A CONVERSATION WITH WRITER OLIVER GOLDSTICK
Author of the teleplay for PLAINSONG, Oliver Goldstick currently writes and produces for the award-winning series "American Dreams;" other series credits include "Everwood," "Popular," "Caroline in the City" and "Coach." His plays have been produced off-Broadway and in regional theaters throughout the U.S. He lives with his family in Los Angeles, where he kindly spoke to us about his involvement with PLAINSONG.

How did you come upon the novel, Plainsong?
I was working on a play and looking for a book about life in small-town America. I walked into a bookstore here in Los Angeles, talked to some of the people who worked in the store, and they told me there was a buzz about Plainsong.

It was a Sunday morning. I remember it very clearly. I bought the book, went home, and began reading at 11 AM. The next thing I knew it was 11 PM, and I'd finished it. The author had cast a spell. It was just an incredible read.

What made it so special?
It's starkly simple and remarkably complex--both at the same time. It reads very much like a screenplay in that Kent Haruf's imagery is so vivid. It's very unadorned. There's a huge amount of restraint.

To this day, three years later, there are images from the book--especially involving the McPheron brothers--that are completely alive in my head.

Plainsong is like Thornton Wilder's "Our Town." People come together in surprising ways. People's lives are connected, in ways you don't expect.

I was drawn into every person's plight in the book. I loved that every character was flawed. People make mistakes, but at the same time there are incredible acts of grace and decency.

It's rare to find a contemporary book that's not laced with cynicism. PLAINSONG has a lot of humor and a lot of irony--but no cynicism.

Was your original intent to turn it into a movie script?
No. My first idea was to adapt it for the stage. My background is in the theater, and I was looking for a big ensemble piece involving extended families, because regional theaters are partial to that kind of material. PLAINSONG is very much about finding a family when your biological family fails you. It's all about surrogates.

What was your charge to yourself when you set out to write the script?
All I wanted to do was preserve the dignity of the piece, and the beauty of it. The key in writing the script was to keep it an ensemble piece. I didn't want to lose that element. It could easily have been shifted and distorted to make it a coming-of-age story of two boys who've been abandoned by their mother.

What I really set out to do was to preserve the mosaic that Kent Haruf had established. The sum of the parts really was and is greater than any one part.

What's the story really about?
This book--and my script--is about family. Ultimately, it's about an extended family. I love the fact that there's no tidy ending to the piece. There were still going to be problems for an unwed mother, for a teacher who may lose his job, for boys who've been abandoned by their mother.

There isn't a happy, facile ending for these people. But at least they found a life raft in the storm.

Is Tom Guthrie, played by Aidan Quinn, the central character?
In many ways, yes. It's the classic Gary Cooper role, full of quiet dignity. It's an interior landscape for Tom Guthrie, who's unmoored, whose wife has left him. But because he has custody of the two young boys, because they live in this small town, because he's a fairly public figure--teaching in the local school--everything has to be internalized.

Tom can't reveal how wounded he is to his boys. He has to carry on some semblance of normalcy for their sake. He encounters so much adversity; he has to be the epitome of quiet resilience. Finally, of course, he explodes.

I think Aidan understood the complexity of this character from the beginning, and I think he plays it brilliantly.

What about Rachel Griffiths' Maggie?
As an actor, she too has to make very quiet, subtle choices. Maggie's spent years taking care of her ill father. She's been wounded by a broken marriage. She's attracted to Tom, yet understands that he's ten thousand miles away from making any kind of commitment vis-à-vis another relationship.

These are not flamboyant characters. In this book and in this film, people don't wear their hearts on their sleeves. The director, Dick Pearce, understood that, and so did the actors.

Do you have a favorite scene?
When I read the book I wept when pregnant Victoria comes back to the old McPheron brothers, after she's taken off days earlier without even leaving a note. These two old men, who had opened their hearts to take her in, felt abandoned, deserted, and when she comes back, she's afraid. She knows the chances are good they're going to turn her away. And she knows they have good reasons for doing exactly that.

I loved the fact that in the book--and in the movie--the brothers just stand there and don't say anything. The audience has no idea which way they're going to go, because they have every right to say, "You ingrate, Victoria. After all we've done for you…" They just stare at her. Complete silence, except for the wind that's blowing. Victoria really doesn't know how to apologize to these two people who've given her the greatest gift of her life. Her whole life has been full of rejection. Everybody just stands there, like plastic statues--that's how the book describes them. Finally Harold pipes up, and it just breaks your heart, "We can't have you leaving like that again."

No mushy hug, no swelling music. Just, "We can't have you leaving like that again." Now, that's a scene.

Do you think the audience will 'get' this story and this film?
Well, I've given this book as a birthday present 65 times. This was the book I kept giving to people as a gift, because I didn't know anyone who wouldn't connect with this material. The themes are universal. Salvation comes in the most unlikely packages. People you think you'll never cross paths with can change your life.

In spite of all the negativity in our lives and our world, there's so much human decency out there. We forget that small acts of grace are the most heroic things you can do. I mean taking a person into your home, taking this pregnant teenager into your home and giving her a safe harbor when it's so completely foreign to your whole life experience…And then there are Maggie's acts of decency, and Tom's…

This is also about the redefinition of family, redefining what family means. Because family is not just biological. Family is having unconditional love and support from people you may not have expected would ever be there for you This is a quiet book that stays with people. I feel the same way about the movie.