‘Ice Storm’ Screenwriter To Visit UW-Madison

James Schamus

Screenwriter and independent producer James Schamus will make a visit to campus in the wake of publicity over his most critically acclaimed work.

Schamus will be in town Feb. 26 as a guest of the Department of Communication Arts. He will deliver a free public lecture, “Narrative Right: The Legal Rights to Tell the Stories of Real People,” which will begin at 3:30 p.m. in 4070 Vilas Hall and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Observers were surprised Tuesday when Schamus’ work on Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” was not recognized with an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

Schamus, who teaches at Columbia University in New York, has said it was a challenge to transform Rick Moody’s novel into the film, which starred Sigourney Weaver. “We adapt books because we love them, not because we think we can rewrite them better as movies,” he has said.

In addition to “The Ice Storm,” Schamus also has collaborated with Lee on “Sense and Sensibility,” “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman” and “The Wedding Banquet.”

At Columbia, he has taught classes on film theory, independent filmmaking, and film genres including noir, B-movies and Westerns.

“I try to teach as little practical stuff as possible,” Schamus has said. “My feeling is if you’re going to get anything valuable out of an education, it better be something that gives you access to a point of view on your life and what you’re going to do.”

For more information on Schamus’ visit, contact David Bordwell, professor of communication arts, 262-7723.