Christopher Hampton: Screenwriters' Lecture

Christopher Hampton, the screenwriter behind Atonement and A Dangerous Method has given insight into his experience of working in film as part of the 2011 BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series.

Hampton, who started out writing plays and television adaptations, has gone on to achieve BAFTA success with the Stephen Frears-directed Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and his own directorial effort Carrington (1995).

More recently, his masterly adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2007), in which a young girl’s lie has life-changing effects, brought two more BAFTA nominations and his second Oscar nomination. While his latest script, A Dangerous Method (2011), is directed by David Cronenberg, and stars both Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen.

In his lecture Hampton focused on his own literary adaptations, described the ‘flash-sideways’ technique used in Atonement, David Cronenberg’s script-length requirements, and showed clips from his various films.

As well as sharing that: “When you write a film… you can’t really tell until two thirds of the way through what it’s about”.