Understanding Screenwriting #145
Love & Friendship, The Meddler, Suffragette, Man Up, Francofonia, Tale of Tales, Confirmation, Bidding Goodbye to Characters on Television
A Marriage Almost Made in Heaven. Love & Friendship (2016. Screenplay by Whit Stillman, based on the novella Lady Susan by Jane Austen. 92 minutes.) As I wrote in the third edition in 2001 of FrameWork: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film, Austen was one of the hot screenwriters of the nineties. […]
Understanding Screenwriting #144
Barbershop: The Next Cut; The Jungle Book; Hello, My Name is Doris; From Here to Eternity (book); A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (stage musical); Mrs. Sundance; and Wanted: The Sundance Woman.
By Tom Stempel. Fan Mail. Back when I was writing this column for the House Next Door, one of my joys was reading the comments section. The readers of House were very smart, very opinionated, and avoided the usual depressing Internet “You suck,” “No, you suck,” “No, YOU suck.” I very much miss the comments. […]
Understanding Screenwriting #143
Zootopia, Knight of Cups, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Everybody Wants Some!!, Q Planes, The Lion Has Wings.
By Tom Stempel. Astonishingly Uninventive Zootopia (2016. Screenplay by Jared Bush, Phil Johnston, story by Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Rich Moore, Josie Trinidad, Jim Reardon, Phil Johnston, and Jennifer Lee. 108 minutes.) While Pixar has had a great run of wonderfully inventive animated features, the output of its sister organization the Walt Disney Animation […]
The Visual Unity of Menzies
Tom Stempel discusses the films of production designer William Cameron Menzies, and explores the relationship between production designer and script.
By Tom Stempel. William Cameron Menzies was one of the great production designers in the history of the movies. His credits include the 1924 Douglas Fairbanks Thief of Bagdad, Things to Come (1936), the 1940 Thief of Bagdad, and the film he is best known for, Gone With the Wind (1939). You may remember that […]
Understanding Screenwriting #142
Mustang, Hail, Caesar!, San Andreas, A Most Violent Year.
By Tom Stempel. No, Not a Remake of The Misfits. Mustang (2015. Screenplay by Deniz Gamse Urgüven and Alice Minocour. 97 minutes.) The Misfits (1961) was Arthur Miller’s script about a woman, played by his wife, who gets involved with modern day cowboys who capture mustangs (wild horses) and sell them for pet […]
