How did the film “Wit” come about?
“Wit” originally started as a stage play in the US written by Margaret Edson. She’s a kindergarten teacher but had worked previously in a cancer unit for three years. She took what she observed there and put it into a play which ended up winning the Pulitzer prize. It’s amazing considering she’s never written before and is not going to write anymore. After winning every plaudit under the sun she went straight back into teaching. Luckily Maggie liked how the film turned out. When I first read the script I’d just had my baby and I thought, “I can’t play a cancer patient, I’m the size of a sofa!” but then decided that I had to try it as it. In my view it’s one of the best scripts to have come out of America. It was your suggestion to bring in Mike Nichols, with whom you worked on “Primary Colors”. Why did you feel he was the right director? I seem to have inadvertedly claimed the credit for that but actually it was my partner Greg who suggested it. It was partly to do with the film’s titl
