scott frank Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I can't vouch for John Grogan's 2005 best-selling memoir, Marley & Me, in which owning a yellow lab helped the journalist (Owen Wilson) and his wife (Jennifer Aniston) tolerate any number of trials and tribulations that came their way -- many of which could be chalked up to the carnage-prone canine himself. I suspect that, unlike their on-screen counterparts, the Grogans actually showed some indications of aging after thirteen years and three kids. I doubt that John had a perpetual bachelor of a best bud (Eric Dane) who lingered around to both knock and envy his marriage with convenient doses of sarcasm and handsomeness. I question that the couple could own a picturesque Pennsylvania estate on just one reporter's salary. But I'm fairly sure that both the book and the film shared a common goal -- to make its audience sit, stay, laugh, cry, and then get on with their lives -- and at those modest aspirations, the movie version pretty much succeeds.

I read the last hundred pages of Marley & Me at the counter of a neighborhood diner. Waiters and busboys and cooks milled around in front of me; fellow customers chomped on burgers to my left and my right. It was with around forty pages to go that I had the mortifying realization that I was crying. Sitting there in full view of what seemed at that moment to be all of San Francisco, reading a bright red book with a Labrador retriever puppy on the cover, tears streamed from my eyes.

Now, I won't try to sell you on the idea that Marley & Me is a great book. I can't even, in good conscience, recommend it as a "good book," which is what makes my teary diner incident so embarrassing. It's a sappy, sometimes shameless, thoroughly unremarkable memoir, consisting mostly of strained attempts to extract life lessons from mischievous-dog anecdotes. But there's something in it that pushes a certain button in those of us who melt at the sight of a grinning, tail-wagging canine. You know who you are. You may have wept watching My Dog Skip.

A few months back I was discussing Fantastic Fest with Sir Devin Faraci, and he professed to me that one of the films he was most looking forward to -- was something 25 years old! Yes, Devin is a HUGE Planet of the Apes fan, so he was elated to see the "unseen cut" of J. Lee Thompson's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Mega-geeked, in fact.

So when it comes to new info on this long-running franchise, I put much stock in Faraci's ravings. Here's the short version: It looks like there will be an Apes prequel that starts off before the original film. And by "original film," I assume they mean the 1968 one. And then we hear from Cinema Blend (who got it from Production Weekly) that not only is the prequel a go, but also that Fox has hired a director. Namely, Scott Frank, who wrote Get Shorty and Minority Report before hitting the director's chair on The Lookout. The movie will cover the pre-Apes tale of how the primates overtook the planet. So this isn't only a prequel, it's a sort of a Conquest remake, too. Geez, this is getting confusing.

More on this project as it arises, but please do share your thoughts. Like ... do we really NEED a new version of this oft-exhumed tale? Frankly no. But given Mr. Frank's track record, I find myself feeling a little more optimistic than usual.

UPDATE: Mr. Faraci has spoken with Scott Frank, who has cleared up the fact that he's not remaking Conquest. From CHUD: "[Frank's] film will not feature talking monkeys, and it will not end with chimpanzees running wild in the streets, taking over the world. But it isn't entirely divorced from the world of Planet of the Apes, either. In fact, Frank sees his movie as the opening chapter in a saga that could span the thousand years between today and a world where apes rule."

I'm all for teaser trailers that reveal very little, especially as an alternative to the Robert Zemeckis school of trailers meant, apparently, to replace the finished film. And while I'm deeply skeptical of Marley & Me, an adaptation of local Philly journalist John Grogan's sappy man-and-his-dog memoir, I love the teaser that Fox unveiled today on the official website for the Christmas release.

The reason I like it so much, I think, is that it played a trick on me. I heard the Chariots on Fire theme, saw the slow motion images, concluded that the labrador puppy and Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston's happy couple were triumphantly running toward one another, and kind of rolled my eyes. But then I thought, wait, that doesn't make sense -- they're clearly running in the same direction along the beach in the separate shots. Then it dawned on me; I watched the thing again, saw Aniston's concerned expression and the empty leash in Wilson's hand, and laughed out loud. Clever stuff.

The movie is directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) and -- on the bright side -- written by Scott Frank (The Lookout, Minority Report). It's the first work Owen Wilson's done since recovering from last summer's horrifying suicide attempt.

The Bucket List stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who escape from a cancer ward determined to complete everything on their "Bucket List" -- a list of things to do before they "kick the bucket." The film, directed by Rob Reiner, was just named one of the Ten Best of the Year by the National Board of Review. Cinematical spoke with the film's screenwriter, Justin Zackham.

Cinematical: You sit down to write The Bucket List, do you ever dream that you're going to get Rob Reiner to direct, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman to star...

JZ: Of course not! I'd have to be an idiot! Not even close. I wrote it with Morgan Freeman's voice in mind, somehow thinking maybe I'd find a way to get it to him. But no, nothing like this.

Cinematical: And how did you get it to these huge names? What were the steps that brought this movie to the screen?

JZ: I went to film school at NYU. I did a TV pilot that I wrote and executive produced in New York with Paul Sorvino years ago. And then I came out here (Los Angeles) and was dicking around for a while. I made Going Greek, which was a very sort of crappy fraternity comedy that I did back in 2000. I wrote, produced, and directed, and that took so much out of me that I spent another couple years dicking around. And then I just sat down one day and wrote my own "Bucket List" just to kind of get my head organized. On that list was like "Get a movie made by a major studio, marry the perfect woman," all that kind of stuff. A lot of the stuff on there wound up in the movie. I had always fantasized about going to the Pyramids, the Great Wall, I've always been sort of obsessed with the whole notion of Everest. All those things were on it, and I just stuck it on a bulletin board.

About a year later, I just came up with this quote one day, a line that's actually in the film -- "You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you." Stuck that up on the bulletin board. And then another year went by before I had the idea "What about making this into a script?" And I thought if it were about me, at the time I was about 34, it wouldn't be that interesting. So I decided to make it about two guys who had lived a full life, and they only have a few months left, and suddenly there's a ticking clock, and the things that do have real importance, at least in their minds. The story really became about the one thing neither of these guys puts on their list but is the thing they most want. And that's a best friend. I have this ridiculous process, and I wrote the actual script really quickly, in about two weeks.

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of The Write Stuff!

Thanksgiving is always rough on a screenwriter. You're usually seeing a lot of friends and family, and while they (candied) yammer on about their accomplishments, you have to start all of your sentences with: "We're still waiting to hear on that one..." and "Our agent says we're really close..." and "Grandma, let me explain the WGA strike to you one more time..."

But there is a great deal to be thankful for this year. On Monday, still happy and groggy from a weekend of gorging, representatives from the WGA and the AMPTP will resume talks. Ideally, each side will come away happy and we can end this strike. From a personal note, my writing career was right on the verge of kicking into high gear when the strike was announced, and I certainly don't want to lose that upward momentum. And looking at the bigger picture, we're a month away from Christmas here. Who wants to see not just writers but everyone who works in and around the entertainment industry desperately struggling to pay the bills? The grips, the gaffers, the assistants, the dry cleaners...these people are out of work, too.

So send your good vibes to the negotiating table on Monday. And if you think there's nothing you can do, you're wrong. You can electronically sign this petition to the AMPTP, which starts: "We, the undersigned, fully support the strike of the Writers Guild of America, and agree with the WGA's stated goals of obtaining just and fair compensation regarding revenues generated through "new media". The petition currently has 57, 695 signatures, which is extremely impressive. Won't you add yours?

The Lookout, which is open now in theaters near and far, is a smart, intricate heist flick with a twist: the bad guys tag Chris Pratt, former golden boy/star athlete and currently recovering head trauma patient, to help them with achieve their goal of robbing the small rural bank where Chris is the night janitor. Cinematical recently sat down with Frank, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Out of Sight, Get Shorty) who both wrote and directed The Lookout, to talk about the film.

Cinematical: The first thing I wanted to talk to you about was making that transition from screenwriter to director – what motivated you to do that and the process of making that happen.

SCOTT FRANK: Well, I'd say first of all that I'm probably the least bitter screenwriter in all of Hollywood. I had my share of horrible experiences, but for the most part I feel like I've had a great ride, and I'm really happy and comfortable with my life. And I'd started off wanting to direct, I'd always assumed I would.

What happened to me was, I've got three kids kind of close together, they were all young and it was really hard, as you know, for me to think about leaving home to do directing. I've seen it with friends, and it's so disruptive to their personal lives. It's really hard on your marriage and your family, and so I waited and waited. But I really became too comfortable and so into this groove that I became a victim of my own inertia.

And then I stared to feel myself growing older and the way to feel younger is to keep learning and to scare the hell out of myself. And the one thing I'd been directly avoiding was directing -- I'd been sort of hiding in my comfort level and the needs of my family. Then my wife said, quit hiding behind us, if you want to do this do it now. And I could see, 20 years from now, looking back and feeling I was too careful, and I made a career out of pleasing others, and I knew I wasn't going to like the way that made me feel. And so I decided to make the leap.

More after the jump ...

What would you do if your entire life as you know it was changed in the blink of an eye? It doesn't take much, really ... just a few minutes of bad judgment and a smattering of bad luck and BOOM! -- everything's changed. The Lookout, directed by Oscar-nommed screenwriter Scott Frank in his directorial debut, turns a lens to that question through the story of Chris Pratt (Jospeh Gordon-Levitt), one-time high school ice hockey star and all around popular rich guy, whose life is forever altered after a car wreck that kills his best friend and the friend's date, and causes Chris to have a severe closed head injury.

When we meet Chris, he is working a mundane job as the night janitor of a small local bank, and the only friends he has are Deputy Ted (Sergio Di Zio) the local night shift cop who stops by the bank each evening to check on Chris and bring him donuts, and Lewis (Jeff Daniels), Chris' roommate, a blind man who Chris met at the head trauma rehab school he attends. Chris makes his way from one day to the next almost on autopilot, and his greatest wish is to be able to turn back the clock, undo everything and just have his old life back.

A few years back, Harrison Ford had signed on to a big-screen adaptation of Lawrence Block's novel A Walk Among the Tombstones. Scott Frank was set to pen the script, and Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces) attached to direct. However, the project soon dived head-first into development hell after Ford backed out of the starring role. Why did he back out? Well, it was a bit too controversial for the actor. In the pic, he was set to play Matthew Scudder; a private detective battling a drinking problem who is hired by a drug dealer to find the men who kidnapped and murdered his wife. Nice. Ford would've been fun to watch in a role like that.

When Frank was interviewed recently (out promoting his directorial debut The Lookout), the "whatever happened to that Tombstone project" question came up. And, not only did the writer-director say Ford "chickened out" of the role, but apparently his reason for doing so was because "his customers" wouldn't want to see him in a film like that. Yes, Harrison Ford refers to us -- his audience and his fans -- as his "customers." Okay, am I the only one who feels a little dirty now for thoroughly enjoying Raiders of the Lost Ark? And if the customer is always right, then I feel pretty confident in saying Hollywood Homicide sucked. Am I the only one who finds it a bit odd for an actor to refer to the moviegoing public as his "customers." Does that bother you at all? And if Indiana Jones 4 turns out horrible, does that mean we get to have our money back?

In an age of moviemaking where non-linear storytelling has, in some ways, gone from the exception to the norm, the trailer for The Lookout -- with screenwriter Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Minority Report) making his directorial debut -- didn't inspire confidence. It shows a hero (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) suffering from a traumatic head injury that affects his memory, a bad guy (a nearly-unrecognizable Matthew Goode) planning a bank heist with our hero's help and a character actor (Jeff Daniels) intoning "Start at the end, and then go back from there ..." before the trailer explodes in a barrage of stutter-cuts and rewind noises. I could feel my eyes involuntarily roll at The Lookout's trailer, and some small, cynical part of myself said "Oh, awesome -- Memento, Jr." And then, I found myself surprised by The Lookout -- and not just because of the fact that, trailer and Frank's work on Out of Sight aside, it unspooled in a fashion as clean and linear as a bullet from the muzzle of a rifle.

I admired its economy, its modernist spin on classic noir ideas, its unexpected surprises and ultimately the fact that the film's central spine wasn't twists or tricks but rather an iron-strong emotional core, brought to life with an ambitious but never showy performance by Gordon-Levitt. As The Lookout opens, teens roll down a road in the night, laughing and smiling -- one couple in the front, one couple in the back. Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt) is driving; he kills the lights so they can see the fireflies stream by in the Kansas darkness. And then something bad happens -- unexpected, irreversible. We flash forward four long years, and Chris is having a hard time of it. He forgets things -- the apartment he shares with garrulous, blind roommate Lewis (Jeff Daniels) is marked with Dymo-tape reminders: "lock door from the outside"; "turn off alarm." Chris can't find things easily, or gets confused; unable to locate a can opener, we watch as he tries to open a can of tomatoes with the garlic press. We know it won't work; Chris knows it won't work. But he can't stop trying.