This week our learned script editor revisits 10 fine mainstream films who, for various reasons, underperformed on initial release, but are well worth revisiting...
1. Breakdown (1997)
Kurt Russell plays a city slicker holidaying with his wife who, following a car breakdown, unwisely accepts a lift from a stranger.
2. Return to Oz (1985)
Yes there’s a sequel – and it’s better than you would expect. Far more sinister than its predecessor, here junior goth Fairuza Balk takes over the role of Dorothy. Rest assured there’s no singing.
3. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A deeply troubled film and all the more powerful for it. The seed of inspiration came from Stanley Kubrick but the film was directed by Spielberg. The tense combination of these distinct imaginations makes for a rattled, mysterious film, one of enchantment and dreadful suffering.
4. One True Thing (1998)
Although chiefly remembered as another golden bead on the necklace of Meryl Streep’s Oscar nominations, this is a far more subtle and entertaining film than its lachrymose synopsis might suggest. Streep plays a mother struggling with both a cancer diagnosis and the animosity between her husband and her daughter.
5. The Village (2004)
Seriously. It may have been the first of director M Night Shyamalan’s films to give rise to the feeling that audiences were tiring of his jack-in-the-box storytelling but The Village is a far more insinuating, atmospheric film than is often credited.
6. Excalibur (1981)
Prior to TV’s recent series Camelot, nothing really competed with John Boorman’s film for its exploitation of the lurid in the mystical – or perhaps it’s the mystical in the lurid; either way Helen Mirren acts up a storm as wicked witch Morgana.
7. The Hunger (1983)
Although almost exhaustingly modish this remains one of the most electrifying cinema explorations of the vampire myth. Featuring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as the gilded immortals and Susan Sarandon as their quick-witted prey, the film has a clotted style and a flimsy plot. It couldn’t be more entertaining.
8. Femme Fatale (2002)
If you detest Brian De Palma give this a miss. The film could be a montage of – or homage to – his obsessions and quirks. Rebecca Romijn steals some diamonds in the most flagrant of thefts and then betrays her fellow cons. A last-second identity swap is threatened by Antonio Banderas’ leisurely paparazzo. Compellingly silly.
9. Alien 3 (1993)
True, this entry into the Alien canon has its enthusiasts – more than can be said of Alien: Resurrection – but it deserves a larger cult. Ripley is now almost too careworn to fight and the atmosphere is doom-laden. What better starting place for David Fincher’s feature film career?
10. The American (2010)
Only released in 2010, this Euro-thriller starring George Clooney already seems in danger of fading from view. Staccato dialogue, a pretty but lived-in Italian town and a plot which uncoils like a serpent makes this a small masterpiece of intensity.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Script Editor VII - 10 Films You've Never Heard of Featuring Great Scripts...
On the script editor blog today: 10 Films You've Never Heard of Featuring Great Scripts (and why you should know about them...)
1. The Queen of Spades
Although director Thorold Dickinson deserves his share of the credit for the film’s magnificently eerie atmosphere, the script – by Rodney Ackland and Arthur Boys – masterfully adapts a Pushkin short story about gambling and the supernatural in 19th century Russia.
2. The Reckless Moment
Remade quite well as The Deep End in 2001, starring Tilda Swinton, the original is directed with characteristic elegance by Max Ophuls. The script work is equally skilled, Henry Garson and RW Soderborg expertly capturing the brittle dynamic between a mother (Joan Bennett) and her troubled daughter (Geraldine Brooks).
3. Wetherby
Although written – and directed – by England’s leading playwright, Wetherby remains little seen. David Hare develops this sombre but engaging film around a woman’s twinned experience of memory and regret, moving between the past and the present in the life of a lonely but resilient school teacher (Vanessa Redgrave).
4. Carrington
Another directorial debut by a famous playwright, Christopher Hampton’s script is probably superior to his handling of the actual film. An interesting film nonetheless, this uncharacteristically acidic period piece concerns the unlikely affair between two members of the famous Bloomsbury group: Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and Lytton Strachey (Jonathon Pryce).
5. Providence
Alain Resnais is a director as famed for his very particular visual style as he is for his collaborations with literary luminaries, in this case playwright David Mercer. In the film, a writer (John Gielgud), drunk and sickly, begins one night to write a novel in which reality and fiction are mashed together. The film is a struggle to describe and would be harder still without David Mercer’s tight structuring and bracing wit.
6. Nixon
The triple taboo: a presidential biopic, an, unavoidably, political film and a film written and directed by Oliver Stone. It’s also over three hours. That it works at all is testament not just to Stone’s extraordinary, sometimes overwhelming, resourcefulness as a director but also his screenplay which is both a compendious – if sometimes inaccurate – history as well as a pungent depiction of failure and humiliation.
7. The Servant
Harold Pinter’s script was based on a trashy novel by Robin Maugham, the film was directed by Joseph Losey and the result is one of the most convincingly malicious films made in this country. Metropolitan toff Tony (James Fox) finds his life increasingly dominated by his manservant (Dirk Bogarde, chilling). Some of it looks like dated melodrama but Pinter’s writing gives it an edge of real sordidness.
8. Radio Days
Hard to pick one forgotten Woody Allen comedy – some of his neglected ‘serious films’ are worth a look too – but this joyous tribute to wartime radio shows is wonderfully loose and heartfelt. Woody is absent from the action but he narrates, as the film skips between a family of Jewish neurotics and the various radio stars their youngest son cherishes. It feels almost free-form but that’s because Allen is so perfectly in control.
9. The Long Goodbye
Robert Altman was famously a director who encouraged improvisation and The Long Goodbye – adapted from the Raymond Chandler novel – is a perfect example of improvisation enhancing a film’s mood. How much of Leigh Brackett’s script remains in the finished film is uncertain but equally uncertain is how much Elliot Gould’s jazz-rhythm lead performance was an intended counter-riff on Barret’s original characterisation.
10. Bad Timing
The title is misleading: it’s a struggle to believe there was ever a good moment to intrude on the curdled love affair between Alex (Art Garfunkel) and Milena (Theresa Russell). This is a film of almost surgical unhappiness but whilst director Nic Roeg occasionally shows a clinician’s too-cool professionalism, writer Yale Udoff ensures the characters pulse with yearning and disappointment.
1. The Queen of Spades
Although director Thorold Dickinson deserves his share of the credit for the film’s magnificently eerie atmosphere, the script – by Rodney Ackland and Arthur Boys – masterfully adapts a Pushkin short story about gambling and the supernatural in 19th century Russia.
2. The Reckless Moment
Remade quite well as The Deep End in 2001, starring Tilda Swinton, the original is directed with characteristic elegance by Max Ophuls. The script work is equally skilled, Henry Garson and RW Soderborg expertly capturing the brittle dynamic between a mother (Joan Bennett) and her troubled daughter (Geraldine Brooks).
3. Wetherby
Although written – and directed – by England’s leading playwright, Wetherby remains little seen. David Hare develops this sombre but engaging film around a woman’s twinned experience of memory and regret, moving between the past and the present in the life of a lonely but resilient school teacher (Vanessa Redgrave).
4. Carrington
Another directorial debut by a famous playwright, Christopher Hampton’s script is probably superior to his handling of the actual film. An interesting film nonetheless, this uncharacteristically acidic period piece concerns the unlikely affair between two members of the famous Bloomsbury group: Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and Lytton Strachey (Jonathon Pryce).
5. Providence
Alain Resnais is a director as famed for his very particular visual style as he is for his collaborations with literary luminaries, in this case playwright David Mercer. In the film, a writer (John Gielgud), drunk and sickly, begins one night to write a novel in which reality and fiction are mashed together. The film is a struggle to describe and would be harder still without David Mercer’s tight structuring and bracing wit.
6. Nixon
The triple taboo: a presidential biopic, an, unavoidably, political film and a film written and directed by Oliver Stone. It’s also over three hours. That it works at all is testament not just to Stone’s extraordinary, sometimes overwhelming, resourcefulness as a director but also his screenplay which is both a compendious – if sometimes inaccurate – history as well as a pungent depiction of failure and humiliation.
7. The Servant
Harold Pinter’s script was based on a trashy novel by Robin Maugham, the film was directed by Joseph Losey and the result is one of the most convincingly malicious films made in this country. Metropolitan toff Tony (James Fox) finds his life increasingly dominated by his manservant (Dirk Bogarde, chilling). Some of it looks like dated melodrama but Pinter’s writing gives it an edge of real sordidness.
8. Radio Days
Hard to pick one forgotten Woody Allen comedy – some of his neglected ‘serious films’ are worth a look too – but this joyous tribute to wartime radio shows is wonderfully loose and heartfelt. Woody is absent from the action but he narrates, as the film skips between a family of Jewish neurotics and the various radio stars their youngest son cherishes. It feels almost free-form but that’s because Allen is so perfectly in control.
9. The Long Goodbye
Robert Altman was famously a director who encouraged improvisation and The Long Goodbye – adapted from the Raymond Chandler novel – is a perfect example of improvisation enhancing a film’s mood. How much of Leigh Brackett’s script remains in the finished film is uncertain but equally uncertain is how much Elliot Gould’s jazz-rhythm lead performance was an intended counter-riff on Barret’s original characterisation.
10. Bad Timing
The title is misleading: it’s a struggle to believe there was ever a good moment to intrude on the curdled love affair between Alex (Art Garfunkel) and Milena (Theresa Russell). This is a film of almost surgical unhappiness but whilst director Nic Roeg occasionally shows a clinician’s too-cool professionalism, writer Yale Udoff ensures the characters pulse with yearning and disappointment.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Script Editor VI: 10 Terrible Career Moves by Hollywood's Top Brass
10 Terrible Career Moves by Hollywood's Top Brass
1. Quitting your job.
Well, sometimes. Mike Ovitz, founder of CAA and onetime Hollywood big cheese, left his job as chairman of the talent agency and has been foundering ever since. Corollary: don’t get give other people a reason to feel schadenfreude when you mess up.
2. Getting fired from your job
Or, put another way, don’t make yourself a candidate for canning. So Helen Kushnick discovered when she was executive producer for The Tonight Show and reportedly banned stars from appearing on the program if they appeared on any other talk show.
3. Firing your loyal assistant
True if they’re loyal and competent you probably aren’t going to be handing them their marching papers anytime soon but if you’re itching to swap in someone new then perhaps reconsider – remember Swimming With Sharks?
4. Passing on a hot script
Development Execs beware: if a script has heat you might want to warm up your opinion. It’s unfair but when it comes to apportioning blame for the film the company shoulda-coulda-woulda made but didn’t, you know where the buck stops.
5. Shoplifting
Not an obvious pastime but as a certain actress demonstrated, an unpaid shopping spree – especially one motivated by an unhealthy intake of pharmaceutical compounds – is not going to broaden your range in the eyes of casting directors or comfort a production’s insurers. Also include in this category, drug busts and driving under the influence.
6. Dropping out of a franchise
Well, this can work both ways; just look at the Batman films. Of the various caped crusaders, Michael Keaton departed too soon, Val Kilmer just in time and George Clooney… well, his subsequent career proved that he really is touched by grace.
7. Upfront money or profit points?
Always a gamble. The stars of the Carry On films can rest easy in their decision to always take upfront fees rather than gross percentages. Donald Sutherland however might occasionally yearn for the $40 million he could have made in profit participation on Animal House.
8. Reputation
Everybody’s got one and they should guard it jealously. Throughout cinema history it’s mainly been a concern for actors – from Fatty Arbuckle to Mel Gibson – but everyone has a profile. Then again, Scott Rudin and the Weinsteins have demonstrated that a tarnished rep isn’t necessarily the kiss of death to a career; people just get dry-mouth when taking your calls.
9. Not playing the game
When David Puttnam was invited across the pond to become head of Columbia he rapidly became, despite his apparent status, small fry. Creating opportunities for European filmmakers, lowering budget and salaries and, allegedly, sabotaging the already troubled Warren Beatty project Ishtar meant that Puttnam was soon out of the game he’d been attempting to resist.
10. Money
Yes film is a business and yes films are expensive to make. But there’s a difference between making films which make money and making films because they’ll make money. Running the numbers works only so long as you’re able to produce films which yield boffo numbers.
1. Quitting your job.
Well, sometimes. Mike Ovitz, founder of CAA and onetime Hollywood big cheese, left his job as chairman of the talent agency and has been foundering ever since. Corollary: don’t get give other people a reason to feel schadenfreude when you mess up.
2. Getting fired from your job
Or, put another way, don’t make yourself a candidate for canning. So Helen Kushnick discovered when she was executive producer for The Tonight Show and reportedly banned stars from appearing on the program if they appeared on any other talk show.
3. Firing your loyal assistant
True if they’re loyal and competent you probably aren’t going to be handing them their marching papers anytime soon but if you’re itching to swap in someone new then perhaps reconsider – remember Swimming With Sharks?
4. Passing on a hot script
Development Execs beware: if a script has heat you might want to warm up your opinion. It’s unfair but when it comes to apportioning blame for the film the company shoulda-coulda-woulda made but didn’t, you know where the buck stops.
5. Shoplifting
Not an obvious pastime but as a certain actress demonstrated, an unpaid shopping spree – especially one motivated by an unhealthy intake of pharmaceutical compounds – is not going to broaden your range in the eyes of casting directors or comfort a production’s insurers. Also include in this category, drug busts and driving under the influence.
6. Dropping out of a franchise
Well, this can work both ways; just look at the Batman films. Of the various caped crusaders, Michael Keaton departed too soon, Val Kilmer just in time and George Clooney… well, his subsequent career proved that he really is touched by grace.
7. Upfront money or profit points?
Always a gamble. The stars of the Carry On films can rest easy in their decision to always take upfront fees rather than gross percentages. Donald Sutherland however might occasionally yearn for the $40 million he could have made in profit participation on Animal House.
8. Reputation
Everybody’s got one and they should guard it jealously. Throughout cinema history it’s mainly been a concern for actors – from Fatty Arbuckle to Mel Gibson – but everyone has a profile. Then again, Scott Rudin and the Weinsteins have demonstrated that a tarnished rep isn’t necessarily the kiss of death to a career; people just get dry-mouth when taking your calls.
9. Not playing the game
When David Puttnam was invited across the pond to become head of Columbia he rapidly became, despite his apparent status, small fry. Creating opportunities for European filmmakers, lowering budget and salaries and, allegedly, sabotaging the already troubled Warren Beatty project Ishtar meant that Puttnam was soon out of the game he’d been attempting to resist.
10. Money
Yes film is a business and yes films are expensive to make. But there’s a difference between making films which make money and making films because they’ll make money. Running the numbers works only so long as you’re able to produce films which yield boffo numbers.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Script Editor V: 10 Great Coming-of-Age Movies...
In what will be an ongoing series from our script editors, here's 10 great films from that most emotive, internal-conflict-heavy sub-genre: the coming-of-age movie.
1. Stand By Me
Aside from The Shawshank Redemption, has Stephen King’s writing ever been so well served by the cinema? River Phoenix is a standout in this gently sorrowful tale of young friends on an adventure.
2. The Ice Storm
Downbeat, a little vague but undeniably powerful, Ang Lee’s adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel is a sombre portrait of dysfunctional families in 1970s America. The adults are more wayward than their kids, who are struggling to find their place in a seemingly loveless world. Cast includes a coltish Christina Ricci, a twitchy Elijah Wood and the always soulful Tobey Maguire.
3. The Believer
Little seen upon release, this film was an early substantial role for the increasingly ubiquitous Ryan Gosling. The provocative story centres on a brilliant Jewish student (Gosling) who turns to fascism and establishes an anti-Semitic skinhead gang in New York.
4. Rushmore
Like most of Wes Anderson’s filmography, something of an acquired taste. This coming-of-ager leans heavily on quirk as it tells the story of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) an unfocused but precocious high-school student who grows increasingly attached to his widowed teachers (Olivia Williams) leading to a feud with best pal (Bill Murray).
5. Thirteen
A suitable tagline might have been the feminist axiom: “The two worst years in a woman’s life are when she’s thirteen and the year her daughter is.” Evan Rachel Wood falls under the malign influence of self-styled bad girl Nikki Reed; Holly Hunter can only watch in disbelief as her sweet, Grade-A student daughter transforms into a junked-up tearaway. Alarmist for sure but the film has a wounded authenticity which is hard to dismiss.
6. Rebel Without a Cause
Dated slang, muted sexual undertones and the slightly shrill assignation of blame to the parents are just a few of this classic teen drama’s faux pas. What remains is a trio of superb performances from James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood and a glossy but sincere evocation of 1950s America.
7. Heathers
“My teen-angst-bullshit has a body count!” wails Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder); her dissatisfaction has undoubtedly had its victims. Pairing up with outsider JD (Christian Slater) she offs high school queen bee – one of the titular Heathers – and having covered it up as suicide unwittingly initiates a trend. Coming of age in this film means a resistance to conformity – and the discovery that this can be achieved without murder.
8. Gregory’s Girl
A simple but direct Scottish film from Bill Forsyth about a boy (John Gordon Sinclair) dealing with the usual adolescent growing pains and persevering with as much good humour as he can muster. A familiar story made distinct by seeming so true to life by having only the slightest touch of reassuring whimsy.
9. Cria!
A little off the beaten path this 1976 Spanish film – titled Raise Ravens in English-speaking territories – is both a rare film which conveys the strangeness of the adult world as seen from the perspective of a child and an equally rare film which is able to portray a child’s mind as being continually between waking and dream. Truly mysterious.
10. Deep End
Very little seen until a recent re-release, this is a scabrous black comedy is set in a London waking up to the dyspeptic comedown from the giddy 1960s. A school dropout (John Moulder-Brown) takes a job as an attendant at a suburban swimming pool and becomes obsessed with Susan (Jane Asher), his haughty colleague. It’s rare for a film to be either truly funny or truly unsettling; this is both.
1. Stand By Me
Aside from The Shawshank Redemption, has Stephen King’s writing ever been so well served by the cinema? River Phoenix is a standout in this gently sorrowful tale of young friends on an adventure.
2. The Ice Storm
Downbeat, a little vague but undeniably powerful, Ang Lee’s adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel is a sombre portrait of dysfunctional families in 1970s America. The adults are more wayward than their kids, who are struggling to find their place in a seemingly loveless world. Cast includes a coltish Christina Ricci, a twitchy Elijah Wood and the always soulful Tobey Maguire.
3. The Believer
Little seen upon release, this film was an early substantial role for the increasingly ubiquitous Ryan Gosling. The provocative story centres on a brilliant Jewish student (Gosling) who turns to fascism and establishes an anti-Semitic skinhead gang in New York.
4. Rushmore
Like most of Wes Anderson’s filmography, something of an acquired taste. This coming-of-ager leans heavily on quirk as it tells the story of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) an unfocused but precocious high-school student who grows increasingly attached to his widowed teachers (Olivia Williams) leading to a feud with best pal (Bill Murray).
5. Thirteen
A suitable tagline might have been the feminist axiom: “The two worst years in a woman’s life are when she’s thirteen and the year her daughter is.” Evan Rachel Wood falls under the malign influence of self-styled bad girl Nikki Reed; Holly Hunter can only watch in disbelief as her sweet, Grade-A student daughter transforms into a junked-up tearaway. Alarmist for sure but the film has a wounded authenticity which is hard to dismiss.
6. Rebel Without a Cause
Dated slang, muted sexual undertones and the slightly shrill assignation of blame to the parents are just a few of this classic teen drama’s faux pas. What remains is a trio of superb performances from James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood and a glossy but sincere evocation of 1950s America.
7. Heathers
“My teen-angst-bullshit has a body count!” wails Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder); her dissatisfaction has undoubtedly had its victims. Pairing up with outsider JD (Christian Slater) she offs high school queen bee – one of the titular Heathers – and having covered it up as suicide unwittingly initiates a trend. Coming of age in this film means a resistance to conformity – and the discovery that this can be achieved without murder.
8. Gregory’s Girl
A simple but direct Scottish film from Bill Forsyth about a boy (John Gordon Sinclair) dealing with the usual adolescent growing pains and persevering with as much good humour as he can muster. A familiar story made distinct by seeming so true to life by having only the slightest touch of reassuring whimsy.
9. Cria!
A little off the beaten path this 1976 Spanish film – titled Raise Ravens in English-speaking territories – is both a rare film which conveys the strangeness of the adult world as seen from the perspective of a child and an equally rare film which is able to portray a child’s mind as being continually between waking and dream. Truly mysterious.
10. Deep End
Very little seen until a recent re-release, this is a scabrous black comedy is set in a London waking up to the dyspeptic comedown from the giddy 1960s. A school dropout (John Moulder-Brown) takes a job as an attendant at a suburban swimming pool and becomes obsessed with Susan (Jane Asher), his haughty colleague. It’s rare for a film to be either truly funny or truly unsettling; this is both.
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