scott rosenberg Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: My Favorite Screenplays of the Decade
Filed under: Classics », Comedy », Drama », Romance », Scripts », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Seven », Remakes and Sequels »
Well, it's official. The Writers Guild of America is going on strike tomorrow. Here's hoping the strike ends quickly and that all parties come away happy. And writers? Use this time off to study my choices for the seven best screenplays of the 2000's:
The 40 Year Old Virgin by Judd Apatow & Steve Carell
The blending of improvisation and the written word gives Apatow's two classic comedies -- Knocked Up would be the other -- a feeling of authenticity that is all too rare in today's film world. Apatow takes the strategy of writing for specific performers and their strengths, and it really pays off. Scoff if you want at a sex comedy making the list, but for a movie to be this incredibly funny -- while keeping an oddly touching romance and a spot-on character study afloat -- the screenwriters deserve high praise.
About Schmidt by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
One of the saddest comedies ever made, and one of the most truthful and painful portraits of old age. Payne and Taylor specialize in scripts about people on the verge of cracking, depressed souls who tend to find the smallest redemption possible. Payne/Taylor characters never go from Point A to Point B over the course of the screenplay, they go from Point A to Point A.1. The small, gradual changes in their characters are reflective of the way actual humans (as opposed to movie humans) work. Warren Schmidt's personal growth is so minor that it is confined to the last thirty seconds of the film, but when it comes it's an emotional punch in the gut.
Phoenix Pictures Will Adapt Charlie Huston's Vampire-Detective Book
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », Newsstand »
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One of the first rules for an aspiring screenwriter is to never write a screenplay about vampires. I'm not sure why it's a rule or where it came from, but it's one I've heard time and time again ... even though Hollywood continues to pump out vampire flick after vampire flick. In an attempt to take hold of what went right with the Blade trilogy, as well as correct what went wrong, Phoenix Pictures and Mike De Luca Prods. have acquired Charlie Huston's novel Already Dead with an eye to adapt it for the big screen. Since it's the first book in a whopping five-book series, we're looking at yet another vampire-related franchise, should the first pic catch on. Huston's second novel in the series, No Dominion, just recently hit bookstores.
According to Variety, story includes all the blood-thirsty ingredients required to tell an entertaining vampire tale. Our main character is a vampire/private detective who's hired by a socialite to find her missing daughter. However, along the way he must battle a vicious virus that's transforming the city's vampires into man-eating zombies. Vampires, zombies and the perfect role for Clive Owen -- does it get any better than that? How about I tell you the guy who penned Kangaroo Jack is writing the script? Now, doesn't that have you all giddy with anticipation? To be fair, Scott Rosenberg did a wonderful job adapting High Fidelity for the big screen, but he's also responsible for such gems as Con Air and Gone in Sixty Seconds. Hmm, Nicolas Cage as a vampire private detective with an odd twitching problem? I can see it. Can you?
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