:44:02
- From what I've seen, it's terrific.
- Bonnie is a gifted editor.
:44:05
- I know this.
- I'm grooming her for my job.
:44:07
I didn't have the emotional
energy to finish it.
:44:09
And how many people read it?
Do a film, and it reaches millions.
:44:13
It's not energy, it's confidence.
:44:16
- His first two books...
- Were obliterated. The 3 S's.
:44:19
Self-indulgent, sophomoric,
solipsistic.
:44:22
If every writer who got bad press
at first caved in...
:44:25
You're too thin-skinned.
:44:26
My God, it's V.J. Rajnipal.
:44:29
- Excuse me.
- Philip's his editor.
:44:30
What am I doing here? That guy
won the Nobel and deserved...
:44:35
I'm out of my league.
Awash in self-contempt.
:44:39
You know Irwin Shaw wrote
the best anti-war play ever...
:44:42
and got it all into one act?
:44:44
Interesting you should say
that, he was my idol.
:44:47
At high school I read "The
Eighty Yard Run."
:44:49
And I wept. Cried in class.
:44:53
That story made
me want to write.
:44:55
That and some
pieces by Saroyan.
:44:57
You love him too?
:44:59
Amazing! I love the plays
and the essays.
:45:01
When I think of Irwin Shaw, I
think of "Girls in Summer Dresses."
:45:05
The title is better than most
people's short stories.
:45:08
It's so elegant, economic.
:45:10
- It's thrilling.
- The best.
:45:12
Thrilling prose. Terrific.
:45:15
My book is about the values
of a society gone astray...
:45:18
a culture badly
in need of help.
:45:20
A country that gives a 20-year-old
kid who can barely read or write...
:45:23
a $100 million contract
to play basketball?
:45:26
And a brutal murder trial, or who
is sleeping with the President...
:45:29
It's all show business!
All show business!
:45:32
Why am I getting so shrill?
:45:34
I get so nervous
talking about my novel.
:45:36
That's why you have to finish it.
:45:38
- You're so encouraging.
- Screenplays have their place.
:45:41
But there's nothing like a
serious book.
:45:42
Exactly my point.
:45:43
In "Red Letter Day",
my first book...
:45:45
I touched on these themes,
but I was too green.
:45:47
- I remember "Red Letter Day".
- Really?
:45:50
Yeah, I reviewed it for
the Times.
:45:52
It was...
:45:53
extremely...
:45:56
half-baked,
laboured...
:45:58
solipsistic.