Ronald Harwood

YR: What was the biggest challenge for the adaptation?
Ronald Harwood: I read the book long before I was offered to adapt it. When Kathleen Kennedy offered it, I accepted it. Then it took me a while to find a way in because I didn't want the entire film with a man in bed. The biggest motivation for a writer comes when he has to give back the money. Then I found the way in which was that the camera becomes the man.

YR: How did Julian change the script?
RH: He broke it apart and added all the imagery. He had to do it and he was right. For example he shows the reversal when we see Jean-Dominique Bauby in bed much earlier than in the script.