He was the most influential writer, to me, when I desperately wanted to write screenplays. This blog is inspired by his own insights into the movie business. Everyone in Hollywood credits him with the infamous line "No one knows anything." And true to form, Hollywood embraced that and took pride in how they have zero ideas what the public wants, but can only pretend they do.
I love that love/hate with the business. Though Mr. Goldman's life is less glamorous than you would think. I think most writers are. He was a self-affacing, probably could've been a stand-up comic. I've read all his books about the business. Some juicy behind the scenes stories of the in-fighting of some of his most celebrated movies. Though he himself only saw flaws, even his bad movies were good.
I learned a TON from this man. Especially that we shouldn't take this business all that seriously.
He somehow was also the Zelig of writing. Not particularly a good student, and he didn't really care for movies (except for "Something About Mary" within the industry he was a screenwriting guru. Doctoring many scripts we didn't even know about. Or some, like "Good Will Hunting" he's been credited for but has taken a more...cheeky approach to answer those questions (read "Which Lie Did I Tell?")
Above all...Mr. Goldman taught me that movies are suppose to have a buoyant quality to them. "Butch Cassidy..." was irreverent to the ultra serious Western. Or "The Princess Bride" was a tongue-in-cheek approach at fairy tales LONG before Pixar tackled them. Or "Misery" had Kathy Bates be humorous even in her most monstrous state. These are what movies are made for.
Though I often mention Billy Wilder, who co-wrote most of his films, Goldman strictly stuck to writing. Or teaching...
His insight, needs to be discovered by the young writers today.
No comments:
Post a Comment