We present an interview with director Todd Haynes for his movie Wonderstruck, his big screen adaptation of the book by Brian Selznick, who also wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

The movie stars Millicent Simmonds, Julianne Moore, Cory Michael Smith, James Urbaniak, Damian Young, Patrick Murney, Oakes Fegley, Jaden Michael, Michelle Williams and Doris McCarthy and tells the story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.

Scott Davis sat down with the director about the irresistible challenge of bringing the two narratives to the screen. He talks about playing with time, and how we conceive of time and how he explored this elaborate mystery on screen.

Wonderstruck Official Synopsis

Based on Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel, Wonderstruck tells the story of Ben and Rose – children from two different eras, who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry.