Zoe Kazan on Adapting East of Eden, Family Legacy, and the Art of Letting Go

Actress, screenwriter, and playwright Zoe Kazan joins this episode of Prose Society to discuss her Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden — a project six years in the making. Zoe shares her approach to adaptation, why she centered the anti-hero Cathy Ames (played by Florence Pugh), and what it meant to carry forward a story her own grandfather adapted for the screen in 1955. She also opens up about the personal identities — mother, sister, daughter — that shaped her writing, the casting process behind the series' star-studded ensemble, and why she believes adaptation is an advanced form of reading. Plus, rapid-fire recommendations spanning Toni Morrison to Stephen King.

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