AGGIELIFE dai January 28, 2(XX) THE BATTALION Page 3 Continued from: icr A&,\ •stimaicdS275 small markets e-designed » wmoiis ITH H E BAIT Screenwriter Shane Black less JadvS i t make, Blaiie Black is one of Hollywood’s most successful screenwriters. Black’s last ,d creenplays have all been major Hollywood productions and attracted major t to bee. wwood stars. Black first found success with the action classic Lethal Weapon. p util rch snest screenplay, The Last Boy Scout, starred Bruce Willis. His most recent screen- i students i »y. > 'he Long, Kiss Goodnight, sold for over $4 million — the most expensively r Lire tv u l^ 1t screenplay of all time. In addition to writing. Black has also acted in films, chits ,4.v Good as it Gets and Predator. The Battalion spoke with Shane Black out screenwriting and his role in I lollywood blockbusters. inteSuN: I'pporttrr 2: More i ".nuck a I Did you always want to write screenplays, or was it something you stumbled across? f the second. 1 had a friend who wanted to write screenplays, and one day ook at one of his. Until that point, I guess I thought screenplays floated tuost small rosk the ether and somehow wound up on the screen. When I read my friend’s . ript i realized I could do that. It w asn't as complex as I thought. And having stum- rKets you edlcross that, it seemed the most profitable. i t see a \\ hat do you think sets your scripts apart so that they attract some of the biggest names in Hollyw ood? —Ktr senior vice p? with Cu Q:" ow long does it usually take you to w rite a screenplay* In the first two years of working, 1 wrote three scripts. Then it was another two ;ars before I wrote the next one. Then for the next one it was three years. Now I am ■ jing on four years, so it seems like I am going slower a i historical!>. nd slower. I can’t say why except that, unfortunately, the process doesn't get any toe and a, asier. That’s what makes it so sad. You think afler you've written a few screenplays, \,VM has, ’ll be a cinch. But it’s worse. Worse than it ever was when you started. Q 1 am trying to do an original piece, a spec script, start of a dramedy. Technically, I don’t know if you could call it a love story, but certainly a relationship film. It’s a little bit out of my realm, so it is taking a bit longer. Q So are you doing this for the challenge of it instead of writing anoth er thriller type film? Yeah. When I sat down and asked myself what I wanted to do, I did not have as much enthusiasm as for a thriller. This is something I felt I had to do and not just to prove something but because I like the shape of it. I like what it has to say. Q I saw something on the Internet that had your name attached to a project called AWOL. Is that you? i-ilcsi^nd 1 rsc hv flttV- 1 ^ IO lC ^ a £ oot * stor y’ a compelling story. I study pop culture, and 1 ask myself v T; hy is Grisham read so often, why this author isn’t read that much. I think he is a fy ff inch h ylist. something about his writing makes you want to keep turning the page. That - f as goal one. Goal two is I try' to write characters that make an actor want to play k Nicklaw emlThey just want something to sink their teeth into. 1 think you do this by avoid- g stereotypes and letting some of yourself creep through into the character. The Internet gets everything wrong. I am not involved with that project. • Are you through with your acting career? One of the reasons I haven’t gone back to it is I’ve been kind of lazy, and 1 don’t like pursuing acting. The times I’ve acted are the times someone has come to me and said ‘Hey, just as a favor, you want to come have some fun with us?’ It’s been sort of a courtesy business, and I haven’t actually pursued it. Q • Are you interested in directing ever? Yeah. I imagine that the next thing I complete, if it is good and it’s under $ 10 mil lion, that I would want to direct it. I think if I could write something really compelling that is low budget, even like two million, I could probably swing that. I would very much like to direct. PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM • Are you working on anything presently or have you written anything m recently? Q • Have you ever been kicked off a set? No. I’ve had to quit a movie I was writing because of disagreements. But I’ve never been kicked oft’. I am not very belligerent. I always try to be productive. If something bothers me too much, I argue eloquently, and then if they still say no, I walk away. Q • You obviously don’t write w ith a partner much. Is there some reason • for this? The ones I have written on my own have performed better at the box office. I wrote Last Action Hero with a partner and I must say it was a blast. It was so much easier. It’s like someone else is in the sinking boat with you. Q • How was it producing on The Long Kiss Goodnight? Did you have • more input or power? Well, they listened maybe a little more carefully, the director and the stars. Most ly we kind of respected each other, and I don’t think the credit really mattered. 1 wound up in the editing room with Renny (the director), and it was a lot of fun. It felt so much different, the experience of talking things over that way. It was gratifying that he was that nice, that he respected my input enough to do that. We ended up be ing friends and had a great time. I love it when I can discuss things with the star and the director. Q What is your worst enemy as a screenwriter? Fear and doubt. It’s very common for screenwriters to have a lot of doubt and I think I have it tenfold. I can’t emphasize enough how much misery goes into putting one of these things together, because it is just so much selfdoubt. Everyone hates writing and loves having written. It’s almost so bad so that if I was good at some thing else, I would do that. This stuff really bites till you’re done. r Ni tain: onl> tlu i and Colley i qjte of the gica'I e uorld," I rndilionvGolf& Bn an. a of Highway^ ion offers unqiitJ U.iun and hiss®*’ touches onthci«| tlocs the locaiw' c more dramatic^ the region wilM ess of 70 feet: i!-' mg trees, vegtii that accordingi- 1 te course a “ma re are many, many op nature golf holes,” L k - mII certainly be morel'' laus will make seu y Traditions Golf ami' oughout construction! I touches, while hiv . en more trips to ovf Eye of the Beholder 1 Starring: Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd Directed by Stephan Elliott Sure to be too grim and dark for many people, >e oj the Beholder is an eerie thri 1 ler of surprising pth and power which offers ample rewards for 3sekvho dare to brave its harrowing journey into ; human psyche. The Eye (McGregor) is an intelligence agent n more detail. Nick-: th a knack for surveillance. While on assignment 1 l