The Three Faces of Logan Mountstuart

I know I ought to lay the subject of William Boyd's Any Human Heart to rest, but it's hard when The Observer is running such an excellent supplement alongside the televisual adaptation of the novel, which begins airing today at 9pm (1pm PST) on Channel 4 in the UK.

Last last night there appeared an interview with the three actors who'll be playing Logan Mountstuart over the span of his life: Sam Claflin gets "his early, randy years;" Matthew Macfadyen the tumultuous middle years; and Jim Broadbent the twilight years that see a "tapering libido, the extreme penury that requires him to eat dog food to get by, the gloomy discussions with heart doctors."

It's interesting (and dismaying) to see what had to be left out, even with the running time offered by a serial film:

All actors express disappointment — jokingly — at favourite sequences of the novel being excised from the screenplay, adapted by Boyd himself. Claflin misses early scenes that involved Logan becoming a suicidally enthusiastic rugby blue as part of a dare. Broadbent liked a later bit in which Logan (adopting yet another identity) became a lecturer in Nigeria, a sequence excised regretfully by Boyd for lack of time.

It would be great to — at the very least — see some teaser clips from the film, but unfortunately Channel 4's video player informs me, "The video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from your current country or location," when I try to play the scene of Logan meeting Land or Ernest Hemingway. On the plus side, the Q&A with William Boyd isn't dogged by licensing restrictions, nor is the much shorter audio clip of him musing on a hypothetical sequel to Any Human Heart, which would include "AIDS, the internet, and 'grotesque wealth'."