"Normally, the studios tend to send you blockbusters," says Amini. "They sent me a book that was bleak and dark, it jumps back and forwards in time, it's not a straight narrative and read like a film noir. It was unlike anything that landed on my desk at the time. I was thinking, am I going to get a studio fee for something as dark as this novel?"
Yet getting a gig as a writer is not as simple as saying you want to do it. Amini reveals that there is actually a competitive bidding process that happens almost every time a studio has a novel that it wants to adapt.
"If you express interest, there is normally half a dozen other writers who want to do it," he says. "Then you have to pitch. I pitched to Hugh Jackman, who was a producer at the time, and Mark Platt. There were four people on the phone with me. I outlined my vision of what the book should be. I said the film needed a straight storyline so we can keep the main character silent."
SEE: The National
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