“Screenwriting Drafts of History”

In yesterday’s Sunday NY Times, there is a special section called “The Oscars.” Several articles worth reading. Of special note is this one: “Screenwriting Drafts of History”:

IT is only fitting that the extraordinary political year would give way to the season of the political biopic. With terse titles that grandly promise the last word on their subject, Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” Oliver Stone’s “W.” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” all deal with once- (or still-) incendiary political figures.

While the films bear a strong directorial point of view, the directors also worked with screenwriters who laid the groundwork for wrangling a life into the shape of a narrative. The writers — Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), Stanley Weiser (“W.”) and Peter Buchman (“Che”) — each went through a similar gantlet of intensive research but often arrived at different solutions when it came to the conundrums of biography: how to get at the private truth beneath the public person and how to reconcile the conflicting roles of fact checker and myth maker.

Three screenwriters. Three very different biopics. Three different approaches to adapting the subject matter for the screen:

“Milk,” which charts the inspirational rise of the assassinated gay-rights advocate Harvey Milk, is a classical biopic, running through a greatest-hits version of its subject’s life and career with an eye on both his historical importance and his enduring relevance. The two-part, four-hour-plus “Che” celebrates Ernesto Guevara not by romanticizing what the man fought for but by systematically restaging the battles that he fought. And while the other two films summon their dead heroes from the mists of memory, “W.,” a speculative peek into the formative psychology of George W. Bush, is more like an early draft of history, rushed into theaters while the president’s legacy was still up for grabs.

Biographical adaptations are one of the most difficult screenwriting challenges for two big reasons: (1) You have to find the movie in the subject’s real life story; another way of saying that is you can’t let the facts get in the way of the movie you write. (2) What historical details and personal dynamics you omit about the subject is as important as what you choose to keep in the script. 

If you’re writing a biographical adaptation or planning on doing one, this article is a good place to start in thinking about the special needs of that writing process.

BTW, if I had to pick the best biopic of all time, I’d have to say either Patton or Lawrence of Arabia. How about you?

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