if you know what I mean. Where this is really a film which to my mind a Star Wars fanatic would like it as well as somebody who never watches science fiction. I thought it was interesting, particularly now with science-fiction films, because technology has advanced so much. The whole thing can be fabricated. To do something on a more studied, almost classical level was appealing to me. I mean we have lots of special effects, but it's not something that's driven by the special effects. We were able to pretty much fold the effects into the story so you're not really aware of it. Or if you are aware of it, it's because you should be aware of it.
What did you find most surprising about bringing this to the screen?
Haas: I think how affecting the story is. That it's something that although it's set in the future could easily be an age-old story. It's a testament really to Le Guin's greatness as a writer that one would just be taken by the events in it. It was a really interesting piece to work on, because I think everybody rose to the occasion. Angelo Badalamenti, who did the score, did 70 minutes of music that's just really beautiful and sensational. Ditto with the actors, the design. For something that could have just been a job, for me it became really something that I'm as proud of as any of my feature films.
The characters must have been an actor's dream.
Haas: I think that's why we got such great actors. James Caan is the consummate American actor and Lukas Haas is such an interesting and expressive and emotional, empathetic actor. You know it was great to connect with him, because I was aware of his work for many years. Firstly as a child actor. But he's so open as an actor and such a sympathetic presence on screen and so realistic. You never feel that the wrong moment is played. It was great to work with him. A director's joy 'cause he was into the part. He has wonderful ideas. He's flexible. He and James Caan got on very well as actors. They were able to really play off each other. And David Strathairn [Mannie] is one of the best. So I feel great with the cast we have.
Dr. Habor, the James Caan character, is such a fascinating villain because he doesn't start off as a bad guy.
Haas: And I think that's what makes the story interesting. Even rulers don't start off as evil. They kind of corrupt themselves, or the events corrupt them. I think Caan's evolution as a sort of slubby poor psychiatrist to somebody grandiose and how that affects his persona and the way in which
he believes is really interesting.
What themes were you trying to bring out in the material?
Haas: I think in terms of Orr's story, it was really a question of finding love. When he finds love finally and accepts it with Lelache [Lisa Bonet], he's freed. It's a journey of self-awareness and acceptance of his true desires. One of the reasons we have the jellyfish—it's in the book, but I thought it was really important to have in the film—is it kind of symbolizes Orr's state. He very much reacts to what's going on. That's why he can be affected by Haber's suggestions. So it's really a question of how he goes from that jellyfish-like state to a sense at the end of having enough self-awareness that he's able to let go and finally reach fulfillment. And even someone like Penny [Sheila McCarthy], who has a smaller part and it's more roughly sketched, even she has this kind of core to who she is. I love the way that Sheila McCarthy played the part. She's lovely at the end, too, when she becomes Dr. Penny.
As a director, what was your biggest challenge?
Haas: Well, when you shoot a film on a smaller budget. We shot it in 25 days, so to get through the material. I love doing some of the big scenes on the subway or Orr leaving his apartment in the parking garage and going through the rain. But you know on a big film you'd have a day to shoot one
of those large scenes and we had to do three of them in a day. We shot the film in Montreal with a French Canadian crew. The assistant directors and producers were all very good in helping me organize it so we could get through this material. I think those big scenes look really good, but they were done very quickly.
What was it like to work with A&E?
Haas: Very good. The head of the network, Allen Sabinson, was also an executive producer on it. It was a project that he had brought to the network when he joined. He liked my work a lot and on the strength of that asked me to do this. So very supportive. Very into the material. And I'm actually pleased that it's on A&E rather than the SCI FI Channel. Not because I have anything against the SCI FI Channel, but I think it doesn't pigeonhole the film. I think it will reach an audience that will include science-fiction people and other people as well.
What do you hope viewers will take away with them after seeing this version of Lathe of Heaven?
Haas: That's a good question. Be careful who your psychiatrist is [laughs].
Also in this issue:
Tom Welling of Smallville.
