Interview (Part 4): Craig Borten

I first met Craig Borten at the 2014 Austin Film Festival where he was a panelist in a session I moderated. We discussed the movie he co-wrote and was nominated for an Academy Award: Dallas Buyers Club. Seeing as The 33 is coming out this week, another movie Craig co-wrote, I reached out to him for an interview and Craig agreed. We had a great one-hour conversation.

Today in Part 4, Craig talks about The 33, the movie he co-wrote about the Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days:

Scott: You have success with Dallas Buyers Club, and now you’ve got a lot of other projects going on, including this very famous incident that happened several years back in South America, The 33.

This is based on the real life event, where a gold and copper mine collapsed, and trapped 33 miners underground for 69 days. What can you tell us about the movie and your involvement in that?

Craig: That one, there had been five writers when I’d come on board. They were close to getting the film off, but they couldn’t get their actors to commit. They had, I think Antonio, and maybe Juliette Binoche, and they couldn’t get them to commit to the script.

I had met with Patricia Riggen the director, and Mike Medavoy, and a few other producers. I came in and tried to come up with real, full, character acts for everyone. It was a really challenging film, because we were trying to cover the rescue, the men in the mine, and the families.

Really, it was almost an impossibility. I came in and rewrote the whole thing in three weeks, and they got their actors, and I went down to Santiago, Chile, and then to Bogota, Columbia, and worked with Patricia, and did some more writing for another five weeks.

Scott: While they were in production or…

Craig: Yeah, in production. Preproduction. That was a toughie.

Scott: How much research did you do?

Craig: I wasn’t allowed much time for research, because they were on such a crazy schedule. I really went in and watched the documentary, and I came up with these character acts for all the characters, and then went in and rewrote it. I didn’t really get to do a ton of research.

There was a book, but I didn’t have time. I read all the different scripts. This was really by the skin of my teeth.

Scott: It comes out November 13th.

Craig: Actually, it’s been playing. I think it played in Chile, and a few other territories in South America. I think it was released in a few territories internationally, about a month ago, and then it opens in a month.

Scott: Was the biggest challenge here trying to find the focus of which key characters you were going to…

Craig: Yeah. The challenge was that there’s 33 men, and it’s a true story. The challenge was really, “How do we cover all these stories? Whose story are we covering? Who’s the main focus?” I would have liked to have stayed in the mine most of the time. I really felt if people get invested in these characters who were underground for 69 days, and getting them out.

It’s really incredible how they got them out. The families were very invested, you’ve the government, you have the owners of the mine. It was a very challenging story to tell.

Scott: Yeah, and different from Dallas Buyers Club. It’s real life, but that was over a period of years. The 33 is over a period of two and a half months.

Craig: It was only a period of two and a half months. The only thing is that you learn a lot. You learn what stories you should really be doing, or telling, and what’s a really monumental task like this, with so many characters.

The 33

Scott: Seems like you’ve sort of created a bit of a niche for yourself these biopics or non‑fiction type things because there’s a couple of other projects you’ve got. One is The Hunt for El Chapo. Could you maybe talk about that?

Craig: I’m very fascinated by the prison systems and also the cartels, the Mexican Mafia. I’ve read a lot of books about them, and I find Mexico to be fascinating. I had read an article in “The New Yorker” about the fight for Guadalajara, about the Guadalajara Cartel. Basically, they killed the first DEA agent on foreign soil.

It was the first murder of a DEA agent on foreign soil, and we went down there and took them out. From what I learned, the driver for the cartel was El Chapo. His story is fascinating.

I talked to William Finnegan at the New Yorker, and then I ended up talking to Patrick Radden Keefe, who did another article. Finnegan was like, “If you want to do a movie about the cartels, the most fascinating one is El Chapo. You should wait until he gets caught.” He hadn’t been caught yet.

So I started doing my research and came up with a take. Then, Patrick Radden Keefe came up with his article. I went out to pitch, and got Pete Berg, and we set it up at Universal.

Scott: Of course, El Chapo’s been in the news recently, hasn’t he?

Craig: Yes, he has. He’s escaped yet again. It’s unbelievable how he escapes, the politics of Mexico, how any of that is possible, and all that stuff.

Scott: And the craziness of the Drug Wars.

Craig: The Drug Wars. I went to DC. I met with the DEA for a day and really got a great overview of the Drug War, which is unwinnable.

Scott: There’s another project, a biopic about Janice Joplin. Can you talk about that project?

Craig: Janice is Jean‑Marc’s baby and Amy Adam’s baby. We’re trying to work through some of the crazy rights issues that surround these types of films. I hear we’re close. It’s been going on for over a year now, but I hear we’re close. Melissa and myself are going to write it, Jean‑Marc’s going to direct it, and Amy Adam’s going to star. TriStar is trying to sew up the right, so hopefully that will be done soon.

Scott: What’s 1 year when compared to 20, right?

Craig: Yeah, exactly. What’s a year? Janice is an incredible story. We have a pretty good take, and we’re really excited. Hopefully, it’ll happen soon.

Scott: Is the summation that I’ve read where it’s one day in the life, is that still the working framework?

Craig: No, I don’t think it’s one day in the life. We’ve played with a couple things, and I think Jean‑Marc wants to do a looser narrative. I definitely think there’s some really incredible periods of her life we want to cover. It’s not going to be a cradle‑to‑grave biopic, but we want to cover the seminal moments of her life.

Scott: And then there’s “Inherit the Earth,” a science‑fiction zombie thing.

Craig: Yeah. That’s with Andrew Adamson, which attracted me to the project. He’s kind of brilliant. He did all the “Narnia” movies. I love zombies. “Walking Dead’s” one of my favorite shows of all time.

There were a couple other writers before me, and it’s at Sony. I came in to really, again, do character sketches of this robot and this young, 13‑year‑old girl and their relationship. We literally just now handed it in, and it’s being read.

It was read last weekend, and now the big people, I guess, are reading it this weekend. Maybe next week we’ll hear something amazing.

Scott: Also, TV. You’ve got a couple projects. “51st State” at Syfy.

Craig: 51st State is a prison show in the future in Greenland, and there’s a sci‑fi twist to it which is nano technology. I can’t say much else. It dives into prison reform and what the future holds for a prison state, and I’m excited about it.

Scott: Then, “Sheriff”?

Craig: “Sheriff” is something I wrote on spec. It’s a multigenerational show about a family of corrupt sheriffs at Twin Towers Prison in downtown LA, and they run it with the help of the Mexican Mafia. It’s kind of a Greek tragedy. It’s about a grandfather, son, and a grandson. Jonas Pate is attached to direct.

Tomorrow Studios, they produce “Aquarius,” the David Duchovny show. They’re financing it. We’re hoping, fingers crossed, I have a meeting with Matthew Fox on Wednesday.

Scott: I assume you’re exciting about the possibility of working in TV?

Craig: Yeah, I love the medium. I love TV. There’s more control. You can do more. I’m doing both features and TV, but I really love TV. Most writers do, for the obvious reasons.

Tomorrow in Part 5, Craig answers some craft questions.

To read Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Craig is repped by UTA.

The 33 opens in North America, Friday, November 13th.

The movie’s website here.

Twitter: @CraigBorten.