Nigh Journal

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Writing Roles for Gorgeous George…

Well, not *just* for George. This time every year – come Award Season – there are always a number of films where you could easily think ‘that film would be nothing without that central performance from (insert A-Lister)’. Maybe this is true. But how do you write the roles that big actors actually want to play?

When I went to see Up in the Air back in January, I realised halfway through that this wasn’t just a role written for George Clooney – it’s just that Clooney was the perfect actor for the part. And he is acting up there. Despite me thinking that Ryan Bingham is one of those characters that Clooney always plays, I’d never really seen him do it (maybe not since ER anyway). And while George was up for a Bafta the other week, it was for Best Adapted Screenplay that Up in the Air got its gong.

This might all sound bleedin’ obvious, but I’ve been reading an increasing amount of scripts that sacrifice character for concept - when really character should be the concept. Especially if you’re trying to get a first feature made. If you can’t prove you can write decent characters for lower-budget films, why will anyone trust you to write characters for expensive ones?

January also saw the release of Daybreakers and Britflick Exam – two films with some decent character actors but few decent characters. Both were dominated by cool high-concepts but, in my opinion, without decent character stories both ran out of steam as soon as the novelty of the big ‘what if?’ had worn off. It all seems so frickin’ obvious but, sitting there watching Up In The Air, it really hit home that high-concepts must still have the character at heart. As Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio put it: 

High Concept = Character + Conflict + Hook (where Hook is often a cool catalyst or big event)

Maybe you do have the next breakthrough lower-budget, high-concept like Paranormal Activity or Cube did. But then the makers of these films have struggled to catch the same lightning in a bottle if they’ve even attempted a follow up. If all you’ve got is a gimmick then that will quickly be imitated and become stale. Whereas, the more banal films Denzel Washington does with Tony Scott, the more iconic his character in Training Day becomes to my eye. 

Just looking at the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar nominees of the last decade, roles including Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood, Ellen Page in Juno, Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married and (it wouldn’t be a blog post without him) Bill Murray for Lost in Translation really stand out (and that’s deliberately not including actors winning for real-life characters in Monster, Capote, The Hours or Milk). This is who they want to play. It can’t be coincidence that the screenplays of all of these films were also – at least – nominated for their Oscar categories.

Not  that the awards themselves are the priority… but I’m just saying that, if you can write a screenplay that lures Daniel Day-Lewis from being a cobbler for a few months, chances are that finding funding might be a little easier!