The Whale Writer Samuel D. Hunter Reflects on His Play’s Jump to the Big Screen

As reported by Variety, writer Samuel D. Hunter first met director Darren Aronofsky to talk about the possibility of adapting his Off-Broadway play, The Whale, for the screen when the film director was in the middle of editing his 2014 biblical epic, Noah. While Noah and The Whale couldn’t be more different, Aronofsky declared, “What attracted me so much to Sam’s play is that it makes you feel for someone who a lot of people just want to ignore.” While chatting with Variety, Hunter reflected on his experiences with The Whale and the play’s transformation to the big screen. Initially, Hunter revealed what inspired him to write The Whale. He said, “It is a very personal story. I started writing the play about 13 years ago now. I was teaching expository writing at Rutgers, and I was desperately trying to connect with these students. These were college freshmen, and it was a state requirement, so nobody wanted to be there. They weren’t writing anything that they believed in; they were writing things that they thought I wanted to read.” Hunter continued, “I got the sense that nobody had ever valued them as autonomous people with opinions and taste. So I said before we get into the essay of it all, try to write something honest. And I got moving responses to that, and one of them ended up in the play and the movie, which was, ‘I think I need to accept […]

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