INTERVIEW: From ‘Freaky Friday’ to ‘Legally Blonde’ to a thrilling new book
Image courtesy of the author / Provided by official site.
Heather Hach has made a unique career out of bringing stories to the stage and screen. She was the creative force behind the much-loved film Freaky Friday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, and after those screenwriting duties, she wrote the libretto for Broadway’s Legally Blonde: The Musical. Since then, she has taken on a number of projects, including the writing of a new psychological thriller called The Trouble With Drowning, which will be released by Greenleaf tomorrow, Oct. 17.
In the new book, the character of Kat idolizes an author by the name of Eden, and although Kat finds eventual success in both her personal and professional life, things start to take a turn, causing her to make some drastic choices that may imperil the life of Eden. The early buzz for the book includes quotes from Rachel Dratch, Laura Bell Bundy and Kristin Harmel, among others.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Hach about the origins of this thrilling tale and what readers can expect. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Is writing a book a similar creative experience to writing a musical or movie?
A story is a story. The form can change but the goal is the same — tell an entertaining, seamless, thoughtful tale. Of course, easier said than done, and the various forms of writing (novel writing, screenwriting, writing the book for a Broadway musical) all use different pathways and language and rhythms, but [they] also all have the same goal. It’s about harnessing the medium and maximizing its potential. Novels obviously have an interior life and allow the writer to linger in the details; Broadway has to be contained on a stage and move, literally and figuratively. I fumbled the most with my novel in relying on my screenwriting techniques — namely, telling the action. A novel has to show. I had to break old habits and constantly revise with that in mind. Despite how different the forms are, I love the challenge of each.
What inspired this particular tale?
I have had this idea for a psychological thriller since I was in my 20s and a student at the University of Arizona. I’ve always adored thrillers — anything Hitchcock — and a bit obsessed with the topic of obsession because obsession can be so destructive and yet also necessary. For example, you need obsession to write a novel. You often require obsession to do things well, but obsession also can be a dangerous well to draw from. And I see how our society’s obsessive culture can be corrosive. We live in a world of constant comparison, of perpetually looking over the fence and wanting another life (whether online or in reality). I wanted to marry some of these themes with a propulsive story, dovetailing a few concepts into one story.
How would you describe the character of Kat?
Kat is a complicated beast, singularly talented and hopefully sympathetic. I felt I worked out my demons with Kat and my aspirations with Eden. I wanted to explore the duality I often feel in myself — being an upstanding citizen who sometimes has embarrassingly dark thoughts. Of being ultimately confident in my station in life, proud of my achievements and riddled with insecurity. How can we all be these contradictory messes? I had the confidence to move to Los Angeles in my 20s to make it as a screenwriter with zero experience, knowing in my gut it would work out spectacularly. I also was terrified I’d die alone, never achieving a thing. These murky contradictions fascinate me, and I wanted to explore them in a safe way — on the page.
What do you think the book says about dreams and the journey one takes to achieve those dreams?
We need dreams. Without them, life loses its color and motivation. Humans are intended to live in grandiose longing. We are programmed to want to better ourselves and push for meaning and connection. We are irrational vessels of hope (or maybe I’m just entirely too American). I hope the book confirms the necessity of hopefulness and also explores the double-edged sword of this ache — dreaming is essential to life but needs to be tempered by reality.
What do you think the book says about mental health?
Mental health is obviously having a moment in our world, and I welcome it. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with OCD (trichotillomania, compulsive hair pulling) and anxiety. My teenage daughter has struggled mightily during COVID. I’ve lost people I love to suicide, and I know we need more discussion and acceptance of struggle. I worry, however, that mental health is taking on a “chic” quality, a necessary component to depth. I never want happiness to be seen as a shallow choice. It’s quite the opposite, often. Obviously, I want people to get the help they need but also not be defined by their struggles. It’s such an interesting time. I wanted to treat Kat with sympathy and honor her traumas, understand her as a human, but someone like Kat needs help and can’t do it on her own. When we don’t ask for assistance and think we can manage our mental heath ourselves, we can get into trouble. My intention was to treat mental health with sensitivity, and I hired a sensitivity reader to call out any inaccuracies within the novel itself (which I’m sure I still managed to pull off).
Do you see your career including more books, alongside the other creative ventures?
I see so much in media now that originates from books and hope my novels can make it to the screen. I think very visually and see my novels as extensions of the movie that usually plays in my head. I hope to marry everything I love and continue to explore it all — film, novels, Broadway and television. Writing The Trouble With Drowning was a wonderful respite from COVID, and I adored crafting it each day. It was the best escape from a scary world. But mostly, I just want to keep telling stories.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Trouble With Drowning by Heather Hach will be released by Greenleaf tomorrow, Oct. 17. Click here for more information.
