Interview [Written]: Bob Nelson (“Nebraska”)
An Indiewire interview with Bob Nelson, screenwriter of the movie Nebraska:
Meredith Alloway: This is your first feature. How did you get it in the hands of Payne?
Bob Nelson: I was working at a Seattle show called The Eyes of Nye. Producer Julie Thompson came up. I had written a screenplay to try and get a TV job. Julie got the script to Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, who have a company called Bona Fide Productions. They decided to send it to Alexander [Payne], not with the intention to direct it but just to produce it and raise money. I was very fortunate, very lucky, and it doesn’t happen a lot. The one take-away is that even though I was in Seattle, I was still working in the business.
MA: Nebraska was optioned back in 2003. What were some elements that Payne infused into your original draft, over the years?
BN: He’s got a little bit spread throughout the script. Right off the top, he did some work on the first act. In my version, David worked in a cubicle and Ross [his brother played by Bob Odenkirk] was an insurance salesman. He changed their professions, giving a 40 year old a job where there didn’t seem to be many advancement possibilities. He created this tension between the brothers, which is nice. When they have the moment later on with the air compressor, it kind of completes their story. Mount Rushmore was his idea. He said, ‘You know they’re going pretty close to Mount Rushmore. Why don’t you have them stop there?’ Those lines that they’re saying in that scene are pretty much Alexander.
MA: I can’t imagine anyone else playing Woody. Are there particular moments where you witnessed Dern make the Woody you wrote his own?
BN: It’s pretty much the whole thing — that’s even better. As much as you can do in your mind when you’re writing, nothing compares to having an actor fill it out and make it real. This is pretty special. I was on the set for a week and I got to see a little bit of that. I got in the video truck and watched. Boy, when I saw the whole thing put together I was amazed. One of the first scenes I saw him doing was when he walks into the tavern and sees Ed Pegram [played by Stacy Keach] with the letter. I knew he was Woody.
MA: Which character are you the most like? I often feel the writer’s voice speaking through David. Was he your vehicle?
BN: The script did start with my own father, my relationship with my dad. I could have imagined my dad doing this, as he was more confused. He might want to make a trip like that. How would you deal with it? I honestly used some real life instances that are in the movie. David brought up those old thoughts of, what do you do with this person you love that had this addiction? You’re trying to do the right thing by them and give them dignity and show some forgiveness. My dad was shot down in WWII and was quite a changed person. He was a generous guy who loaned tools out and never got them back. The scene at the railroad tracks was from real life. I used those and at a certain point I started inventing things based on that. It did help in the beginning to mine from real life.
Here is the trailer:
For the rest of the interview, go here.