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I'm Just The Writer

By Stephen Schochet

747 words


Writers are often are greatly surprised or disappointed by how their
work is changed when it is adapted for the big screen. When Irwin
Shaw's World War II novel The Young Lions was shot in Paris in 1958,
the Nazi character was played by Marlon Brando. Ever the method
actor, Brando provoked an uproar by strutting around town in his SS
uniform, even going into restaurants to dine. The thirty three year
old star was unsure if the Parisians ripping his clothes were doing
it out of adulation or disdain. Like most actors Brando wanted to be
loved and he took his concern to Shaw that the Nazi be made
sympathetic. "You just don't understand the character", Brando told
the amazed writer. "It's my character," replied Shaw. "Not anymore",
replied the actor.

Some writers grow resigned to their voices being lost. George S.
Kaufman wrote the screenplay for the Marx Brother's comedy Animal
Crackers in 1930. He attended rehearsals and realized that nothing
Groucho, Chico and Harpo were doing resembled his original draft. He
watched as the director Victor Heerman was driven to distraction by
the brothers showing up late, placing bets on horses, playing the
stock market and never sticking to the script. Heeman literally
threatened to imprison them in cages till they behaved. Kaufman took
it in stride falling asleep through much of the tomfoolery. At one
point the writer woke up with a start and shouted," Oh my God! I
thought I heard one of my lines."

A few years ago comedy playwright Neil Simon announced he was moving
from Los Angeles to New York. In Los Angeles he was isolated in his
car all the time and he felt it is was hurting his writing. Better to
be in New York where you walked everywhere and met people. His
departure may have been hastened by writing and showing up to the set
of The Marrying Man (1991). He got to witness Kim Basinger holding up
the production with tardiness, temper tantrums and her much
publicized love affair with co-star Alec Baldwin. Simon was
humiliated when she held up her copy of the script and stated for all
to hear," Whoever wrote this knows nothing about comedy!" The Odd
Couple writer was too insulted to help fix the plot problems and the
picture bombed.

Some writers are amazed to see their words turn into movie reality.
When Margaret Mitchell (1900 -1949) was a young girl in Atlanta,
various relatives took her on tours of Confederate battle sites,
describing the Civil War so vividly that she imagined she was part of
it. It took her ten years to write the text for Gone With The Wind
which she scribbled on yellow legal pads, shoving them under her
couch when friends would come over to visit her. The best-seller was
turned into a movie in 1939 and Mitchell showed up in Hollywood for
the fiming of Scarlett O'Hara (Vivian Leigh) nursing wounded soldiers
at the Atlanta railway station. The author was overwhelmed by the
sheer vastness of the scene. "My God", she told producer David O.
Selznick. "If we would have had this many soldiers we would have won
the war."

Some writers have strong ideas about who should play their
characters. Novelist Tom Clancy was initially unhappy with the fifty
year old Harrison Ford cast as the thirty something CIA agent Jack
Ryan in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear And Present Danger (1994). He
also berated the actor for suggesting plot changes to his stories.
Ford angrily retorted that writers who sell their work to the big
screen have to expect it to be changed, otherwise don't sell it.
After the two films did great at the box office, Clancy hinted that
he would be willing to bury the hatchet to get Ford to star in the
next Jack Ryan installment, The Sum Of All Fears (eventually made
with Ben Affleck in 2002). Ford demurred by saying," Maybe when I'm
sixty."

Sometimes stars are better off just following the writer's instincts.
Lou Holtz Jr. was disappointed that Jim Carrey brought in a team of
writers to change his lighthearted script The Cable Guy (1996) into a
dark tale about stalking. Despite Carrey winning the MTV award for
best villain, the movie was panned by critics, led to several
executives being fired at Sony pictures and became known in Hollywood
as "The Straight To Cable Guy".

Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks
Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post
Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally
entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at
http://www.hollywoodstories.com.

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