Episode 6: Books to Screen with Robert Harris
Ask Penguin
Penguin Books UK
4.1 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do you usually prefer: the book or the film? Or do you enjoy both? In this episode, we delve into books that have successfully transitioned from page to screen. We'll also be chatting with best-selling author Robert Harris about his gripping thriller, Conclave, which has been adapted for the silver screen this November, starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, and Stanley Tucci. So grab your books and your popcorn, and get ready for another book-filled episode.
Books and authors mentioned in this episode:
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
For the full list of books and the transcript visit: Episode 6: Books to Screen
Send us a question: penguinpodcast@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk.
Website: www.penguin.co.uk/podcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Rihanna Dillon and you're listening to The Penguin podcast and another episode of Ask Penguin. |
| 0:07.1 | Welcome back. As usual, I'm going to be joined by brilliant author to talk about their work and I'll be putting some of your listener questions to the team here at Penguin. |
| 0:16.1 | And if you've got a question for us, we would love to hear from you. Please don't be shy. You can email the podcast |
| 0:21.8 | at penguinpodcast at penguin randomhouse.co.com or click the link in the show description to go |
| 0:28.0 | straight to the podcast page. Now in my job as a culture journalist, I spend a lot of time |
| 0:33.7 | discussing and critiquing books, TV and films. And our episode today is bringing all of |
| 0:39.6 | those interests together. So I'm feeling a little bit giddy. On the podcast this week, we're |
| 0:44.8 | going to be talking about books that have made the jump into film and TV, which is such a broad |
| 0:50.9 | subject and it provokes a lot of strong feelings. Are you excited when a book that you love |
| 0:56.0 | gets adapted? How much say does an author ever have when their novel is adapted? And will they |
| 1:02.5 | ever want to do a cameo? My guest today is perfectly placed to tell us a little bit about what |
| 1:07.9 | it's like for your work to go from the page to the big screen. |
| 1:11.5 | Robert Harris is the author of 15 best-selling novels, including the Cicero trilogy. |
| 1:16.7 | His work has been translated into 40 languages, and nine of his books have been adapted for |
| 1:21.8 | cinema and television. The latest feature film adaptation is the psychological thriller Conclave, based on his novel by the same name, starring Ray Fines, Lucian Masmati, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. |
| 1:37.2 | The plot revolves around the election of a new pope and the discovery of a secret that could shake the very foundations of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| 1:45.5 | Robert, thank you so much for joining us. |
| 1:47.0 | It's such a pleasure to have you with us. |
| 1:49.2 | So the first question, in your experience, what is it like as an author, seeing your work on screen for the first time after you sort of thought it was all put to bed? |
| 1:58.5 | You've published it, you could move on, and then it comes back on the big screen. |
| 2:02.5 | Well, I've just, we've just had our first grandchild, and actually it's a little by that. |
| 2:07.2 | It's a little bit like being a grandfather that you can enjoy it, take some credit for it, |
... |
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