“It All Begins With A Very, Very Long Dinner Party Sequence” David Koepp Talks ‘Black Bag’

John le Carré and Ian Fleming are synonymous with political spy thrillers. Prolific screenwriter David Koepp (most recently known for the supernatural horror film Presence) has once again teamed up with Steven Soderbergh to create a taught political thriller with the tantalizing title, Black Bag. Koepp spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about adding a breath of fresh air to this popular genre.

Rather than exclusively focussing on the behind the scenes logistics and execution of a spy story, and its inherent ingredients of deceit, betrayal and shifting suspicions, Koepp examines how their work affects the lives of spies.

Black Bag tells the story of the dynamics of a married couple George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and his wife Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), both career intelligence agents at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). When Kathryn is suspected of betraying the nation, George reminds her of the meaning of a life partner and what he’d do to protect her – even kill.

David Koepp. Photo by Claudette Barius

The screenwriter mines George and Kathryn’s intimate relationship knowing that lying and secrecy is part of the spy business and they must navigate their marriage within those boundaries.

When you can lie about everything, how do you tell the truth about anything?’

The Idea That Sparked Black Bag

The core idea for Black Bag arose when David was speaking to some CIA advisers while researching Mission Impossible and they were conversing about their personal lives more than a response to a major incident.

“They found it difficult to hold a relationship because when your job allows you to lie, and expects you to lie, it’s very hard for it to not blur over into your personal life,” says Koepp. When one partner asserts they are leaving town for a few days without being able to disclose any details, the “potential for abuse and cheating is massive.”

“They were saying that they don’t trust anyone to tell them the truth because they know that they themselves don’t tell the truth.” That said, Koepp declares that there isn’t a blurry line between truth and a lie. Something is either objectively true or it isn’t. A partial truth is still a lie. And that is the line George and Kathryn tread.

Koepp considered how this conceptual contortion applies in the context of a marriage where each partner is expected to be open and honest with each other. “The whole point of a marriage is that it’s a settled relationship. It’s continually evolving, but it’s settled.” A couple sets the rules of the marriage and the red lines that can’t be crossed. When both spouses are spies, this rule is challenged.

Plotting The Ultimate Spy Thriller

Black Bag is a thriller which relies on tight, intricate plotting to invite audiences to lean in and engage. George and Kathryn need to find the source of the intelligence leak. There are six key suspects in their team comprising Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris) and Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page).

There is a McGuffin in the cyber worm malware Severus that can destabilize a nuclear facility to propel the plot.

Freddie is a live wire with a drinking problem exacerbated by a steady stream of women, posing a security risk. He is also romantically involved with Clarissa. Zoe is the team’s therapist, but seems more interested in poking her nose into their business than maintaining their mental health. Stokes is Zoe’s patient and lover making for more complicated workplace dynamics which tests the line between professional and personal.

George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and Arthur Steiglitz (Pierce Brosnan) Photo by Claudette Barius/ Focus Features

Notably, Koepp chooses to emphasize the messy personal lives of the main characters, who are friends and colleagues, more than intelligence leak itself.

“That is one reason I wanted to start the movie with a lengthy dinner sequence, fourteen pages in the script. I wanted to meet each of them in the context of each other and see what their personal lives are like. The plot really is about the interpersonal machinations of this group of six people,” states Koepp.

The screenwriter loves the idea of an extended dinner party to set the stage. He starts and ends Black Bag with lengthy dinner scenes that feel more like a play to bookend his film. He grappled with how he could best hold the tension with six talking heads.

During his outlining process, David focused on “how do these character relationships change, who do they become and who are they?” The plotting was centred on their internal rather than the external world. He would outline a few scenes, write them, edit them, and outline some more to move the story forward.

Despite the dulled outbursts of the characters, the screenwriter allows for moments emotion and expression. “I want to evoke passion, anger, and jealousy. Tempers run hot and every character is in danger as well as a suspect.”

Inside A Spy Marriage

Even in the highly-secretive environment of the intelligence world, the screenwriter refused to tell a typical story of matrimonial betrayal in Black Bag. David Koepp was adamant that there wasn’t going to be any infidelity or breach of trust between Kathryn and George. They are in love and dedicated to their marriage. There are no “How could you do this to me?” scenes.

“I wanted them to be absolutely loyal to each other yet still be torn by all sorts of competing needs and agendas. So, they have to be evenly matched. No one can win alone. They have to win together,” continues the screenwriter.

Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett) and George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) Photo by Claudette Barius/ Focus Features

“Structurally, my idea was that there’s a first act in which suspicion is aroused in both parties, there’s a second act of figuring things out and both of them realizing they’re being manipulated, and a third act in which they can finally compare notes and solve the mystery together. I thought that would be a great surge of energy to see these two formidable people who we’d sort of been pitting against each other.”

David Koepp’s Writing Process

Using John le Carré as his North Star, David Koepp creates characters that often are “brutally unhappy and terribly lonely. I remember in A Spy Who Came In From The Cold, someone described the characters as shabby men.”

Koepp wanted to bring back those marginalized darker characters back in Black Bag. He wanted less of a “technical reliance” with sophisticated gadgetry to solve the puzzle.

There are shades of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolf, Klute, and All The President’s Men in Black Bag which were all infused with lies, paranoia, and deception.

An unavoidable aspect of modern life is the ubiquitous nature of screens. If there’s a surveillance operations, many spy thrillers rely on characters staring at screens to track their suspects. Koepp bucked this mindset. He wrote “Faces not screens” on a post-it and stuck it to his computer. For instance, if two characters needed to text each other, he’d bring them face to face to speak.

The writer also had the luxury of writing Black Bag during the writers’ strike without specific deadlines or other distractions.

“I had this idea I’d thought about for a long time. I worked on it in blissful privacy. No one knew it was a spec. Nobody really cared about it. There were no pressures of any kind except to get the story right. I was able to work out a complicated story with six major characters in private and that was really exhilarating.”

by Staff Writer

From our in-house editorial team.