Author praises film based on her 'Wit'

Margaret Edson wasn't sure whether her Pulitzer-prize winning play, "Wit," about a poetry scholar dying of ovarian cancer, would work well on film.

"I thought they would have to jazz it up, add different themes and different places and a car crash," Edson said.

Instead, director Mike Nichols remains true to the original play, she said. The HBO film, which aired Saturday night, stars Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson in the lead role and British playwright Harold Pinter in a cameo.

"I think it's beautiful," Edson said. "It's very quick. The camera just sits still and listens to the characters speak, often in a whisper. The whole tone is very circumspect and sincere."