Birdman: “Completely one shot? Don’t even try it”
Three screenwriters simultaneously writing a single-shot film, working with “madman” Alejandro González Iñárritu.
By Christopher McKittrick. Sure, the critically-acclaimed film Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and its much talked about presentation seem like artistic triumphs now. However, the three screenwriters who collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu on the script for Birdman admit that there was more than enough room for disaster to derail the […]
The Secret Life of Screenwriting
Steve Conrad on his remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
By Christopher McKittrick. On the surface, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty might seem like a major departure for screenwriter Steve Conrad. Conrad’s previous films have all been rooted in the inner conflicts of real-life ever since his first produced screenplay, 1993’s Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. His most successful films, The Weather Man and The Pursuit […]
From Rise to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Mark Bomback on the Apes franchise, on talking Ape and script doctoring.
by Christopher McKittrick While 20th Century Fox is currently enjoying the box office success of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the studio is hoping to score its second live action franchise hit of 2014 with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Though the franchise’s origins date back to the 1968 sci-fi classic Planet of […]
Out of the Furnace
Screenwriter and director Scott Cooper reveals the deeply personal narrative of Out of the Furnace, the resiliency of the Rust Belt, and why he turned Woody Harrelson from a “national treasure” to homicidal New Jersey hillbilly.
by Christopher McKittrick Scott Cooper was once a young actor from southwest Virginia who had appeared in small roles in a handful of films and television episodes. However, that was before he wrote the script for the 2009 thriller For Sale by Owner, which he also starred in and co-produced. To date it was Cooper’s […]
Wolverine: Two Writers, One Character
Mark Bomback and Scott Frank on exploring the vulnerability of Marvel’s indestructible mutant
by Christopher McKittrick As with many big-budget blockbusters of today’s multiplex-ready “summer tentpole” movies, The Wolverine—the sixth film in 20th Century Fox’s Marvel Comics X-Men franchise—went through a lengthy preproduction period and a number of creative directions. Originally announced a few days prior to the opening of the first Wolverine spinoff film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, […]
