So, I'm feeling very fatigued right now. That's because I just got done with the first draft of my very first (maybe last) screenplay, Shock Jock. Maybe I'll share that publicly, once I have assurance nobody could possibly steal it...
The point is, I've been thinking about what kinds of movies are good to take inspiration from when it comes to just the initial writing of it. And there are a number of movies I've seen where I adore the writing and think it would be just as good if you could only read the screenplay and not see the entire movie.
I like innovative screenplays, but what I really like is when the writing can be engaging, no matter what's being talked about, so here are fifteen of my favorite movies that also have some of my favorite scripts. Some entries will be combined as they have the same author...
1, 2, 3. The Social Network, Steve Jobs, and A Few Good Men
The point is, I've been thinking about what kinds of movies are good to take inspiration from when it comes to just the initial writing of it. And there are a number of movies I've seen where I adore the writing and think it would be just as good if you could only read the screenplay and not see the entire movie.
I like innovative screenplays, but what I really like is when the writing can be engaging, no matter what's being talked about, so here are fifteen of my favorite movies that also have some of my favorite scripts. Some entries will be combined as they have the same author...
1, 2, 3. The Social Network, Steve Jobs, and A Few Good Men
I really like Aaron Sorkin's method. He breaks some rules by keeping his scripts very dialogue heavy. But he seems to have this way of making mundane subject matter seem really interesting with compelling characters and snappy dialogue. A Few Good Men did it both on stage and screen with a lot of military babble nobody would understand. The Social Network turned website creation followed by tedious court litigation into a psychological character study. And Steve Jobs is almost a Shakespearean drama masquerading as a biopic. I watched this one again the other day, and the scene where Jobs and Jeff Daniels' character are yelling at each other seems like something straight out of one of the most intense plays ever staged.
4, 5. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction
As I said in my director's list, I like how Tarantino makes what he wants to make and lets the audience decide how to take it. His scripts are no exception. Reservoir Dogs had a minuscule budget compared to other heist movies, so Tarantino knew that he would have to make his writing damn interesting to keep us into it with the limited resources he had. And by making the whole movie kind of a mind game debate, he did just that and made a movie that doesn't even show the heist one of the best heist films out there. And Pulp Fiction broke almost every writing barrier there was, by telling the story in a non-linear way and making most of the conversations have nothing to do with the plot. But the strategic placement of the small talk in this movie reveals more character than ten screenplays of most writers can.
6. Good Will Hunting
Who do you get when you want a movie about the hardship of being a gifted youth in Boston? Two gifted youths from Boston, of course! Now Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both already had a number of film credits to their name prior to the release of this film, but this is what made them hit it big. By simply drawing on their own experiences, they created one of the best feel-good dramas out there. Another reason I like this script is that if you look at the original draft, quite a lot changed from page to screen, which gives me hope that even if what I wrote is pure crap (I wish this was just an "if"), it can still be done right!
7. Fargo
Honestly, almost all of the Coen brothers' screenplays could fit this list. I choose this one because I really think they did a good job of capturing the personality of a small town and its citizens, which just makes the chilling crimes seem all the more startling. And every aspect of the dialogue was meticulously planned by the brothers. Look it up, every single one of William H. Macy's stutters were in the script! They really did think of everything.
8. Taxi Driver
As much as I love Scorsese's direction, he actually didn't write most of his movies. But two of his strongest films (this and the excellent Raging Bull) were written by writer Paul Schrader. At the time, Schrader and Scorsese both just wanted a character that could embody just how depressed and lonely they were feeling at the time, hence Travis Bickle. The audience's reaction to him was only an afterthought. But they really layered the hell out of this character, so that you have to watch the movie more than once to fully understand every aspect of his personality. I still can't believe this character wasn't originally in a book. He may just be the most complex movie character I've come across.
9, 10, 11. Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Anomalisa
Charlie Kaufman may just be my favorite screenwriter. He has a way of probing at some human aspect deep inside of you in a very bizarre way that still manages to connect with you. Adaptation was not only a great meta film about screenwriting, eventually becoming a self-mockery of its own format, it also touched on the loneliness of the creative mind in a way few other films do. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind created a whole world in Jim Carrey's mind to teach us lessons about the importance of all our memories, even the unpleasant ones. Anomalisa's script tells us that the puppetry isn't just a gimmick and it's actually the main point of the story about how we're all just kind of society's puppets looking for our own meaning.
12. Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights isn't what I would consider Paul Thomas Anderson's best movie, but it's the one where the writing stands out to me the most. The arguments are when it shines the most in my opinion: the argument with his mom showing that Mark Wahlberg just wants to be worth something to someone, the argument with Burt Reynolds that shows both the toll the drugs are taking on Wahlberg and his fear of losing his star status!
13, 14. The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
I love William Goldman's style...all of them. He can traverse genres like nobody's business. This is a Western, Princess Bride is a fantasy satire. Both movies feature the same kind of snappy, ironic dialogue that makes fun of the movie it's in, but the dialogue still feels organic to their respective genres. And what I said earlier about Sorkin making boring subject matter interesting? Yeah, Goldman did that perfectly with investigative journalism in All the President's Men. What really amazes me is that The Princess Bride was written by Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner. The exact same writer-director team made Stephen King's Misery! If that doesn't show adaptability, I don't know what does.
15. Casablanca
I know everyone talks about what a great screenplay this is. And, no, I do not recognize the names of any of the six writers for it. But, when you watch the movie, the dialogue speaks for itself. This movie came out during WWII, so the worries and concerns portrayed in the film were very much the worries and concerns of the time. The movie properly conveys the sense of dread of the time, but also strangely makes light of it simultaneously with the witty banter and cool nature of Rick Blaine. The fact that something so serious could be so serious and so funny at the same time was probably news to everyone at the time this film came out. Yes, it contains a lot of revolutionary filmmaking techniques as well, but it would not be nearly the classic it is today if not for its impeccably suspenseful and uplifting script.
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