It?s a daunting task to do cinematic justice to a great piece of literature, so premiering a film based on a Canadian classic as well known and loved as Margaret Laurence?s Stone Angel (and to a Canadian audience, to boot) must have been a bit nerve-wracking for director Kari Skogland. Fortunately, her film seemed to charm and move everyone in the sold-out theatre.

Unsurprisingly, the first question from the audience was about the book ? what their experiences with it had been before they shot the film, and now.

Ellen Burstyn, whose incredible performance as Hagar got a standing ovation from the crowd, was the first to answer, saying ?Well, I?m sure that all the Canadian actors knew it, but being an American I was not familiar with Margaret Laurence?s work until I read the script, and then I read the book and fell in love with it and regretted not having read it earlier in my life. I think she?s an amazing writer and I know how much you all love her?.

Christine Horne, who plays the young Hagar (her first starring role in a feature film) said ?I hadn?t read the book before, and I feel like a bad Canadian for not having read The Stone Angel. I read Margaret Atwood in school.?

Kevin Zegers, who shines as Hagar?s wayward son John (who also stars in Normal, at TIFF this year) said ?I was forced to read it in school, in grade 10? but quickly added ?but then I read it again and appreciated it obviously a little bit more before I started the film, because obviously you don?t pay attention to anything in high school. I was shocked that I hadn?t noticed how great her writing was?.

Luke Kirby (also in All Hat at TIFF) joked ?I read it in six hours before a test, and I got a C?.

I myself read (and loved) The Diviners in school, alongside Alice Munro?s Lives of Girls and Women, so I went in without expectations about how the adaptation should look. I?m not sure if a fan of the book would critique the film differently, but I thought it was a powerful and visually stunning film. The actors did an incredible job of imbuing their characters with a lifetime?s worth of love, regret, hope and heartache. If the rest of the audience?s reaction is any indication, then it was a faithful retelling of the novel, as well.

Skogland got up during the Q&A to answer a question about how she approached the enormous responsibility of adapting the book to film. ?Well it was daunting, no question I was terrified? she began ?but I think after kind of getting over the anxiety, the truth is I looked at the title sitting on the shelf that I hadn?t read in a number of years, and it had stayed with me because it was an epiphany at the time when I read it in my teens.

?I reread it and it was like reading a different book because I think the life experience that one has and brings to the experience of reading the work I suddenly realised how much more depth there was in it and how much the story that I wanted to tell just emerged. And I just knew that I had to tell it. So that helped me get over the fear of approaching it.

?I know others had tried and had not been able to make it work. So I just thought what I?d do is just strip away and go after the really good story and not be too frightened, not make it too precious. If I do that, if I ever say to myself oh my god this is Margaret Laurence?s Stone Angel, I?d just fold up. So it was much better to just embrace it and not think about that.

?It wasn?t until we were almost shooting and my girlfriend came to me and she had done her Masters degree on it, on that particular book. She said Kari, do you know what you?re doing, it?s The Stone Angel. And that?s when it occurred to me, and I kind of woke up and got scared all over again?.

Luckily, she didn?t let that fear get to her, and the result is a truly a brave and loving homage to one of our literary giants.

The Stone Angel screens again on Friday Sept. 14, 4:45pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre.