Walter Kirn’s Up in the Air Is at the Movies
Livingston Novelist Finds His Creation, and Himself, On Screen—with George Clooney

BY DAVID S. LEWIS

Ask Livingston novelist Walter Kirn, author of the comedic novel Up in the Air, what it’s like to have your book turned into an award winning motion picture starring George Clooney, and he’ll tell you, sincerely, it’s all wonderful. Kirn will also tell you a movie is an entirely different creation than a book, something other than a visual representation of the author’s story. Kirn’s tale, what’s more, while it survived the transition to film in recognizable form, endured not only the alterations brought on by Hollywood screenwriters, but those inflicted by dramatic current events that heightened the sensitivities of movie audiences—the recent eco-nomic crisis, and prior to that September 11. READ MORE

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