Screenwriter Roundtable: Jonathan Aibel, Greg Berlanti, Ehren Kruger, Christopher Markus, Ashley Edward Miller and Roberto Orci
Per THR, this exclusive roundtable:
Writing a tentpole summer movie can mean huge rewards, but it’s also rife with extra pressures. An exercise in politics as much as creativity, these colossal productions often require a screenwriter to collaborate not only with directors and producers, but also with the toy industry, comic-book companies, merchandising entities, rabid fans, marketing execs, storyboard artists, the laws of physics, previous movies and source material and, often, a host of other unseen writers. In a roundtable discussion equal parts wry realism and clever insight, Jonathan Aibel (Kung Fu Panda 2, which opens May 26); Greg Berlanti (Green Lantern, June 17); Ehren Kruger (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, July 1); Christopher Markus (Captain America: The First Avenger, July 22); Ashley Edward Miller (Thor, May 6; X-Men: First Class, June 3) and Roberto Orci (Cowboys & Aliens, July 29) lay bare just how the blockbuster sausage is made — and why it can be the coolest job imaginable.
**Most of these screenwriters have writing partners. In order to keep the discussion manageable, THR asked each team to send just one person. But Aibel writes with Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Monsters vs. Aliens); Berlanti writes with Michael Green andMarc Guggenheim; Markus writes with Stephen McFeely (the three Chronicles of Narnia films); Miller writes with Zack Stentz; and Orci writes with Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek). Kruger (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Ring, Scream 3) writes alone.
[The official WGA credits for these movies are: Cowboys & Aliens, screenplay by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, story by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Steve Oedekerk; Green Lantern, screenplay by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg, story by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim; and Thor, screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne, story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich.]
A video clip:
A choice quote from each screenwriter:
Jonathan Aibel: My partner and I saw our role to be there for the director to remind her at any point, “The story point is this, that the emotion of the character is here, and even though you’re dealing with these huge issues we’ll be there to whisper what the character’s thinking.” We had a scene where the color of the sky was a certain color. It was the most beautiful sky ever, but it made it seem ominous. And we were introducing these characters with this ominous sky, and the audience was a little confused, because, “Those are the good guys, but now I think they’re the bad guys.” So it was this very long discussion about why should the sky be a different color. The story and the artistry all have to work together to communicate the emotion.
Greg Berlanti: In the case of Green Lantern, from the very beginning we always tried to discuss, What kind of genre is this if it’s not a comic book movie? I can remember being a kid and seeing the ad for Star Wars and saying, “I want to see that.” I can remember going to Superman and coming home and making anything I could into a cape as quickly as I could and dashing around the house. In a way, it’s very rewarding to suddenly be a part of something where you go, “Oh, OK, we’re melding those two worlds together, and we’re trying to do something that, we hope, some kid out there can have the same kind of experience that we had.”
Ehren Kruger: I would say that you definitely have to be true to your mythology and your source material. I do think if you had a group of directors here, they might have a different opinion on the idea of standing out and competing, because many of these movies are greenlit now based on pre-visualized animated sequences that are the action sequences or moments that are really designed to wow the audience or stand out in a trailer. When we are trying to design sequences that fit our narrative, there is a piece of our brains — and if there isn’t, as soon as we’re working with the filmmaker, they’re going to be hammering at that piece of our brains — about, What are we doing that hasn’t been seen before? What are we doing that someone is going to see onscreen and say, “I have never seen that image.” Whatever the scale of the movie, I think we’re all aware that we need that in our picture.
Christopher Markus: Raiders of the Lost Ark. I mean, I don’t believe I’d ever thought of a bullwhip at all prior to seeing that, and afterwards I came home and I literally made my own whip. Which is a little kinky for a 12-year-old. But that movie was everything I wanted in a movie, and had no idea I wanted it beforehand. I just came out like, “That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” And Joe Johnston, who directed Captain America, worked on that movie, which is another reason it’s really hard to argue with him when he says, “I’d like the action sequence to go like this,” and you realize he actually storyboarded that truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark. [laughter] You’re like, “…OK. You can have what you want, Joe.”
Ashley Edward Miller: I think that a great summer movie has gotta have an emotional experience at the core of it. When you are 7 years old, you go to see Star Wars for the first time, and there’s that moment when Luke’s on Tatooine, he’s looking out, it grabs you. If you look at the great summer films of the ’70s and ’80s, they had that emotional experience. And I think that as an adult you crave that, too.
Roberto Orci: Two hats. Always try and act like you’re one of the problem-solvers, like a producer. You put on your producer hat and you put on your screenwriter hat, even if you’re not technically a producer on the movie. Just do it. Acknowledge that part of it is a business, and then be able to be in the problems of the movie that sometimes extend beyond the script. Casting can be its own challenge that somehow affects how the script is being looked at, depending on if another actor’s coming in you can easily take it personally. But if you take a broader view, then suddenly you’re indispensable not only as hopefully the writer, but as one of the problem-solvers.