THE HISTORY BOYS FROM STAGE TO SCREEN

The history of The History Boys was it began as a play at London’s National Theater, then became a film, and returned to the stage on Broadway to win the Tony. With the release of the film Friday, the play’s original stars Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths discuss the transition from stage to screen.

It’s not often that stage actors get to preserve their performances on celluloid but producer Nicholas Hytner insisted on it rather than casting today’s biggest movie stars in the roles.

“It’s almost like we weren’t making the film. It was like we were putting it on record what we did through a different kind of focus and means. It was only afterwards that we thought we should’ve just made a movie. When you rehearse in theater you get it right or as right as you can get it. When you rehearsing for the movie it’s done and you’re not gonna get another bite because there’s no time. You have to move onto the next business. So that part is really thwarting and frustrating. And when you had made a movie you thought, ‘Perhaps I should go back and do that a bit differently.’”

It’s not often that stage actors get to preserve their performances on celluloid but producer Nicholas Hytner insisted on it rather than casting today’s biggest movie stars in the roles.

“That was Nick saying come what may saying I don’t want any producers coming in saying we want all the stars of today playing all these parts. We don’t

Spending time in the classroom with Richard Griffiths playing a British school teacher who inspires his students unconventionally made him think about the value of education.

“That was Nick saying come what may saying I don’t want any producers coming in saying we want all the stars of today playing all these parts. We don’t want Tom Cruise playing as good as he is. He said a nice thing Nick. He said I wanted the film audience to get to know these characters more, to spend time with them.”

“And the reason is because it’s part of the American dream which is that you want to have a good life and you want to make it better for your kids than it was for you. And you want your kids to have the chance through education and achievement to make their lives better than your life was and make their kids’ life even better.”rn