Interview Directory 

LEADER

Name: Soman Chainani

Occupation: Author, activist and filmmaker

Influence: School for Good and Evil, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and has since sold more than 3.5 million copies. It has been translated into 32 languages on 6 continents and adapted as a feature film by Netflix, which debuted at #1 in over 80 countries.

Do you think your readers will be satisfied with the film and that the movie lives up to the book?

I think the interesting thing about movies is that they are a completely different media. So everybody who reads the books has a different version in their head. I think that the job of a movie is to capture the spirit and still be faithful to the book. And this one absolutely is.

I don’t think a movie can ever replicate the experience of a book especially because if you think about how long it takes to read a book. We’re talking about 9 to 10 hours while a movie is only two hours. So even in terms of content, you’re only going to get a fifth of what the book contains. But this one is a beautiful adaptation and I think everyone is going to love it. However, the books and the movies are going to be two different things. 

As now with the movie adaption how do you feel about your ideas being read and that they influence people all over the world?

I think that is what is going to be so exciting. So far the books have done what you know books can do which is move their way through the world and people have been able to discover them because of people like you recommending them to their friends. Everyone is having this emotional experience and then wanting someone else they know to have it.

With movies it’s kind of this big bomb all at once where everyone learns of this thing and so with the movie, they will be a whole new crowd of readers. But I will obviously remember the readers who have been there before the movies. 

Did you originally write the book for adults or for children?

I didn’t really think about it so much. I didn’t know the different audiences and things like that in terms of age groups. And so I wrote it kind of more for adults and then later I thought it was going to be like the book „Wicked“ which was an adult book.

Only over time we thought that this might be for younger audiences and then how we can tailor it. But we didn’t really change it that much. The only big change I ever made was to take out the characters ages. And we never really specified how old they were. 

"I try to teach them to get away from this idea of labelling yourselves and having any kind of conception of who you are."

What do you feel is an important message to children? 

I think to me it’s that we often tell kids „You’re good at this so be a good person“ or we try to label them, give them these identities to hold on to and that can shape how they are in life.

And I think they become slight inflexible and so this is why I try to teach them to get away from this idea of labelling yourselves and having any kind of conception of who you are. To be a little more open and to be everything all at once. 

What do you think of the costumes in the movie and do we get to see Sophies pink ball gown at the end of the movie? 

The costumes are incredible and the costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus, she is an absolute genius. She works for the director Paul Feig with all these beautiful costumes for everybody. But I think we take a lot of license with exactly what is described in the book for different costumes because we wanted to be able to really present the different fashions rather than typical uniforms. For the pink ball gown moment, I know she is in something amazing and I know there is pink in it but I just don’t know if it’s classic or not. 

I am definitely going to be surprised at the end.

Yeah, I think that is the fun of it too. To really mix up somebody’s outfit so that they aren’t exactly 100% what we imagined in the book.

At the beginning of Agathas and Sophies first teaching lessons, Agatha saw for the first time wish fishes that can show what your soul wants the most. As of this moment what would the fishes see when they look into your soul?

Oh, that’s a good question. I think for me it changes on a daily basis. I mean, I think for me I probably wouldn’t wish for something selfish like three or four months ago but I just think more and more that the world is in a little bit of trouble especially the United States in terms of just everything is falling out of control.

I would wish that everything would settle in and we sort of go back to a place where it is a little more balanced. That the world would just be a little more settled. 

"I think for me it was always the idea of when you write a female character if you create them whether or not defined by their relationship with men."

While writing all those incredible characters such as Sophie, Agatha and Lady Lesso and many more, how do you see a strong, independent woman? Like how do you come up with them?

I think for me it was always the idea of when you write a female character if you create them whether or not defined by their relationship with men. I think was the big thing for me.

So all these characters and every single one of my female characters their relationship with men is around them. Lady Lesso, we don’t care. Professor Dovey, we don’t care. Ultimately Sophies and Agathas friendship is more important.

And then Sophie who is defined by men in a lot of ways but she always has the upper hand. So for me I think that was the key that none of these woman are being presented through the eyes of a man. 

From all the villains in every fairytale which one is your favorite and why ? 

I think the witch in “Hänsel and Gretel“ because I always thought that it was such a scary setup to lure children in a strange, unknown and still luring place.

What is your favorite Madonna song? 

“Frozen“ was always my favorite and I think that it became one of Sophies theme songs. That song always stood up to me over the years. 

The interview was conducted by Lizzie Fedi

24.6.2022

"The School for Good and Evil" ©Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani, author of "The School for Good and Evil" and many more ©Soman Chainani