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380. The art of adaptation >For all Salmon Fishing in the Yemen producer Paul Webster's optimism, however, the task of adapting Paul Torday's novel would prove challenging. Torday's novel is composed entirely of emails, memos and letters. There are no first- or third-person exchanges, and while it is technically a very accomplished piece, it left the potential adapter with a Herculean task. Webster turned to The Full Monty, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours screenwriter Simon Beaufoy."Simon was a brilliant choice to write the screenplay," says Webster, "because the story feels somewhat like a natural stable mate to something like The Full Monty. Simon is a dab hand at comedy and he is also an expert adaptor." "His main challenge was uniting the political, satirical thread with the romantic comedy, the story of Fred and Harriet's journey to each other. Satire's natural home is either on the page or on television or stage and it rarely works on film." Read more
379. Writing an orginal screenplay based on a classic fairytale > According to producer Bernie Goldmann, who collaborated with producer Josh Pate and writer Melisa Wallack to develop the initial concept for Mirror Mirror, they were inspired by a photograph depicting a live model as the fairy-tale heroine. "What we set out to do was to make a live action version of the classic fairy tale, Snow White. We realized that it's a great story that had never been explored narratively in a live-action movie." In looking for a director to turn the concept into reality, Goldmann says Tarsem Singh was the obvious choice. Singh and Goldmann decided that the best way to start the search for a unique take on the classic tale was by returning to the original story. They discovered a wealth of options. "The story actually has existed for five or six hundred years throughout Europe, in many different countries and different versions," says Goldmann. "We were able to incorporate what we learned from our research into the concept for our movie." Read more
378. From short story to film > The Grey director Joe Carnahan's interest to make the film was sparked by a short story by writer Ian Mackenzie Jeffers called "Ghost Walkers" about oil workers hunted by a pack of rogue wolves following a plane crash. Jeffers crafted a rough screenplay, and Carnahan spent the next four years, on and off, developing the various characters and narrative. "It took a lot of time, but the story sparked my interest in a primal way," says the writer-director. "It mirrors what a man holds dear and important, and I also found that evolving as time went by." Read more
377. Don't limit your imagination As the author of the novel, there was perhaps no better choice than Gideon Defoe to write the screenplay for The Pirates! Band of Misfits. However, Defoe had no experience with stop-frame animation before writing his adaptation - which set out a challenge for the filmmakers. "If I'd had any frame of reference, I'd never have written it the way I wrote it," he says. "It turns out that big, exciting battles at sea and crowd scenes are a nightmare for stop-motion. But luckily, it was never a limitation. Nobody ever said, 'We can't do this,' it was always, 'We'll work out a way.' Stop-motion has a charm that nothing else does - when a thing is physically there, it makes a complete difference and the characters really come to life." Read more
376. Write the ultimate love story > Drawing inspiration from this hulking specter below the sea, James Cameron envisioned a love story intertwined with the fascinating details about the ship and her maiden -- and only -- voyage to further humanize its legendary symbolism. Utilizing advanced filmmaking technology, audiences will also set sail on Titanic. However, despite its state-of-the-art pedigree, the film is - and remains - a powerfully human tale. It is here that the heart of "Titanic" beats. "The tragedy of Titanic has assumed an almost mythic quality in our collective imagination," Cameron says. "But the passage of time has robbed it of its human face and vitality. I hope that Rose and Jack's relationship will be a kind of emotional lightning rod, if you will, allowing viewers to invest their minds and their hearts to make history come alive again." Traveling on a ship physically designed to prevent them from ever meeting, third-class passenger Jack Dawson and first-class passenger, Rose DeWitt Bukater, have taken the ultimate risk -- to defy the oppressive social conventions of their time and fall in love. Read more
375. Write what fascinates you > Right at the beginning, seven or eight years ago, I fantasized about making a silent film. Probably because the great mythical directors I admire most all come from silent cinema... Hitchcock, Lang, Ford, Lubitsch, Murnau, Billy Wilder (as screenwriter)... ," says The Artist writer-director Michel Hazanavicius. ntasy all the way. Then I told him, like everybody else he talked to about his project: "It's a great idea but do you think we'll find the financing?" Read more
374. From inspiration to epic big screen action > Considered by many to be the first space hero, John Carter was first introduced to the world in American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs' story "Under the Moons of Mars," which was published serially in All-Story magazine before being renamed and published as the novel "A Princess of Mars" in 1917. For acclaimed director Andrew Stanton, it wasn't as simple as just getting the chance to bring Burroughs' book to the screen. He wanted to distinguish his first live-action film from all of the other sci-fi movies out there too. "'John Carter' is a big, epic, sci-fi action-adventure with romance and action and political intrigue," he says. "Because the subject matter was written so long ago, it became an origin of those kinds of stories in the last century. It was sort of a comic book before there were comic books; an adventure story before it became a whole genre of its own. It was difficult to go back into this book and not look like you were being derivative of everything else because it's been an inspiration for things for 100 years." Read more
373. P.O.V > In 2005 the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, already renowned for his blend of incisive comedy and tragedy in his debut novel "Everything Is Illuminated," published his follow-up "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." His second novel was, on the one hand, the playful story of an unusually precocious and sensitive boy who invents fantastical devices, dreams about astrophysics, collects a vast assortment of random facts - and is compelled into a quixotic odyssey through the fabric of New York. Read more
372. Adapting War Horse for the Big Screen When the filmmakers next turned their attention to adapting the novel, first they brought in British screenwriter Lee Hall, who wrote the triumphant "Billy Elliot," and then, to add more layers, they brought in another Brit, Richard Curtis, whose films include "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill" as well as the TV series "Blackadder," a comedy set in the trenches of World War I.Curtis notes that the story has a strong connection to the world right now. "With the financial recession, and the threat of terrorism, that question of how individuals survive in a big dangerous world is something that we are all more aware of right now," he notes. No matter what tweaks of plot they made, the writers always kept Joey at the heart of things. "He represents all of our innocence thrown into an unbelievable cataclysm," sums up Hall. "In his perspective all the complexities are stripped back to the simple, and it becomes a very human story." Read more
371. War Horse started with novelist and children's author Michael Morpurgo, who always wanted to write a tale set against the Great War. World War I is perhaps the least talked-about conflict of the 20th century, leaving in its wake a world forever changed and a generation tasked to rebuild from ashes. For a long time Morpurgo had looked for an original way to write about the war. But it wasn't until he met an aged veteran in a bar that he found his way in--inspiration sparked when he heard the man talk with passion not about his fellow soldiers but about the incredibly heroic horses with whom he served. Read some writing tips from Michael Morpurgo and his views on the stage and film adaptations
370. From real life to reel fun The story for This Means War was conceived by Marcus Gautesen while he was living with his best friend in a two bedroom apartment in New York City's Little Italy. Both unemployed, they decided to move into one bedroom and rent out the other. A beautiful French woman took the second room, and the guys' friendship quickly went south as they repeatedly submarined each other's attempts to win her over. It was War. Read more
369. The art of collaboration Says Material producer Ronnie Apteker: "Carl Fischer at M-Net handed me a rough cut of Gums & Noses to watch and I was amazed at what the film making team had created here. Craig Freimond knows how to tell a story, and he understands about character development. Carl then gave me Craig's number and we met. From there we got to know each other and Craig went to watch Riaad perform his special brand of magic. I had a vision and also, I had written a short story about Riaad's life. This became the foundation for the movie we are making now. Craig then spent 7 years with Riaad, Robbie, myself, and a host of others, writing and refining this beautiful and magical script. Craig deserves all the credit that is coming his way - this has been a true labour of love, and a fantastic collaboration." Read more
368. Writing an Afrikaans romantic comedy Says Semi-Soet actress and producer Anel Alexander: We wrapped our first film Discreet and then it released at the end of 2008. It took James and I a year before we felt ready to do it again. I remember we were driving somewhere and my English-speaking husband turned to me and said, "You must make an Afrikaans romantic comedy. That's what Afrikaans audiences need - a film in a different genre, a film that doesn't make them look stupid and vulgar, a film in which the humour and the characters are intelligent, aspirational and sexy." I immediately started doing some research and found that Afrikaans chick-lit already had quite a following. I read every book I could lay my hands on hoping to find a story that would work…" Read more
367. The power of POV (point of view) "In most stories, superpowers are generally applied to good and evil, but in reality they'd be applied to necessity," says Josh Trank, who makes his feature directorial debut and also co-wrote the story with Max Landis. "And when you're a teenager, necessity is really about making yourself happy. You'd want to laugh and have a good time with those powers." Trank was determined that Chronicle wouldn't be "your father's P-O-V movie. The story is very grounded; it's not a fantasy or genre film; it's a story about young people. It's about real teens and not caricatures of young people. Their lives are anything but perfect. We get into their world and discover their challenges, long before anything extraordinary begins to happen. By the time the guys have obtained their powers, that element is so firmly woven into the story and characters that the film segues into an exploration of how they come to terms with those powers." Read More
366. Make icons human With the book rights secured, the team approached screenwriter Adrian Hodges, with whom director Simon Curtis had worked on a BBC adaptation of David Copperfirld, to try his hand at an adaptation of My Week With Marilyn. . Hodges, however, expressed doubts about taking on Monroe as a subject. "Like everyone else I was mesmerized by SOME LIKE IT HOT the first time I saw it. I had never seen anything so sexy," says the screenwriter. "But stories about Marilyn feel like an overworked field. Over the years she's just become this thing, this poster, a set image which has been produced again and again and again, both in her own image and in people like Madonna's and Lady Gaga's." But after reading Clark's two memoirs, Hodges changed his mind. "I thought they gave a wonderful insight to the very real side of Marilyn, the Marilyn who was everything that everybody thought she was - scared, insecure, frantic, sometimes impossible - but at the same time vulnerable, sweet, endearing, just a young girl, really. So I thought this screenplay could make her human again." Read more
365. Compact events Writer-director Julie Taymor chose to compact the events of the play The Tempest to take place over the course of one day (two days in the original). The collapsed time element adds to the story's tension, but also impacted the shooting schedule.Read more
364. From concept to story Says Safe House screenwriter David Guggenheim: "I started with the concept of 'let's examine someone who works in a safe house, a housekeeper,' and that grew into pairing up a green, idealistic housekeeper with a veteran cynic. In some ways, it's a road movie, because it's about these two guys trying to get from point A to point B, from one safe house to another. That's a clear spine along which you can play with these two butting heads. The characters have completely different points of view and are at different points in their careers." Read more
363. Use drawings as a roadmap Producer Graham King: "My producing partner Tim Headington and I were enchanted by Brian Selznick's book. Immediately we thought it would be a beautiful story for Martin Scorsese to create into a piece of cinema." The team turned to John Logan--their writer on "The Aviator"--to take Selznick's words and illustrations and transform them into a screenplay for Hugo. As with most book-to-movie conversions, some things had to change. Logan comments, "I had to cut and change some elements of Brian's book to make a more streamlined, shorter movie. The drawings were extremely helpful, because they reminded me of movie storyboards. In effect, they presented a road map for me to follow. In fact, the screenplay opens with a description very similar to Brian's first drawings in the book." Read more
362. Walk in the footsteps of a famous person's life Says Abi Morgan, screenwriter of The Iron Lady: "It's been amazing to write this, because it's such a huge animal for me, and to write something that has a strong, dramatic narrative and yet manages to navigate its way through a lot of events in a hugely packed life. From a writing point of view, it is a dream come true to get Meryl Streep saying your words. There's a moment, from a filmmaking point of view, where the writer's work stops and it now becomes the world and the baby of the director and the actors and the crew, so I'm genuinely excited to watch it as a film. But also it's just been phenomenal to spend so much time with her, i.e. Margaret Thatcher, without ever actually meeting her. Having read so many memoirs and biographies and seen so many interviews, it's been really fascinating walking in the footsteps of someone's life." Read more
361. The importance of a title Since his days as president of production at Warner Bros., producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura had wanted to turn the script for Man on a Ledge into a film. It started, of course, with that immediately alluring title. "There's an inherent drama to the idea," says di Bonaventura. It's also a phrase known to cops everywhere. Producer Mark Vahradian explains, "it's a real terminology the police use, 'man on a ledge,' when somebody is up in a building and going to jump." Explains di Bonaventura, "it's a movie where things keep turning on themselves...There's something gripping about the idea of a man on a ledge," continues di Bonaventura. "Is he going to jump? Is he not gonna jump? And you know we talked to a lot of veteran cops and people who have been in this situation. And they say in general the people down below about are 50/50 for them to jump or not jump, which is kind of sick and yet I guess it is human nature. I think it's what attracted us to the script is that impending catastrophe and in this case we wanted to have this very strong interactivity between the ledge and what's going on there." Read more
360. Challenge the creative team "One of the biggest challenges of the script of Trespass," says production designer Nathan Amondson, "was how to keep that place interesting enough to sit and stare at it for more than half of the film, and coming up with something that kept on stimulating your senses while the action was going on." Using the script as a starting point, and referencing great architects like Richard Meier, Bussier, and Louis Kahn, Nathan and Joel began sharing photos online and the two met in Shreveport to scout actual locations. "We wanted something that was architecturally very modern, that had a certain vastness in relationship to the characters so they almost feel dwarfed to a certain degree by the house. And Joel was very insistent that he wanted to have two stories." Read more
359. The importance of setting Director Alexander Payne has always been drawn to these peculiar situations in everyday life that can be experienced as comical, devastating and revealing all in the same breath. When he read Kaui Hart Hemmings' acclaimed debut novel, The Descendants, he was immediately lured by its sharp contrasts. "The novel appealed to me because it's an emotional story unfolding in an exotic locale," Payne says. "It's a story that perhaps could be told anywhere, but what made the book for me was its completely unique setting among the landed upper-classes in Hawaii. It's very specific to this place, yet it is also universal." "On a filmmaking level, it was very interesting to me because I've never seen a filmic Honolulu. We see New York, Chicago, L.A., Miami and Seattle, but this is a region we never see in films. There's a whole distinctive social fabric to life in Hawaii and that intrigued me. I love films with a specific sense of place. I started making movies in Omaha, then I went to Santa Barbara and now I have ended up in Hawaii." Hemmings was able to entwine Hawaiian culture into her story of a bewildered man lurching towards redemption because she herself grew up in a not-so-conventional Hawaiian family. Read more
358. The importance of a catalytic event > In Seeking Justice, one fateful decision made in the throes of grief and anguish sets in motion a spiral of intrigue, manipulation, fear and paranoia. In choosing opportunistic vengeance over institutional justice, a devoted husband and teacher finds himself on the run from authorities and the self-righteous leader of a secretive vigilante group. "This is a story about a distressed man who accepts an offer of retribution and soon realizes he's made a pact with the devil," says director Roger Donaldson, helmer of such acclaimed suspense thrillers as "No Way Out" and "The Bank Job." "He stumbles into something much larger than what he thought he was getting into." Written by Robert Tannen and Yuri Zeltser, the story explores, at an accelerating pace, a complex psychological maze of victimization, retribution and justice. Tannen collaborated with the director in polishing the script in New Orleans in the weeks prior to principal photography, and says he was thrilled to have his story in the hands of Donaldson and Nicolas Cage, of whom he says he is a "huge fan." Read more
357. Introduce your story to new generation > While president of the motion picture group at The Walt Disney Studios, Hoberman was behind releases like "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Muppet Treasure Island." Meanwhile, Lieberman's appreciation for the franchise grew from personal experience. "I have always been a big Muppet fan," says Lieberman. "There's clearly a nostalgic love. The characters are just inherently lovable and I'm thrilled that we're bringing them together again in this movie. It's been beautiful introducing them to my own children." And that's a good thing, says director James Bobin. Disney's The Muppets will welcome a whole new generation into the world of the Muppets, and Bobin can attest to the positive influence these characters can have on young audiences. "I watched the Muppets at a very early age in England, and they have significantly influenced my sense of humor and what I find funny." Read more
356. What If? The Darkest Hour began as the seed of an idea often discussed by producer Tom Jacobson and executive producer Monnie Wills. "About five years ago, we were talking about what would it be like to survive in the wake of an alien apocalypse where we lost?" explains Jacobson. "What happens the day after Independence Day? We were interested in a story that is focused just on the characters. Where were they? I like stories about humanity and science fiction, with the classic themes such as ordinary people in the midst of extraordinary circumstances. What would happen if we were attacked, conquered, and occupied? That was the genesis of the idea." Read more
355. The importance of research > "Coming off of 'Milk,' Hoover was someone I really wanted to investigate," writer Dustin Lance Black states about J. Edgar. "To me, he seemed the very opposite of Milk: a man with tremendous political power, but intensely closeted when it came to his personal life." eager to do so again. "I wanted to do a movie about J. Edgar Hoover--not a documentary, but an actual feature film," he relates. "I was interested in the power and corruption that existed in his world, much of it of his own making, in spite of his being such a dedicated patriot ...My initial research labeled him either a hero to the nation, to whom we owe everything in terms of our protection and safety, or a villain who did things in an underhanded manner and was a terror to the country. It all seemed so extreme; I thought the truth had to lie somewhere in between."After reading almost everything that had been published on Hoover, Black set off to track down as many firsthand accounts as possible from those few people still living who had known him. He filled in the picture with information from others who may not have known the man personally but lived in Washington, D.C., during his period in office, in order to get a full picture of him, the good and the bad. Read more Read interview with screenwriter Justin Lance Black
354. Be resilient and realistic > Says We Need to Talk About Kevin Lynne Ramsay (Director / Screenwriter / Executive Producer): "It's always a struggle to make something with an individual voice. You need to be resilient and realistic.I don't normally read that many contemporary novels, I'm still going through the classics (laughs) - that'll take a while. But this was the most original thing I've read for ages, it's a modern classic I think. It addresses quite a taboo subject matter that I don't think has been explored that much, especially not in film. That really attracted me to it, the originality of it and the nature of the subject matter; what if you don't feel that bond for your child? I thought that was a very interesting thing to explore." Read more Interview with screenwriter-director Lynne Ramsay
353. Reinvent and reinvigorate a popular franchise > For the fourth installment of their mega-hit Underworld franchise, producers Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Richard Wright, and franchise creator Len Wiseman have taken the extraordinary risk of reinventing and reinvigorating an already hugely successful, internationally acclaimed property. The filmmakers have transported their Vampire and Lycan characters into a contemporary, human-dominated world in Underworld Awakening. Read more
352. Challenge yourself to learn > "I didn't want to write a political movie." says Machine Gun Preacher screenwriter Jason Keller. "That wasn't what touched me as I started to learn about Sam's life and Central Africa. I think of myself as fairly well-informed. I read the newspaper, I'm constantly watching the news, I always challenge myself to learn about things that are not easy to learn about. And here was a part of the world I thought I knew and as I got deeper into it there was an emotional response to what I was learning. Innocent civilians being slaughtered and no one was doing anything about it. I wanted to do a movie that would make people inspired, even angry, but not clutter it with politics.Read interview with screenwriter Jason Keller
351. The time it takes to write a script can change fiction into fact > "In the 10 years it took me to develop the script, it started as a science-fiction film, but through the mapping of the human genome and cellular therapy, 10 years later, it became a reality," says writer-director Pedro Amodovar of The Skin I Live In. "After doubting for months, I decided to go my own way and let myself be carried along by intuition, after all, it's what I've always done, without the shadow of the maestros of the genre (among other reasons because I don't know to what genre this film belongs) and renouncing my own cinematic memory." Read more
350. A fish out of water story > After securing the film rights of We Bought A Zoo, Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses) adapted the story for the big screen. McKenna says she found Mee's story compelling, inspiring and heartwarming. She recalls that the second she saw the cover of the book she envisioned the entire movie. "I love workplace movies and what a great, amazing workplace…a zoo! The second I read the book, I had this instinctive reaction." Mee's predicament as an inexperienced, unexpected zoo director created opportunities for rich characters and storylines. McKenna says that his experiences make for an "amazing human story. It was always a little funny, and always a little heartbreaking. It's also a classic fish out of water story." Read more
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