Jon: I read in an interview that you found The Dark Fields through a recommendation at a bookstore, and halfway through the book, you wanted to adapt it. Can you explain this a bit further?

Leslie Dixon: Sure. First of all, I just wanted to read something for pleasure, and I was half-disappointed that my wheels were going in that direction. I just wanted a good read! (laughs) At the center of it, it had a big idea about a pharmaceutical merging of two companies and I could see an actor really wanting this part. It seemed timely, too. There was a zeitgeist to it and if I wanted to do it as a film, I better get going, because someone was going too soon.

Jon: Bloomsburg released the book in 2002 as The Dark Fields, but MacMillian re-released it to coincide with the film under Limitless. Can you explain the title switch?

Leslie Dixon: They do that all the time. When a film is retitled when it’s based on a source material, the publisher so they re-title so the audience will know. It’s simply a marketing tool.

Jon: The final third of the book differs from your script. Did you contact Alan Glynn, the book’s author, or did you feel it was for the sake of marketability that you move away from the darker, quieter ending?

Leslie Dixon: I told Alan. We’re friends, so we talked often. But before I even wrote the script I told him that there’s no way the film can end [like it did in the book]. I would never get the film made. I told him I was keeping a lot from the book, even the dialogue, since he writes great dialogue. But there needed some action sequences, making it a bit more of a thrill ride. Preferably, without numbing it down. I still wanted it to have some edge to it. It was important to grab people viscerally, otherwise it would’ve been a dense $2 million budgeted film that no one would see. I was intent on getting this story to a wide audience with – there’s no other word for it – the violence. The consequence of the chemicals gave way to bad shit happening.

Jon: Is that the reason you took on being a producer too, so you can see the film made this way?

Leslie Dixon: I had the opportunity. I owned the rights to the novel and script at one point. It was one way of keeping the endlessness of bosses from telling you what to do. It helped keeping the original voice. They couldn’t hire an actor without my approval and I couldn’t cast an actor I wanted either, but at least they couldn’t replace me with another writer…something I’m sure they regret! (laughs)

I wrote the script for no money, but the trade off was myself as a producer. We got the film made the way it should have, instead of some vague version of it seventeen writers later.

Jon: I read there was another writer who wrote a treatment for the Weinsteins?

Leslie Dixon: That’s right. They cut him off, but I don’t ever think the Weinstein had the faith in this like I did. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a good writer, it was they just lost interest in it. They got a treatment and never did anything with it. I got the script out of there was slow and painfully on my part. That treatment was never used.

Jon: Can you talk about the casting of Bradley Cooper?

Leslie Dixon: We were very, very lucky. There’s not a lot of people who could play his part. When you see the film, you’ll see an intelligent person playing an intelligent person. Otherwise the audience checks out. We were lucky Bradley had broken as a movie star right as we started our casting search in earnest. Two years ago, he was too small to play the part, and two years later he’s going to be too big for a film like this. We hit that sweet spot right when he broke out. He’s sweet and funny, but he’s intelligent enough to separate the dual roles of Eddie, as the loser to the poised broker. I discovered that Bradley has the futility for languages so it was great. He speaks French, Italian, and some Chinese, which sounds really good, and not bullshit at all. These little details convince the audience that he’s really on this journey.

Jon: In order to get Robert De Niro, that you had to write specifically for him and merge two smaller roles into one?

Leslie Dixon: No, that’s not what happened. True, the part wasn’t as developed as it became. The studio told us we needed a meaningful name in the supporting cast, like De Niro. I looked again at the part and knew he wouldn’t ever play that. Someone like De Niro is generous and a creative actor. He has no problem coming in for nine days, kicking the role’s ass. That said, there wasn’t enough there and I did a marathon rewrite for four days. I locked myself up in my office and had to think if I was De Niro and had to imagine him doing the dialogue. “I’m Bob” I thought as I wrote, and it worked: we got him!

Jon: It has some great themes that are quite timely, is that why you got a director like Neil Burger (The Illusionist)?

Leslie Dixon: Well, I had really liked The Illusionist, but his first film – Interview with an Assassin – had this edginess and paranoia right from the beginning, giving you some jitters that I liked. I knew it had to work as a thriller to maximize the story. So, I knew from The Illusionist that we would agree on what makes a good story, but Interview with an Assassin, I knew he would direct the shit out of this. And the audience worries on Eddie’s (Bradley Cooper’s character) behalf. It’s about power, not about drugs. It’s an edgy thrill ride. It was always our intention to make an enjoyable film, as well as, a cautionary tale.

Limitless is in theaters March 18th, 2011.

Friel will play Cooper’s ex-wife, a woman who was a go-getter before their breakup (THR). The story is about Eddie hooked on MDT-48, a sort of Viagra for the brain-a designer drug that’s redesigning his life. But while MDT is helping Eddie achieve the kind of success he’s only dreamed about, it’s also chipping away at his sanity-splitting headaches, spontaneous blackouts, violent outbursts. Now that his supply is running low, Eddie must venture into the drug’s dark past to feed his habit. What he discovers proves that MDT, once a dream come true, has become his worst nightmare.

The feature, already set for distribution under Universal Pictures, is positioned to be released on March 18th, 2011. Friel wrapped up her roles on a couple of upcoming productions, those being Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and William Monahan’s London Boulevard.

The remake is being penned by Bill Collage and Adam Cooper with original screenwriter Leslie Dixon pitching in as well. Will Smith is producing under Overbrook with the picture tucked neatly underneath Columbia Pictures. No word yet on who will be directing the feature.

The story centers on a down-and-out Gotham writer (Cooper) who comes into possession of a designer drug that gives him newfound intelligence and success. De Niro will play a brilliant financial mogul who begins pursuing Cooper’s character (Variety).

Neil Burger is attached to direct, his previous credits include The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones. De Niro can be seen once more on the big screen in a few films this year, a couple of them being the John Curran thriller Stone, Little Fockers and the Ethan Maniquis and Robert Rodriguez directed Machete.

The Dark Fields was originally written by Alan Glynn and is being adapted for the big screen by scribe Leslie Dixon. Dixon is also attached to write the sequel to the hit 2004 film “Mean Girls” and penned “Hairspray”. Producing the film will be Ryan Kavanaugh under Relativity Media along with Scott Kroopf and Leslie Dixon.