The movie Book Club (debuting on DVD, Blu-Ray on 8/28, out now on digital formats) had some fascinating origins, as we discovered in our exclusive interview with writers Bill Holderman (who also directed) and Erin Simms. Seems Holderman, who also directed the movie starring four titanic legends—Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen—sent his mother and step-mother the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy as a gift. Inspired, Simms did the same thing. From there… well, the rest is history. Speaking of history, or better yet, herstory, the quartet of veteran actresses headlining a movie put out a successful film and bucked a trend that movies that sell all have to feature younger thespians in situations that only resonate to a younger demographic.
Wrong! We spoke to Holderman and Simms about that short-term Hollywood memory loss issue and how it was a “miracle” that Book Club came together. It was through a ton of hard work, persistence and refusing to tweak the script in any sort—whether it was to go younger with the stars or change the novel at the center of the Book Club to anything but E.L. James’ blockbuster book.
Holderman and Simms have worked together for years, most notably on a few Robert Redford projects—such as A Walk in the Woods and Our Souls at Night. Yet, Book Club marked the first time the two wrote together. As they phoned us for our exclusive chat, we explore how the solo effort that is writing works with two people working the pen (or computer in this case!), how on earth they scored the quartet of living legends as well as will Hollywood ever learn to make movies for a varied demographic or if Book Club’s success be a one-off as is happens so often in Tinsel Town.
Book Club follows Keaton, Fonda, Bergen and Steenburgen as their titular group decide to put the heavy material aside and welcome Christian Grey and his exploits into their club. The result will be all four women’s lives with never be quite the same.
The Movie Mensch: Writing is normally such a solitary endeavor. What was it like to work with a partner, specifically each other?
Bill Holderman: It’s great to have a collaborator. It is a solitary existence. I think the advantages are many, but it still the two of you banging your head against the keyboard. It was inspiring, and I don’t think we would have been able to survive it alone.
Erin Simms: I’m amazed that people do this on their own and not have someone to share their experience…
Bill Holderman: Their agony…
Erin Simms: Yeah (both laugh). Bill and I have been working together for many, many years. It wasn’t a new thing for us to be next to each other and working on something. But, wow… to have two people—like a marriage—that is that long term, with no guarantees that something will come of it (laughs), you both have to be on the same page and both have the same deep belief in what you’re doing.
The Movie Mensch: What was the genesis of this story? I mean, what a wild and original idea—especially considering we live in a time when Hollywood produces so few original ideas?!
Erin Simms: We were working together in 2012 and the trilogy of Fifty Shades had just come out and Bill decided to Fed Ex the trilogy to his mother for Mother’s Day
Bill Holderman: Which is a great gift for a son to a mother (both laugh). Just putting that out there. That was not weird.
Erin Simms: I thought it was really funny and decided to Fed Ex the trilogy to my mom and also sent it to my step-mother. We got to talking that day about our moms and their different perspectives on age. The next day I came into work and said, “What about the idea of a book club of four women in their 60s reading Fifty Shades of Grey.” He immediate said yes. We just started writing. There was no premeditation on this one.
Bill Holderman: An inappropriate gift, followed by another one… and that all led to Book Club!
The Movie Mensch: I was going to ask you if 50 Shades was at the root of this “awakening” of the story and clearly it was… but was there ever any question from anyone in the process—maybe legally—that you had to choose some other book for this quartet to dive into?
Erin Simms: Oh, yes. A lot.
Bill Holderman: Early in the process, people were saying, “Don’t use 50 Shades. You’ll never get it. You can’t legally clear it.
Erin Simms: They were also asking, “Why would you use 50 Shades? Why not use a more serious book?”
Bill Holderman: There were a couple of non-starters. If someone said, “cast younger” or said, “just make up a book, you don’t have to use a real book.” We were like, “OK, you don’t understand the movie.”
Erin Simms: If you don’t understand why we picked 50 Shades of Grey, then we can’t help you (laughs).
Bill Holderman: Those were some short meetings (laughs). There were some legal hurdles to climb. We knew we could get clearance on the covers. Luckily E.L. James herself read the script, really appreciated it and liked the angle and how respectful we were to the book. It is a movie inspired by the movement of what the 50 Shades trilogy launched. She liked it enough that she asked to have a cameo. And… she’s in the movie!
Erin Simms: Legal scared us enough that we tried to put as little 50 Shades-isms in our script and once James came on board, we tried to rush and put in as many 50 Shades-isms as we could back in (laughs).
The Movie Mensch: When all four titanic leading ladies said yes, did you allow yourself a moment to pinch yourself?
Erin Simms: Many. Many, many, many!
Bill Holderman: That remains the greatest achievement of the process. It’s a miracle to make a movie these days, to have a cast like this and for them to all sign on and have a such a good time making it. It is really a special thing.
The Movie Mensch: Chemistry is key… having names on the marquee is one thing. When did you know that you had something special in terms of how these amazing actresses actually gelled together?
Bill Holderman: We did a read through in pre-production of the entire script and with the just four women and poor Erin had to read all the stage direction and all the other characters.
Erin Simms: Poor me… greatest day of my life!
Bill Holderman: On that day with the four of them, you could feel it starting to come together. The pace, the rhythm, each had such command over their characters. That was the day I was like, “This is going to be really special.”
Erin Simms: One of the reasons I also knew it was going to be special is because when the four of them came together, it was four nervous and excited actresses who had never worked together. You could tell they were as shocked that this was all coming together as we were. It was amazing to feel it all come together with these legends. This was new and exciting for them. I don’t know how often they get to feel that.
Bill Holderman: Either at her camera test or day one, Candice Bergen walked off the set and said to Erin, “My gosh, you guys really pulled this off.”
The Movie Mensch: Every time a film like this comes out and audiences respond—not just a film with women in the lead, but veteran women and veteran men—Hollywood acts surprised. Don’t you think it is as simple as if you make a good film, people will come or is that too naïve on my part?
Bill Holderman: I don’t think it’s too naïve. In this town, we faced it on this movie, people have a really short memory. Unless there was a movie last year that tackled almost the same thing that worked, they forget that they can work.
Erin Simms: The only real surprise, in this case Bill and I, was that somebody decided to write this movie. That’s the surprise to the industry. Not enough people do it. There’s plenty of brilliant writers out there that could be writing great movies for this demographic and they’re choosing not to.
The Movie Mensch: What was it about this story that you felt would resonate with audiences and how did it resonate with you?
Erin Simms: I knew from the first minute and nobody could stop me from believing in it.
Bill Holderman: I still check it every day and see if somebody went to see the movie. I was shocked and thrilled that it found an audience. It is one of those things that you never know what is going to happen. We worked really, really hard on the script and had a lot of fun making the movie. The fact that it connected with people, has been a great blessing.
Erin Simms: I should change my statement that I knew the idea was good and that people would want to see it. Then, can you get the movie made? Can you make a good movie? Can you get it distributed? That’s the part that is a miracle. You’re written a script and then it starts to build and build and build and people join you and it starts to take on a life. That’s the really incredible part.