Adaptation of James Franco short stories

1. Palo Alto (Gia Coppola, 2013)
Dr Steve Gaunson
Textual Crossings
RMIT University

2. Analogy adaptation — These are often
'inspired by' or 'based on' adaptations.
• Short Cuts (Robert Altman) working a number
of short stories into one coherent narrative
– Raymond Carver
– Character centered
– Characters lead the way
– Plot is based on character decisions
• The Short Cuts structure informs this movie

3. Celebration: Heavy reluctance to change the exact
words or sentiment of the source.
• “I read the book and loved it. So that’s the project we
decided to pursue together”
– Franco helped with direction of camera set-ups
– Acted in the film
• This eroded any chance of the film being critical of the
source material
• “One of the features of James’s book that really struck
me was how capable he was of conveying the young
female perspective—so often he was dead on”
– Female characters become central to the story

4. Adjustment
Adjusts, changes, and alters the source without losing the sentiment.
• “The “April” story really stood out to me. I loved the longing of the two
characters; they are people who can’t really express their feelings. Plus, it
was a bit of a longer story so there was more for me to work with. I also
loved the dialogue in the "Jack-O" story. I thought it would be a good way
to frame the whole piece with a beginning and end. While those were
the three main stories I took from, I did take elements from the other
stories. Unlike a novel, I had to take bits and pieces from all of Palo Alto:
Stories to make it for the screen”.
• “I Didn’t want a series of vignettes”
• “After I wrote each story in screenplay format, it was much easier for me
to see how I could combine characters and intertwine them into one
cohesive story”

5. Allusion: Directly alludes to many different
cultural contexts.
• Film was shot in the homes of Val Kilmer and Gia
Coppola’s mother
• Makes connections to other ‘serious’ adolescent
films
– The Virgin Suicides (1999): In April's bedroom, a
poster for the film can be seen on her wall.
– Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Teddy imagines
himself in this movie/book and is shown wearing the
costume Max wore and walking in the woods.