Well, That Explains Most Of It
The Jewish Journal L.A. had an interview with screenwriter Eric Roth, the scribe of "The Good Shepard." At the end of the interview, he talks about the "Postman," which he had a co-credit for...
"I had written that as a satire for Tom Hanks many years before the movie got made -- well before 'Forrest Gump,'" Roth recalled. "That's how I met Tom, through 'The Postman.' It was not meant to be taken seriously. "Later, Kevin Costner developed it, and he made a more earnest version," he continued. "And the guy who rewrote me went on to win an Oscar, Brian Helgeland ['L.A. Confidential']. So it goes to show that sometimes things just don't work."
Yeah, "earnest version," as in "Ernest Goes To The Post-Apocalypse."
"I had written that as a satire for Tom Hanks many years before the movie got made -- well before 'Forrest Gump,'" Roth recalled. "That's how I met Tom, through 'The Postman.' It was not meant to be taken seriously. "Later, Kevin Costner developed it, and he made a more earnest version," he continued. "And the guy who rewrote me went on to win an Oscar, Brian Helgeland ['L.A. Confidential']. So it goes to show that sometimes things just don't work."
Yeah, "earnest version," as in "Ernest Goes To The Post-Apocalypse."
Labels: Writing
posted by Writeprocrastinator at 8:45 PM
6 Comments:
interesting. you know, I recently read an interview sylvester stallone gave re: the gazillionth installation of rocky and I have to say, this one sentence definitely struck a chord:
"I can never understand those people who spend two years trying to get the perfect script one time out. That's not writing, that's waiting."
who knew?!
"I can never understand those people who spend two years trying to get the perfect script one time out. That's not writing, that's waiting."
Katie,
Though Stallone has several writing credits, I wonder how much actual writing he's done since his success with the first Rocky.
Some scripts just come out right within the first few months and some scripts need to be nutured over a long time.
I have a friend who had tuned the same script over four years and I always told him that he needed at least another one, so that he would have two samples. He thought that if his one opus was good enough, they'd hire him regardless.
Keep in mind that we're talking about Stallone, someone who took the money and ran through most of the 90's, regardless of the quality of the scripts.
I don't put much stock in his writing skills, believe me. I just liked the phrase, particularly this point, "That's not writing, that's waiting." I think it just reminded me to keep the fire lit in my ass. capisce?
I wonder how long it took to write the classic line, "Hey yo, Adrian!"
I've never seen "The Postman." But I've seen "Waterworld," which came with a "Get out of seeing 'The Postman' Free" card.
Ernest Goes to the Post-Apocalypse is my favorite of the series.
Katie,
"That's not writing, that's waiting.' I think it just reminded me to keep the fire lit in my ass. capisce?"
Io capisco.
Becka,
"I've never seen 'The Postman.' But I've seen 'Waterworld,' which came with a "Get out of seeing 'The Postman' Free" card."
I've seen "Waterworld" in the theaters and I stayed awake through it, un-huh...yep. Everytime "The Postman" came on TNT, I couldn't watch more than five minutes of it. I couldn't believe that it wasn't a comedy and there is my proof.
Beth,
Heh-heh-heh, I so wanted to take a shot at the "Ernest Goes To" series, but I'll layoff out of respect for the late Jim Varney, and his work with Pixar.
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