"It was a very nice surprise," admits Ron Nyswaner about hearing the news this week that he won the screenplay award from the National Board of Review for his adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel "The Painted Veil." "I had forgotten that those awards were being announced that afternoon and I heard someone leaving a message on my machine saying, 'You must be very happy.' And I had that great, slow realization of what they were talking about."

In our podcast chat, the former Oscar nominee for "Philadelphia" discusses the challenge of making his newest film, which stars Edward Norton as a doctor who drags his adulterous wife (Naomi Watts) off to a remote Chinese village during the 1920s. It took 10 years to get the film made, he notes, adding, "It's been a long process and along the way we tried many versions of telling the story. The book is pretty internal. There's a long section in the middle where the character Kitty just sits and thinks about her life. Walter, her husband is off screen for much of the book. He's a doctor trying to stem a cholera epidemic. We never see for one moment in the book do we ever see Walter at work. So there were a lot of challenges in terms of making this internal story come to life while focusing on their relationship and external events, not just what Kitty was thinking."

To listen to our full chat, click on the right-pointing triangle below. (Note: You may need to hold down your computer's Control key while clicking. File may take a minute or so to download.)

Photo: In addition to its screenplay award from NBR, "The Painted Veil" is nominated for best screenplay and actor (Edward Norton) at the Indie Spirits. Strangely, costar Naomi Watts did not get a bid.
(Warner Independent)