Oscar-Nominated Writer Samy Burch on Adapting Lost 19th Century Novella 'Late Fame'
About this episode
Screenwriter Samy Burch discusses her adaptation of the 19th-century novella 'Late Fame' into a modern film.
This week, screenwriter Samy Burch joins Sophie and Rudi to discuss her new film “ Late Fame ,” based on Austrian novelist Arthur Schnitzler’s 1895 novella of the same name. Directed by Kent Jones, the movie stars Willem Dafoe as a postal worker whose book of poetry from the 1970s gets rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece by a group of young admirers called the Enthusiasm Society. The New York-set film, out in limited release now from Magnolia Pictures, features a strong supporting cast that includes Greta Lee and Edmund Donovan. Before talking about the film in a (mostly) spoiler-free chat, Sophie details the long, winding history that kept “Late Fame” unpublished until it was rediscovered and published in Germany in 2014 (00:53). Then Rudi walks through the plot, which updates the novella’s 1895 Vienna, Austria, setting for modern day New York (03:05). They praise Dafoe’s delicate leading performance (06:12), as well as the perfect casting of Donovan (8:20) before detailing why it’s a vibes-based New York indie with sharp writing (9:02). Then Sammy Burch, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her screenplay for the Todd Haynes film “May December” in 2024, joins the…
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