Interview with Alexandria Altman: from the novel to the film with Johnny Depp

Alexandria Altman is the author of Snow Moon: Secret World. From the novel is taken the movie Snow Moon starring Johnny Depp

Q. How did the idea of Snow Moon: Secret World?

A. I am from the South and unfortunately we didn't get a lot of snow, but when we did it was simply magic to me.
It was like going to the North Pole and meeting Santa as a child,  I felt and truly thought that Santa sent the snow, well my Grams even made me snow ice cream. Well the Moon is a entirely different story, as a small child I would sit at night in a comfy window seat and curl up with blanket and just stare up at the moon as it intrigued me somehow how and I always thought a man lived in the moon.
Who doesn't love a beautiful moon especially when it is full and seems the light sky along with the stars. I can't even imagine us being without a beautiful snow falling or not being able to look at the moon and I still do, as its a entire universe of imagination for me.

Look at the Gallery: Movie Snow Moon: Secret World

Q. You talked about grandparents. Did they play a fundamental role in your education?

A. I was blessed enough to grow up with what I felt two inspiring Grams, one lived to be 109 and the other nearing a hundred. I loved being outside and became interested in trees and how they grew and the different funny faces I would see in them, not to mention the birds that lived in them.  I would play every day in my own world and even name the old ancient tree I played under.
My Gram’s and I would make new discoveries daily it seemed, and they would say, Ally we all live in one big secret world if only we have eyes to see it,  the mind is open and we know it's so much more than trees, bushes and flowers and a few forest animals. 
When I had grown up and married into one of the wealthiest families in the South, my then husband and I a moved to Beverly Hills, where we both sort of worked behind the scenes in film and in music, well I guess you could say the entire entertainment business, as he himself was a famed inventor of many things and had many national and International companies.
One night I had fallen asleep,  it was around 1991.  I seemed to have traveled and dreamed of this place I went and vividly remember it all, and awoke and wrote down everything I did remember and met in my dream world or secret world.

Johnny Depp

Q. The character of Ally is courageous and even hesitant. Who inspired you?

A. Ally, the main character, is courageous as a lion and yet hesitant.. It makes perfect sense when you spend your life creating and being blessed with gifts to do so, not to mention the actual experience in life you go through to tell your own unique stories.
If you had years to sit and talk to me, then I could explain my secret world,  as I came here with such Inspiration and happiness , a feeling I belonged in a world that your mind and your thoughts can take you anywhere you so desire and in my case it did in dreams and in reality.

Q. The book will become a movie. How was the script writing phase? 

A. In this book I put all the characters and their duties and the name of this secret world as I was working in my writing room in Beverly Hills.  Our best friend, Jon Shienberg, the son of Syd Shienberg, the then President of Universal Pictures, stopped by. He found it to be fascinating  and wanted to look at my project when I was finished. Another visitor that day also had a meeting with my husband by the name of Trish Mallon, she was the personal manager of our wonderful friend Actor Pierce Brosnan,  she too was enchanted with what she saw me working on and also asked for the Project.  
Both suggested I got my book and Character images straight in WGW in West Hollywood for protection where it still sits today while I have kept all quiet all these years while creating my saga series. 

Q. So will we see new books on Snow Moon?

A. Of course, the main book will be last that reveals all and is not even written on a computer but rather a regular typewriter to be secure.  

Q. You have inserted magical beings in the book. Do you think the narration helps?

A. These unusual and some funny, odd looking  characters were simply amazing, it was almost as if I lived there among them and was talking with and observing everything. 

Q. Which directors inspired you?

A. The writers, directors  and actors that inspire me are many being Walt Disney, Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and then the old Hollywood actors of black and white film such as  Bogie and Bacall and now of course, one of our all time favorite one of a kind, my dear friend of 26 years, John Christopher Depp 11.
Although I  love so many actors such as Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, John Cusack, Christian Bale and Keanu Reeves  to name a few but it is Johnny Depp playing so many characters and never looking the same and turning into that characters that most Intrigues and fascinates me with his talents, its just so natural.

Q. What differences are there between the book and the screenplay?

A. On script writing, anytime you adapt your book to a screen play, it seems so easy right? -  just follow along and write from your book and make your movie, It could not be further than the truth at least for me.
When you set everything in motion for a film and cinema your characters have to have life breathed into them in a voice and action and in the way you see them and saw them in your dream or where ever you met them.
You want them to be their own characters and their own actors at work and play on screen. You become more aware that they are real and now you have to bring them to life to live forever on screen, I love it of course and if it was easy everyone would do it.

Q. First you mentioned Johnny Depp. Are you satisfied with the presence in the film as Tiamanicus?

A. If you’ve got years, I can explain,  I have known Johnny Depp as a friend first and my best friend,  we have known each other since 1991 and I simply call him John, anyone in the film business or a writer would want to work at least once with this great natural born talented man or should i say Vampire. I myself want to watch him create himself into a character in this film that fits him yet he will make it his own as he does everything. This highly spirited soul is just that, himself at no matter what he does it is an opportunity to learn and watch him in action become the character that he will bring to life.
I can personally say I still don't even think Johnny Depp gets how famous he is as he is just so humble and kind to all that he doesn't really see what the big fuss is all about.  He is just being himself at a job he clearly loves and is great at.
It was John who contacted my International agent Pamela Wohlsen at AWE Agency to inquire about my films and to check on  me when he saw I was overwhelmed and  just simply stepped into place and the rest has just followed.
Dreams are what life is made of and life is made of dreams, John is aboard now and as John said to me, ‘Snow Moon Will Never Die’. Soon, he and I will both be together for a personal interview and try to find that five seconds to discuss the projects we are working on due to his very busy schedule, then he will make his announcement on Snow Moon Series. 

Q. What is your next project?

A. My next adventure is following through on my series and now turning Actress as I am privately signed on to quite a few films as a mainstream actress and can't wait for my first film that I will be filming in Greece.  
I am hoping everyone enjoys the movies when they come out and find their childhood again and all children will smile and leave with knowing that the world is wonderfully made if you are willing to allow it to show you its secrets.

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