The School for Good and Evil is a Netflix film directed by Paul Fieg which was released on October 18. The film was adapted from Soman Chainani’s bestselling series bearing the same title. The story centers around best friends Sophie and Agatha who find themselves brought to the school on opposing sides where the school for good trains the heroes and princesses, while the school for evil has the villains wreaking havoc and chaos. Watch the trailer below:
In an interview with Variety, Chainani shared the surreal life experience he had on this journey to make his books come to life in a movie. The film adaptation had been in the works for over nine years, and during that time, more books in his series were translated in more than 30 languages, developing an even bigger fan following. He even compared it to ‘living in a dream’. Read his full story below:
“You never really believe it’s going to come to life in that way. As a writer, your canvas is people’s imaginations and the idea of a movie always felt like a faraway fantasy. So when it actually happens, it feels so surreal. It feels like you’re living in a dream a little bit. Especially with this cast and this director to have this scale of a movie — they don’t make movies like this anymore, that are original fantasies, so it’s just a wild dream come true.”
Chanani emphasizes how he has never seen anything like the film before, even comparing it to Marvel’s working sets of green screens and CGI. Seeing as it had the potential to be international, he and Paul worked to ensure they had an international cast exploring universal themes in the film. He adds how The School for Good and Evil’s set reminded him of old fantasy shows he used to watch when he was little:
“What’s so original about this movie is that the sets are all there. It’s not like a Marvel movie, or these other kinds of CGI films where everything is done on a green screen. The School for Good and Evil feels like a throwback to the fantasy movies I grew up with. When I stepped on set, to see the school built to life, it really felt like the way that I think audiences are going to feel when they watch it, that fairy tales had been made real in a completely new and original way.”
The School for Good and Evil is now streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Will There Be a The School for Good and Evil 2?
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!