Writer-Director George Nolfi Talks THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU

[Our very great thanks to Simon Kingsley for the following interview.]

The Adjustment Bureau (2010) has just opened to decent numbers in the U.S. and while the Matt Damon & Emily Blunt run-chase-run-chase Bourne-o-like sci-fi-romantic-thriller does have its weak spots, it and its writer-debut director George Nolfi are definitely both worth watching.

Fighting jet lag and what had to be one hunk of gum, George Nolfi swung through Berlin (Germany, not the one in Alabama) recently on a one-man European publicity tour, which saw him giving him interviews in the swanky Hotel Adlon.

I was in the last group and his handlers were keen to get him to the airport for a flight to London, so time was limited, but not limited enough that Nolfi was unable to explain who he is, where he's coming from and what motivated him to write and then make The Adjustment Bureau.

Simon Kingsley: George, how did this all get started?

George Nolfi: I was on a career path doing a PhD. but wanted to work in film instead. I just decided to write something! On The Adjustment Bureau my producer knew the property was available and pitched me on it. It's a Philip K. Dick story, and I responded.

Kingsley: Given you're adapting a known work, what was your approach?

Nolfi: I tried to do it so the film can be read one way and undercut another. I didn't want to do a straight sci-fi, not as straight religious story. I wanted to make an exciting, thrilling movie and have the audience leave the theater thinking.

Kingsley: What would you like the audience to think?

Nolfi: I don't want people to read the movie with any particular mindset. The feeling you're going down a set path is a universal human experience, but there's still the feeling you can do what you want.

There's a very religious strand in the U.S., about following God's plan, but there is no system of thought that's answered the question of determinism. People have such strong views they don't want to hear from an artist and that's right. I spend years studying philosophy and was interested in these questions.

Kingsley: Questions of politics and religion?

Nolfi: Yes, politics and religion. I don't think it's offensive to ask these questions and I'll keep on coming back to them. But Passion Of The Christ, for example, is very far from what I'm trying to do.

Kingsley: You cast Matt Damon as the male romantic lead. How did he take to that?

Nolfi: There's not a lot you can't do with Matt! I wrote the draft and told him, "You're the romantic lead in a supernatural world!" He's never done that before! But he liked the idea of new territory and great actors like the challenge. I'm glad I got him. I don't think anyone could have done it better.

Kingsley: Going back to the source material for a moment, what changes did you make?

Nolfi: The characters in the film are all inventions and the tone is very different. Dick's story is paranoid, a thriller. It's heavy sci-fi, dystopic. I'm more romance and light hearted.

Kingsley: Politics and politicians feature heavily in The Adjustment Bureau, did they present you with any difficulties?

Nolfi: We just asked politicians to cameo. They wanted to see the scrip but all said yes. We went to the Clinton Global Initiative. I went to CNN, asked for Wolf Blitzer and others, to Bloomberg, Albright, Jon Stewart etc.

Kingsley: Now that you've moved into the director's chair, what's happening with your writing?

Nolfi: I still write as a fixer, except I'm not allowed to tell you what I've fixed! But I'm not going to write from scratch now unless I can direct it!

Kingsley: What is your next project about?

Nolfi: I'm still deciding.

And at this point the handler called 'Time' on proceedings. A big thanks to Universal Picture's press agency in Germany, das pressebüro berlin, Anton for inviting me and Patricia for letting him.

Simon Kingsley is a freelance writer basically old enough to know better, but his internal fifteen-year-old has the remote.

Interview by Simon Kingsley