Stephen Harrigan (Writer/Producer) Exclusive Interview!
Hi Steve! Thanks for letting PrairieFans.com interview you about
your work as writer and producer for both Beyond the Prairie movies
that aired on CBS.
1.
First of all I want to compliment you on your witting for the first
and second Beyond the Prairie movies. Those two movies captured the
heart of Laura’s books and is probably why it is loved by so many
fans today. My first question is what inspired you to write these
movies? Was it a challenge?
Thanks for your kind words about the movies. They were definitely a
labor of love for all involved. I first started thinking about the
possibility of doing a Laura Ingalls Wilder movie when I was reading
Little House on the Prairie to one of my daughters. I had never read
the books before, and I was astonished at the clarity and depth of
feeling and the palpable sense of time and place that they conveyed.
I knew that people had loved the books for generations, of course,
but I had no idea that Laura Ingalls Wilder was not just a
sentimental favorite but a major American writer. And as I continued
to read Little House on the Prairie I was struck by how different it
was from the Michael Landon series–so much bigger and grittier. My
first thought was to try to make that book into a feature film, but
I quickly discovered that the rights were tied up. So together with
Dori Weiss, a wonderful producer I had worked with before on an
unproduced television movie about the Donner Party, I begin to think
about doing what would essentially be the backstory to the Little
House books.
2.
Many fans have set an image of the Michael Landon’s Little House
series as the image for Laura Ingalls and her family. While writing
the two movies was it ever a challenge writing something that so
many people have set an image of?
Yes, it was a challenge, but in a good way. Michael Landon’s series
is obviously a beloved landmark, but I wanted this movie to be
almost the exact opposite of that in terms of tone and disposition.
I wanted it to be about the strength of family, but also about the
fear and discord of living in an inhospitable environment. I wanted
it to examine the compromises people are forced to make when their
dreams come into conflict with reality.
3. You were also the producer for the Beyond the Prairie movies.
What was it like to serve two roles at the same time?
Dori did most of the heavy lifting on the producing front. What the
producer credit meant for me was that I was consulted on key
decisions such as casting, etc. and was considered a member of the
team during production. That’s not always the case for
screenwriters.
4. With the success of the first Beyond the Prairie movie another
one was asked to be made. This must have been a great feeling for
you! What were thoughts about being asked to write the sequel?
We were hoping the movie would be a success but were not quite
prepared for the magnitude of the response. And we had never thought
about a sequel, so we had to brainstorm quite a bit in terms of what
the next movie should be about, what time period it would cover,
etc.
5. Since the title of these movies was Beyond the Prairie: The
True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, how did you achieve the level of
accuracy fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder would be looking for?
I know that the word “true” in the subtitle has caused a good deal
of discussion among Laura Ingalls Wilder purists, who may disagree
with this or that dramatic decision that we made. But I started out
with the idea that the movies would be true in the sense that they
accurately conveyed what life might have been like for these people
on the prairies of South Dakota or on a struggling farm in Missouri.
I did a lot of research, a lot of reading, a lot of soul-searching.
Laura’s unpublished manuscript “Pioneer Girl” was probably my most
important source, since it set down without much embellishment the
events of her life and suggested areas that could be mined for
dramatic purposes. I don’t make the claim that every single scene in
both movies is a hundred per cent historically accurate. It’s almost
impossible to hold an audience’s interest and create something truly
dramatic without consolidating certain events or embellishing
others. But what mattered deeply to me was that the Beyond the
Prairie movies presented something authentic in tone and texture and
emotion, and I think we achieved that.
6.
I have interviewed Meredith Monroe and Skye McCole Bartusiak who
both had the nicest things to say about the cast and crew of the
Beyond the Prairie movies. What are your feelings about the cast? As
a writer, do you feel the cast chosen for the role played the
character as you had in mind while writing the movies?
We were very lucky to have that cast. Meredith was glorious as
Laura–I knew she was right for the part about ten seconds into her
audition tape. Skye is almost unnervingly intuitive. It’s so hard to
find a convincing child actor, and there was never a false note in
her performance. Richard Thomas captured everything about Charles
Ingalls, not just his natural warmth but his almost pathological
restlessness. Lindsay Crouse played Caroline with the right balance
of strength and weariness, and Walton Goggins is a remarkable actor
who brought Almanzo to life in ways that I never accounted for on
the page, and of course on both movies we were fortunate to have a
very gifted director, Marcus Cole.
7. You also wrote the teleplay for Take Me Home: The John Denver
Story starring Chad Lowe. Were there any similarities in working on
the Denver story and the Beyond the Prairie movies?
There’s always the same challenge in writing biographical movies.
You have to answer the question: what is this story about? If you
can’t find that theme, and shape the movie around it, then it’s just
one thing after another.
8. Many books turned into films from this time period like the
Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke have been very successful.
Do you think it’s possible we might see a Beyond the Prairie 3
someday? Maybe based around Rose encouraging her mom to write or
Laura and Almanzo’s later years?
It’s possible, I suppose, though the venues for television movies
and miniseries have shrunk to the point where there’s hardly any
market left. But I’d love to write a Beyond the Prairie 3. The story
of Laura and Rose and their relationship and creative collaboration
in writing the Little House books is truly fascinating.
9. Some of your recent work has included The Colt and King of
Texas, which are also set in the 1800’s. What do you enjoy most
about writing for this time period?
I love history and historical research. It doesn’t matter what time
period. I’ve written movies about ancient Rome and about the
Watergate era and everything in between. There a deep satisfaction
in trying to conjure up the past.
10. Do you have any projects in the works that fans can look for?
I’m always working on several projects at once. I’m writing a new
novel, set in West Texas and France during and after World War I.
And I had just finished a screenplay for Robert Altman, called Hands
on a Hard Body, about an endurance contest to win a pickup truck,
that was in pre-production at the time of his death. I’m hoping that
in some way that project might go forward, though of course no one
could make it the way Altman would have.
Thanks very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to
answer my questions.
Webmasters Note: Interview was done on February 28, 2007.
