Banks to speak at Nolte lm

Russell Banks insists his life hasn't changed much in the past two years, despite the fact that two of his novels have been adapted into critically acclaimed films. He leads a quiet existence in the Adirondacks, writing stories that take place in cold snowbound lands that these days Hollywood and moviegoers alike seem to love. And as the title of his latest adaptation suggests, they are tales of people scarred by circumstance and history, afflicted by the past.

Banks arrives in Ann Arbor this evening to screen the latest film version of one of his books, "Affliction." Directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nick Nolte (who has received several awards and looks like a sure bet for an Oscar nomination for his role), James Coburn, Sissy Spacek and Willem Dafoe, "Affliction" is a tale of a man's struggle to make sense of his failed existence and determine precisely what being a man means. The story is framed around a murder and the main character's own de

Courtesy of Lion's Gate Nick Nolte is expected to gain an Oscar nomination for his role in "Affliction."

scent into his father's legacy of destruction and abuse.

The novel is a structurally simple affair, with one narrator and a story that runs its chilling course from end to end. This is a marked difference from Banks' previous novel-to-screen movie, Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter." That book featured four narrators giving deposition-like accounts of a school bus crash that killed many of the town's children and decimated the spirit of almost everyone in it.

Egoyan was forced by the limits of the medium to pick and choose how he would tell his story and in the process (and because of budget concerns) had to drop much of the novel's action, including a key final scene. "'Affliction' is much closer to the book. The story is quite different in that it's very straightforward so you didn't have to restructure or reorganize."

The differences between the two books were in some ways mirrored by the two very distinct directors who brought them to the screen. The films were in production simultaneously on opposite sides of Canada. "I would fly back and forth (between the two). 'The Sweet Hereafter' was like hanging out with a bunch of really bright graduate students. Working with Schrader was much more of a Hollywood set," he says, referring to the differences between the people involved in the production, particularly the actors.

"Both of (the directors) were very generous. I think Atom was a little more concerned that I like what he was doing, probably because of the age difference. Atom is a bit younger, in his 30s and Schrader is closer to my age."

Although his role in the production of "Affliction" was much more minimal than that of "The Sweet Hereafter" (which he not only consulted on during production, but did a book tour with and helped with materials and a commentary track for the DVD release of the film), it apparently whet Banks' appetite for involving himself in cinema. After simply authoring the two novels for the films, he is now writing his own screenplay for his novel "Rule of the Bone," which Anthony Drazan ("Hurlyburly") will direct. Banks says that producing and adapting the work himself allows him "more control" both creatively and in the background of the production, and it comes both as a prize and a price. "There's a lot more work and a lot more pleasure," he said.

If the previous two versions of his writing are any indication, "Rule of the Bone" and any subsequent film work by Banks should be a welcome sight to behold. Begin tonight with the second film in a great author's canon.

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