{"id":4618,"date":"2011-12-15T14:59:55","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T20:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2011-12-15T14:59:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T20:59:55","slug":"peak-profile-kaui-hart-hemmings-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2011\/12\/peak-profile-kaui-hart-hemmings-98\/","title":{"rendered":"Peak Profile: Kaui Hart Hemmings \u201998"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kaui<\/a>

Kaui Hart Hemmings with Alexander Payne, who directed the screen version of her novel, "The Descendants." Photo by Ed Morita.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kaui Hart Hemmings \u201998<\/strong> has been called \u201cHawaii\u2019s Cinderella.\u201d Who is her Prince Charming? George Clooney, of course.<\/p>\n

Their relationship isn\u2019t the stuff of fairy tales. Instead, it\u2019s an artistic collaboration that has resulted in a movie version of Kaui\u2019s first novel, \u201cThe Descendants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaui\u2019s novel has been adapted for the big screen, and that film of the same title opened this fall to glowing accolades and talk of an Oscar for its leading man.<\/p>\n

Kaui worked closely with director Alexander Payne (you might know him from \u201cSideways,\u201d or \u201cThe Savages\u201d or HBO\u2019s \u201cHung\u201d) in this film adaptation.<\/p>\n

In an interview at a film festival, Payne said his relationship with Kaui \u201cwas the closest I\u2019ve ever had with an author of a novel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Descendants\u201d is a story about a family in Hawaii that has been rocked with change. Clooney plays Matt King, a wealthy Honolulu attorney, who struggles to reconnect with his daughters.<\/p>\n

In an article published several years ago for The Guardian<\/em>, a British newspaper, Kaui said she writes about families \u201cto create meaning where there is none. It\u2019s sort of like making your own clothes \u2014 you can pick the pattern, the fabric, cut it and stitch it to fit. No matter what materials you use, at the end it will come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaui says the experience of having her book adapted was \u201cvery positive and fun. It wasn\u2019t scary or annoying at all. I went into it thinking that no matter what happens, my book will always be intact. The adaptation was incredibly faithful. I read many versions of the script and gave my notes and feedback, so I was involved from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admitting that she thought her book would make a great movie all along, \u201cwith an energy and momentum that would work on film,\u201d Kaui says she loves the film. \u201cIt\u2019s the first film, I think, truly set in Hawaii and about the people who live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaui not only had creative input in the film; but she also got to know the cast, which includes Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, and Beau Bridges. \u201cAlexander (the director) moved to Hawaii eight months before shooting and we\u2019ve been in contact ever since,\u201d she says. \u201cHe and the cast have been to my house, we played softball, had dinners \u2026 I was Clooney\u2019s secretary in the movie, so I had to act with him, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just for fun:<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002How do you introduce yourself at a cocktail party?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002\u201cI\u2019m Kaui. Where\u2019s the bar?\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002What\u2019s the last book you read?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002\u201cLost in Shangri-La\u201d (Mitchell Zuckoff)<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002What\u2019s the most fun you had today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002\u201cI wandered around San Francisco by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002What do you do regularly that you wish you never had to do again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002\u201cChange diapers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002And a little about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002I live in Hawaii with my husband, Andy, an attorney. We met a few months after I graduated from CC, in Breckenridge. We have a daughter, Eleanor, who is seven, and a son, Leo, 14 months, who we recently adopted from Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

Q:\u2002How do you think your education at CC shaped the rest of your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u2002Since I work alone, CC has helped me with self-discipline and independent thinking. It helps you customize your life,\u00a0in a way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaui Hart Hemmings \u201998 has been called \u201cHawaii\u2019s Cinderella.\u201d Who is her Prince Charming? George Clooney, of course. Their relationship isn\u2019t the stuff of fairy tales. Instead, it\u2019s an artistic collaboration that has resulted in a movie version of Kaui\u2019s first novel, \u201cThe Descendants.\u201d Kaui\u2019s novel has been adapted for the big screen, and that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-december-2011","tag-alumni-profiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}