Diksha Sundriyal
In ‘The Boy Next Door,’ Claire works as a classics professor at a high school. She is going through a rough patch in her marriage, and this is when she meets a young man named Noah, who is interested in her a bit too much. She and Noah bond over their love for the classics, especially Homer’s The Iliad. Later, Noah gifts a book to Claire, which she realizes is a “first edition” of The Iliad. She says she can’t accept it as it must have cost a fortune, but he says he got it in a yard sale for a buck, so she shouldn’t worry about it. While several things need to be answered in the film, the question of the first edition of The Iliad confounds one the most. But the filmmakers have an explanation for it. SPOILERS AHEAD
How the Filmmakers Explain “First Edition Iliad”
It’s a well-known fact that Homer wrote The Iliad about 3000 years ago. It was passed down orally and brought to paper around the tenth century. It is also Greek, while the version Noah gifts Claire is in English. Barbara Curry, who wrote the script for the film, revealed that the scene was not in her version of the story. It was added later in revisions, and she was not aware of its addition until after she’d seen the film.
According to director Rob Cohen, the scene is significant in Noah’s approach towards Claire. Having met and been attracted to her, Noah looks for reasons to return to her. Knowing that she loves The Iliad, he uses it to attract her attention, showing her how he listens to her. This is his way of making her feel seen, which works in his favor. According to Cohen, “It gave them a chance to be together alone for the first time where if anything was going to happen, it could happen.”
Cohen also explained the meaning of the first edition, saying that it is not Homer’s first edition that he is talking about. Each book receives new editions with new covers over the years, and each version has its own first edition. The edition that Noah gives to Claire is one that is old and, hence, valuable. He also agrees that, for obvious reasons, it cannot be the very first edition written by Homer, but for a book that is thousands of years old, there have been hundreds of versions over the years, and each version has their own first edition. It is one such book that Noah gives to Claire.
The Book in the Movie is Not a Prop
Considering how unreal it already seems, one would think that the book in the movie is a prop, but that’s not so. It is, in fact, a real book. This 1884 edition of The Iliad, translated by Alexander Pope, was printed and bound by Donohue & Henneberry of Chicago. It was brought on the set by propmaster Annie Brandt, who had a long discussion with the director about the choice of book as well as its look. They went over several options, wanting a specific look for the book that would serve the purpose of coming off as something old and valuable and catching Claire’s attention immediately.
The one that appears in the film belonged to Brandt’s mother, who loves to read and hoards books. It is a pretty rare one in itself, which naturally made the audience curious about which edition it is. So far, there aren’t many copies of it available, which elevates its meaning for the scene. It shows Claire that Noah must have gone through some trouble to have it, flattering her even more.
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