Aaron Sorkin Reveals Lawsuit Induced Changes to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

It's no secret that To Kill A Mockingbird went through quite a fight to make it to Broadway. These included a battle with the Harper Lee Estate's executor Tanja Carter who required changes to be made before the script was allowed to be performed. In a recent interview with the LA Times, Sorkin discussed these changes as well as his early process and character choices he made that varied from the original novel.

Answering the question of changes to the script, Sorkin said they were ultimately minor but still felt like a sacrifice. Carter's "position was clear and it's the position of the book - that Atticus is carved out of marble and shouldn't be touched," he says. Atticus was not permitted to use the word 'goddamnit', keep a shotgun in the house, and Sorkin was asked not to have Atticus have a drink following the loss at the trial. Sorkin notes, "I don't think having a drink after you've lost a trial or saying 'goddamnit' really tarnishes the marble that much...changing those things was the price I had to pay for admission to do the play."

To hear more from Sorkin including how he approached bringing Lee's novel to life and how he handled the race and gender issues of the novel being a white man himself, visit the LA Times here.

Based on an event that occurred in Alabama in the 1930s, Harper Lee's enduring story of racial injustice and the destruction of childhood innocence centers on one of the most beloved and admired characters in American literature, the small-town lawyer Atticus Finch.

Jeff Daniels heads the cast which includes Celia Keenan-Bolger, Will Pullen, Gideon Glick, Frederick Weller, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Stark Sands, Dakin Matthews, Erin Wilhelmi, Phyllis Somerville, Liv Rooth, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Danny Wolohan, and Neal Huff.

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes