✍🏻 Writer’s quotes to live by
“Just because this isn't in your life plan doesn't mean this isn't exactly where you're supposed to be.” - Nahnatchka Khan
✍🏻 Mindy Kaling: Writing With A Specific Actor in Mind
Actor/screenwriter, Mindy Kaling wrote the lead in Late Night ONLY with Emma Thompson in mind, and despite never having met her.
The film, which hits theaters Friday, says (in an appearance on Monday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show) that she wrote the main character with Thompson in mind, and she didn't have a backup for the role had Thompson turned it down.
The movie revolves around Thompson, who plays a middle-aged late night talk show host finding herself sinking as her demographic audience changes. With her same old material and her same old writing staff (white males), the talk show host realizes some new blood is needed. Mindy Kaling's character is brought onboard as a “DIVERSITY HIRE” and comedy ensues.
"She's done so much drama and not that much comedy, but she's really funny and came from comedy," said Kaling. "It was a stupid thing to do. I'm in L.A. creepily writing this movie about a woman I was a fan of. She's hilarious and never gets to do funny parts. She just turned 60, and I was excited to see her in this kind of role."
This is a challenge: to always keep writing with specific voices in your head, and for specific people who you feel can help you envision your screenplay.
Late Night, opens in theaters this Friday.
✍🏻 X-Men Chaos and Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn, writer/director sat down with Coming Soon to discuss the recent hit film, “Rocketman”. Vaughn touched heavily on the importance of pacing in your writing as well as development of your screenplays.
His most notable work was breathing new life into the X-Men franchise with the reinvention of the “First Class” films. When asked what he would’ve done differently with the X-Men films, Vaughn said this:
Matthew Vaughn: That’s one of the reasons I didn’t continue, because they didn’t listen to me. My plan was “First Class,” then the second film was new young Wolverine in the 70’s to continue those characters, my version of the X-Men. So you’d really get to know all of them, and my finale was gonna be “Days of Future Past.”
Vaughn’s original play was to break the X-Men films into a trilogy, and introduce the younger characters and we get to know them first, all of them; a younger Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine, and then bring it all together in the end. The old meeting the new, all wrapped up in a sexy bow!
Fox read “Days of Future Past” and went “Oh, this is too good! We’re doing it now!” And I said, “Well what do you do next? Trust me you’ve got nowhere to go.” Then they did “Apocalypse” and it’s like… If you flip that ’round even it would have been better.
Touching on the misfire that came after “Days of Future Past” which was the seemingly unwatchable crap-fest called “Apocalypse”, Matthew had this to say about the development process:
“Hollywood doesn’t understand pacing. Their executives are driving 100 miles-per-hour looking in the rear-view mirror and not understanding why they crash.”
I guess he meant to say “Fox” doesn’t understand pacing as they rushed the X-Men story, and wrapped it up this past weekend with the release of “Dark Phoenix”.
There is an important lesson to be learned here Hollywood, listen to your screenwriter. Always remember that ‘you as the writer are the lifeblood of the screenplay’.
✍🏻 Ali Wong Recruited John Wick!!??
If you didn’t get a chance this week, please do yourself a favor and check out the Netflix film “Always Be My Maybe” starring comedian Ali Wong and Randall Park. The rom-com follows childhood besties Sasha Tran (Wong) and Marcus Kim (Park) and their attempt to rekindle a flame after 16 years apart. ‘The only thing stopping Marcus from getting with Sasha the love of his life?…An enigma known as Keanu Reeves.’
(*MINOR spoiler alert)
The movie contains an awesome cameo from Keanu Reeves who plays a heightened and extreme comedic version of himself. One who enjoys minuscule meals from high-end restaurants, and one who brings his stunt skills to parties and brags about his time on Hollywood blockbusters.
The funny thing about the film is that both leads are the screenwriters and producers, it was Wong's desire to have all of Sasha Tran's love interests be Asian American. But in addition to that, she also wanted someone who is funny, a great actor and an Asian American icon.
"The only person in the entire universe who fits all those parameters is Keanu Reeves," Wong said.
When the actor signed onto the project, Park said he couldn't believe it but he wasn't surprised when he took the role. "He was a big fan of (Wong's Netflix stand-up) Baby Cobra, so that, I think, was the key to getting him," he said. "It's amazing."
Check out the film, it’s seriously hilarious and its something I’ve never seen before; two actors who also wrote the script? At times when I was watching it, I was wondering how the chemistry and the story felt so personalized. And at other times, it felt like I was watching a Judd Apatow film!
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