Update: “‘Up in the Air’ writers answer rumors about rift”
We posted on the supposed ‘rift’ between Up in the Air co-screenwriters Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner here:
In recent days the blogosphere has been alive with speculation about the relationship between the two award-winning screenwriters of “Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman (also the film’s director and co-producer) and Sheldon Turner. Through an arbitration the Writers Guild determined that both would be awarded credit for adapting the Walter Kirn novel even though they never collaborated and wrote completely separate drafts. Reitman says he never even read Turner’s script, and the pair didn’t even meet until after Reitman had finished the movie. Over the past couple of weeks some blogs have been filled with speculation about Reitman’s displeasure in having to share credit and that there has been uncomfortable, “awkward” moments between them as they have been accepting honors at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and others. The Times new movie blog, 24 Frames, first reported on this in detail Jan. 15 and others including Playlist, which compared both writers’ original drafts, fanned the flames Jan. 22, even going so far as to suggest that the previously scheduled Writers Guild contenders Q&A with the pair on Jan. 24 (“Up in the Air” is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay) could turn into a “no-holds-barred cage match for the right to give the first speech at the Oscars.”
Those among the 300 or so who attended Sunday’s WGA screening with the idea that things were going to be ugly, or at the very least tense, got a love match instead.
As the WGA’s moderator, or referee as I put it in my intro, I jumped right into the controversy by welcoming the audience to the “WGA Sunday Afternoon Smackdown.” Instead it turned out to be a fascinating look into the script development process and how two guys who never even met until last August could conceivably be sharing an Oscar for a script they wrote completely independently of each other.
“I think the source of the speculation comes from the fact that maybe there was the assumption that we did in fact write together. I met Jason for the first time after the movie was done,” said Turner. “Now that we’ve been sort of through this (awards) ‘circuit’ which Jason is a lot more familiar with than I am we’ve become friends. It’s a unique situation.”
Well, I believe this is a video excerpt from the event described above:
Doesn’t sound like a rift to me. Reitman admits that he’s never read Turner’s draft, even to this day, but they’re completely cordial with each other.
Beyond that, Reitman gives a detailed description of how he came to make Thank You For Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air, a course of events which provides insight into the vagaries of the business. In fact, money quote is re Juno: “I knew if I didn’t direct it, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. And it passed my ultimate test, if I could imagine another director directing it, and if that feels worse than that same director having sex with my wife, then I know I need to direct this film.”
If you haven’t seen Up in the Air, you’ve missed one of the best movies of its kind in years. Reitman is an emerging major talent who is thankfully making interesting cross-genre movies that actually are about something. I’d put him up there with Billy Wilder, James L. Brooks, and Cameron Crowe, that whole ‘school’ of writer-directors who create smart dramas and drama-comedies. I hope the script gets an Academy Award because it deserves it.
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