Following up on last week’s look at the nominees for Writing (Adapted Screenplay), this issue focuses on the Academy Award nominees for Writing (Original Screenplay).
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
Martin McDonagh talks about dialogue, and how sometimes it’s best when you tap into your own deepest insecurities and saddest places. However, he also makes sure to remind other writers that you don’t need to put yourself in a bleak place to write something bleak, or create turmoil in your own life to write a story about turmoil. For another view of McDonagh’s work, Maryam Philpott examines the relationship between his stage work and The Banshees of Inisherin. Her focus touches on how even with the film’s expansive visuals, there’s still a sense of confinement that turns up the emotional volume for the characters.
You can also see an earlier Academy Award winning short film of McDonagh’s starring Brendan Gleeson, Six Shooter: A dark comedy set mostly on a train.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
Episode 577 of Scriptnotes features an extended conversation between The Daniels, John, and Craig about making big ambitious movies. You can take a deeper look into their perspective on filmmaking (and why there doesn’t need to be friction between Marvel Fans and Scorsese Cinephiles) in their essay on the making of EEAaO. The Daniels break down the idea of using the multiverse to “stare at the chaos” of modern life in a video essay that also touches on the connections between telling multiversal stories and the stories of immigrants. Christy Dena and Yen Ooi take this a step further in a conversation that includes reflections on what EEAaO means to viewers from the Asian diaspora.
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner)
Jo Light collects interviews and advice from Spielberg and Kushner about the importance of telling your story right now. As a film that drew a lot from Spielberg’s family story, there was also a lot of involvement from his family: his sister Nancy Spielberg shares how the family collaborated on creating the world of the film, and what it felt like to be reunited with her parents by watching the film.
Tár (Todd Field)
Michael Schulman put together a wide-ranging profile of Field that covers everything from his many careers to his role in the creation of problematic 80’s gum, Big League Chew. Kevin Jagernauth dug through the internet to explore the gap between Tár and Field’s last film 16 years ago, creating a roadmap of unmade projects. In an interview with Ryan McQuade, Field talks about creating the sense that Lydia Tár “really knew her onions, and that we didn’t have to know how to peel those onions, but we had to know that she did.” To learn more about the score to the film and how composer Hilder Guðnadóttir got involved from the script stage, check out this interview that includes details like the beats per minute of Blanchett’s gait as Lydia.
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund)
Östlund sat down with Caitlin Lent to discuss making films about class and social contracts, as well as the difference that comes from cutting a film with the intent to show it in a theater. For a deeper look at the politics influencing the characters and the story, check out this conversation with Tom Power at the Toronto International Film Festival. To see how this all plays out in a scene, Östlund breaks down a sequence from the film to show what happens after a group of characters find themselves stranded on an island, and what this does to reinforce or disrupt their ingrained sense of hierarchy:
For Your Consideration: Weekend Read 2 Beta
The original Weekend Read made it easier to read screenplays on an iPhone. Now we’re preparing to launch a sequel!
Anyone with an iOS or iPadOS device can use TestFlight to download a copy of this app in progress. Your feedback helps speed up the process of getting the best version of this app to the App Store.
And you can test it out using a library of For Your Consideration scripts from this year’s Academy Awards nominees! You’ll find a library of these scripts under the Discover tab in the app.
Download the beta through TestFlight and let us know what you think!
Are you new here?
Inneresting is a weekly newsletter about writing and things that are interesting to writers. Subscribe now to get more Inneresting things sent to your inbox.
Reading the room
Sprinting: One Way (to get the writing) Out
This week, join us for a Write Sprint and share your story about a moment when someone pushed you to get busy writing!
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Shout out this week to Sprinters David Swindle, Andrew Heard, Dallas Gow, John Harvey, and Aimee Link!
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Rian Johnson takes us through the scene when Glass Onion’s main characters meet Benoit Blanc for the first time.
Other Inneresting Things…
A quick note: We hit 5,000 subscribers for this newsletter! Thank you to each and every one of you. We appreciate you letting us into your inboxes each week to explore new ideas and nerd out about the things we love.
Kyle Kowalski shares a series of breathing exercises designed to help people come down from anxiety or strong emotional responses, complete with practical instructions.
In another strand of the multiverse, George Lucas directed 2001: A Space Odyssey:
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
Are you enjoying this newsletter?
📧 Forward it to a friend and suggest they check it out.
🔗 Share a link to this post on social media.
🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Twitter @ccsont, or Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art