Screenwriter Patrick Ness Discusses Bringing the ‘A Monster Calls’ Creature to Life

Screenwriter Patrick Ness on ‘A Monster Calls’ and the ‘Doctor Who’ Spin-Off ‘Class’

Collider – November 4, 2016

By Aubrey Page

The most unexpected tearjerker of the year comes as a fantastical vision of loss and coming of age—featuring a walking, talking tree monster with the voice of Liam Neeson)—in A Monster Calls. Quietly arriving on the scene at the Toronto International Film Festival and leaving scads of emotionally broken viewers in its wake (including our own Adam Chitwood, read his review), the film garnered immediate attention for its lush visual style and its fearless, emotional approach to grief. Directed by J.A. Bayona, whose often gorgeous directorial point of view has been characterized in prior works like The Impossible and The Orphanage, A Monster Calls was written by Patrick Ness who also penned the young adult novel on which it was based. Read more.