Stage and screen writer Eric Bogosian’s latest effort subUrbia opens Feb. 28 across Canada. Adapted from Bogosian’s stageplay of the same name, the film tracks the reminiscences and verbal sparring of a group of 20-year-olds who gather for an all-nighter in a shopping mall parking lot to celebrate a pal’s triumphant return from a cross-country rock tour.

SubUrbia is a Castle Rock Entertainment production of a Sony Pictures Classics release distributed in Canada by Norstar Entertainment.

Following, Bogoshian discusses the challenges, similarities and differences of writing for the stage and the big screen.

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if you look at the man behind such works as subUrbia and Talk Radio, you will find a writer with nerve and authenticity. Eric Bogosian has been writing for the stage for over 15 years and is once again in the media spotlight with the forthcoming wide release of subUrbia, the new Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused) film adapted by Bogosian from his stage play.

This is not the first time Bogosian has been seen in Hollywood circles. In 1988, he wrote the screenplay for Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio. The film is based on Bogosian’s play of the same name as well as the true story of Alan Berg, the Denver radio personality murdered in 1984.

There is a process that Bogosian uses to move his stage drama onto the screen. He speaks on subUrbia: ‘I coaxed subUrbia the play into subUrbia the screenplay, very gently. I had wanted the film to be as close to the play as possible. To get there, the first thing I did was simply remove the stage directions and add film directions. Then I read what I had. Then I filled in the gaps. From my experience, I took an intuitive approach. I got rid of what I didn’t like and added what I wanted to see.’

Bogosian used a similar method with Talk Radio where he interfaced with Stone to strengthen the film elements of his play. ‘The end of Talk Radio where the character gets assassinated was the biggest change from stage to screen. Although this was Oliver’s `idea,’ I thought this ending was appropriate for the film as long as it acted as a kind of anarchic epilogue (rather than being a way of `solving’ the story).’

‘I actively work with directors (theater directors and film directors) to finish my work. I work with directors I trust and who trust me. What differences we have, we work out, make compromises, or one of us just gives up,’ says Bogosian.

He’s particularly pleased with the results of his collaborations on Talk Radio and subUrbia. ‘In both cases I’ve felt lucky, because the directors acted as producers and `protected’ me as a writer from interference. The two films preserved the intent of the original plays, both in terms of content and as vehicles for actors.’

Bogosian is an actor as well (he was the lead, Barry Champlain, in Talk Radio) and at the root of his dramas are fascinating characters.

‘The limitless dimensions of human emotion and interaction are just as interesting as any `action’ sequence,’ he says. ‘And as far as `visuals’ are concerned, the landscape of the human face is mesmerizing. I write dramas, and in the tradition of work like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, my main concern is not with the `opening up’ of the drama, but rather the exploration of human dynamics.’

The characters that Bogosian creates are exceptionally real: ‘Irving Goffman wrote a book called The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life in which he pointed out we `play’ our parts in everyday life. That’s the way I see things. If we learn to play our parts, if we watch others playing their parts, then the statement `All the world’s a stage’ is more than a metaphor.

‘So I spend time looking at my characters and making sure they interest me. Making sure they are archetypal examples of the people in my mind.

‘After I know I want them in my play, I ask myself what their point of view is, what their needs and wants are, and I write notes about this to myself.’

Although Bogosian writes incredible characters, they still dance around strong themes. These themes tend to be as complex as the characters.

‘I spend a lot of time on my themes, trying to understand them,’ he says. ‘I make sure they speak to me, raise questions I honestly care about. The themes should be amorphous and interwoven and not easy to analyze. Themes are there because they are why you write, not so that a college professor can analyze them. So I don’t really care if anyone `understands’ them.’

Bogosian’s first love is the stage but he utilizes the power of film: ‘More people will see a film than any play. I want my work to be available to anyone who wants to see it. Concepts, fancy writing and good acting can be seen and appreciated in both plays and film. But the experience of a play, when it’s well done, is unique and tremendously visceral. Plays are about the audience and the players.

‘Films are dreams. Plays are sex, films are masturbation. As far as I’m concerned there is no substitute.’

The best way to sum up Bogosian’s Hollywood experience is found emblazoned on the screen in Talk Radio:

Barry Champlain: ‘You know I’ve had these offers before and I’ve been asked in the past if I could soften my touch, go a little easier, and my answer has always been the same: take it, or leave it. [They] took it.’

Jeff Muhsoldt is a second-year media writing student in the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto.