Written Interview: Peter Morgan

A FilmSchoolRejects interview with screenwriter Peter Morgan whose movie Rush is in theaters now:

You’ve written a few bio films now. Lately we’ve seen some focusing on modern figures. Do you think you’re at a disadvantage or losing perspective by writing about a topic so immediate?

I think it’s a really interesting question, because the only time I’ve seen it done successfully is The Social Network. Even then, actually, there had been ten years since the events that transpired in the movie. I have a ten year rule. For me, it would be too soon to write about Lance Armstrong or WikiLeaks. Of course people came to me for those, but the dust hasn’t settled on those stories.

Our perspective on those stories isn’t clear yet. That doesn’t mean somebody can’t crack it, and I look forward to seeing somebody cracking it, but my own view is: if you’re so close to those events you can only report the events.

If you have distance from the events, then your story can work as an analogy or parable, rather than its literal narrative. People can watch the Frost/Nixon interviews and make associations that aren’t just about Richard Nixon and David Frost. Because time has passed the film can have an additional resonance through metaphor. I won’t touch anything within ten years.

For more of the interview, go here.