Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz: Writing for films A woman writing a research paper on Naguib Mahfouz's script writing career recently asked the novelist why he spent 12 years writing for films. Mahfouz: At that time I had stopped writing novels. After the effort I'd spent writing The Cairo Trilogy, I felt for a while incapable of starting a new novel. So I took refuge in writing scripts, a work that was quite profitable by the way. At the time, I had been appointed as general director of art production at the Culture Ministry, after which I became president of the cinema institution. Executive work doesn't leave you much time for literary creativity. Salmawy: How did you reconcile your work as director of art production and president of the cinema institution with your career as a scriptwriter? Mahfouz: This was a sensitive matter in a way. As soon as I was appointed in the said jobs, I submitted to the culture minister a list of all the work I had already contracted prior to my appointment, just to avoid any clash of interest. Then I stopped accepting new commissions. Researcher: How do you view scriptwriting? Is it a creative endeavour or mostly a technical one? Mahfouz: It's a combination of both. To write a script, you need specialised skills. And yet for the script to be good it has to be a creative work. Many of the scripts I wrote depended on a primary idea conceptualised by the director or myself. To turn the idea into a full script was an effort of considerable creativity. Salmawy: How did you treat the novels of others? Did you feel free to rework them in your own way? Mahfouz: Of course not. I had to remain faithful to the original text. Had I wanted to change the novel extensively, it would have been better for me to write a new one. So long that I have agreed to turn a novel to a script, I had to remain faithful to the novel, especially that much of the novels involved were the works of great writers, people like Ihsan Abdel-Quddus for example. Salmawy: But when other people wrote the scripts for your novels they took some liberties. Mahfouz: Everyone has his own way of working. Researcher: And your cooperation with late director Salah Abu Seif? Mahfouz: I used to write alone, then after finishing each part, I would read it to him and his assistants. We used to discuss together what I had written. Researcher: Did you include technical advice to the director? Mahfouz: No, my focus was solely on the dramatisation. I left to the director the matter of deciding on the shots and other technical aspects. This is the job of the director. Researcher: Please tell us about the background of We are the Students. Mahfouz: This film was based on a true story in which the brother of a big movie star at the time was involved. We all had strong feelings about the incident, due to its social and human implication. I based the script on what was published in the paper and managed, with the help of the director, to turn the incident into a full-length drama.
