From day one, Ryan Murphy has kept me involved. People had warned me, "Once you option your book, it's out of your hands." I was like, "Good. Go, take it away, make it pretty. Call me when I have to buy a tux."
I've never felt like somebody has taken my life story and run away with it. I always felt that Ryan deeply cared not only about making a great movie, but making a movie that I, in the end, would feel was an honest reflection of my experience. I never knew what to expect in my life, from one moment to the next.
I know there will be people who watch this film and think, "Oh, it's so depressing. What a horrible life. How could you have survived?" But I did survive. And I went on to write a book that was a big bestseller. And now, a movie.
So when you step back, you realize that my story has the happiest ending of all. Yes, it was a rough childhood. And yes, I experienced a lot of things that are outside the norm. But, I never lost my hope. I never lost my belief that tomorrow could be better than today. I never, for one moment, stopped believing that things could turn out OKAY in the end.
All of this shines through in the film, all of this hope and optimism. In the end, "Running with Scissors" isn't really the story about a boy with a horrible childhood. It's the story about a boy who loved life more than anything. And would never, no matter what, give up that love of being alive.
Starring: Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Joseph Cross, Alec Baldwin, Jill Clayburgh, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Wilson, Kristin Chenoweth, Dagmara Dominczyk, Colleen Camp