Train Here, Go Anywhere: Oscar Nominee Lesley Paterson Returns to SDSU
The SDSU School of Theatre, Television, and Film will host Paterson and Simon Marshall for a talk about All Quiet on the Western Front.
San Diego State University School of Theatre, Television, and Film alumna Lesley Paterson (MA 2005, Theatre Arts), and Simon Marshall return to SDSU to speak about writing the screenplay for “All Quiet on the Western Front,” the Academy Award-nominated film co-produced by Netflix. The event is at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 20 at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Theatre.
Paterson co-wrote the screenplay for the 2022 movie with writing partner Ian Stokel; director, Edward Berger shares screenwriting credit. They won the Nation Board of Review and British Academy Film (BAFTA) awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and are up for an Oscar in the same category on Sunday, one of nine Academy Award nominations for the film.
Marshall, Paterson’s husband, served as a research and writing consultant to Paterson and Stokell and is a former professor of exercise science at SDSU.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I and is based on the 1929 bestselling novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.
Paterson hails from Scotland but attended SDSU and received her master's degree from the School of Theatre, Television, and Film.
She is not only a successful screenplay writer, but she is also a five-time world champion triathlete. She won the XTERRA World Championship three times and the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship twice.
Her determination and passion for sports and scriptwriting are unmatched. Paterson once competed in a triathlon with a broken shoulder to win prize money and afford to renew the rights to option the movie. After renewing the rights continuously for 16 years, she finally was able to get "All Quiet on the Western Front” produced.
“It’s focusing on the mastery of the craft and not focusing on the outcomes — that was a huge learning curve for me,” she said in an interview with CNN Sport. “As long as you have incredible passion and focus and stop thinking about where you want to be and being in the moment with where you’re at .… That’s where the beauty comes.”
The talk is scheduled for 2-3:30 p.m. March 20 at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Theater and includes a Q&A with the audience. It is free and open to the public.
