Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Jose Lourenço, lionsgate, Young Werther

Young Werther Dir José Lourenço on Modernizing 18th Century Romcom

Writer and director José Lourenço (Farm Crime) spoke to Bleeding Cool abut his latest Lionsgate romcom Young Werther, Adams-Pill chemistry.

Ever since José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço read The Sorrows of Young Werther, he was surprised no filmmaker or TV showrunner adapted the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe classic for modern audiences. What became a prime opportunity, the writer and director decided to modernize the story into Lionsgate's Young Werther, which follows a lovestruck writer, Werther (Douglas Booth), who falls for Charlotte (Alison Pill), who's having a day out with her friends. As the two strike a chord, Werther decides to pursue a relationship with Charlotte even after discovering she's engaged to Albert (Patrick J. Adams). The director and writer of Farm Crime spoke to Bleeding Cool about his unique challenge to adapt the 18th-century work to 21st-century sensibilities and casting his two leads, Booth & Pill.

Young Werther Director Jose Lourenço on Updating Goethe's Story to the 21st Century

Bleeding Cool: What inspired you to adapt Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Songs of Young Werther to the screen?

It was a book I read that I was made to read in university, and I loved it but had no idea I would ever pursue a film career. Years later, I pulled it off the shelf after moving to a new apartment, looked at it, had my heart broken several times in the ensuing decade, and read the book again. It affected me a little differently, and I was like, "There's never been a major English language adaptation of this book that's otherwise been elsewhere so many times in Europe, Asia, and all over the world in films, operas, plays, musicals, manga, and comics. This story is relevant in any era, in any place. I was like, "Let's take a swing and see if we can contribute to the Werther canon."

How much tweaking did you have to do to update it for modern audiences?

There's a fair number of changes along the way. It's less like a beat-for-beat recreation of the novel and more borrowing the narrative spine of the story, characters, and themes. It was about finding a way to have it feel like something timeless. It's meant to be set in the present day, but I wanted it to have a quality that could feel like any time in the past 100 years. Werther is a character out of time, this reckless and relentless romantic. That's not something; he's not a person who would exist today in this way. It was finding the little things that made him feel fresh and new while keeping a foothold in the past.

When you were looking to cast Werther and Charlotte, did you have an audition process, or were Doug and Allison always penciled in for those roles?

The audition and casting process took a long time. These are specific roles and spoke to so many actors. I wanted people with incredible talents on their own, which was key; Alison is an outstanding actor, singer, and dancer. Douglas, the first time I saw him was in 'The Riot Club' (2014), and I thought he was such a special performer left out of that cast for me. I wanted actors who could do comedy and drama, who could sort of effortlessly traverse to both ends of the spectrum, not to mention make us fall in love with them as they deliver these difficult half-page monologues as if they were natural pieces of conversation. Having them feel like they're in this heightened world that doesn't exist and keep them in a place I hope feels human and true.

Young Werther is in theaters, digital, and on-demand.

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