10/22/22
Newletter135
The Crack of Dawn
I consider this one of the best retorts of my life. The cinematographer on Alien Apocalypse was David Worth. David is twenty years older than me, a terrific DP, and a really bright, funny guy. David shot two of Clint Eastwood’s movies, Any Which Way You Can (1980) and Bronco Billy (1980), and his camera operator was Jack N. Green. Clint promoted Jack Green to DP, then had him shoot his next thirteen movies, including Unforgiven (1992), for which Jack received an Oscar nomination. So, David and I were being driven home from the set and I was telling him about my movie, Running Time (1997), and how it’s in black and white and it’s all in one shot and real time. David said, “That sounds great. Better than Reservoir Dogs. Why aren’t you as big as Quentin Tarantino?” I said, “Jack Green was your camera operator. Why aren’t you as big as him?” David grunted like he’d been kicked in the gut, and said, “Good one.”
Hollywood may be located in a big city, but it’s its own small community. David Worth also shot my buddy, Sheldon’s, film, Bloodsport (1988). Jack Green shot the pilot for Bruce Campbell’s TV show, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
I love the movie Unforgiven. I didn’t think Clint Eastwood had a great movie in him, but he did. And I think this is a magical story for Hollywood. David Webb Peoples, who would later co-write Blade Runner (1982), wrote a western script in 1976 called The William Munny Killings. When Blade Runner came out and he was hot shit for a half-a-minute, he retitled his western script The Whiskey River Murders, and sold it to Clint Eastwood. I have no doubt that Mr. Peoples was very happy with this sale, and eagerly expected to see a movie of his script soon – with Clint Eastwood, no less. Well, folks, it doesn’t work that way. People’s script was put through the “standard Hollywood rewrite process:” other writers are brought in, draft after draft is written, different writers are brought in, more drafts are written, and in most cases the movie never gets made. In 1991 I attended a Writer’s Guild meeting and heard a really smart screenwriter, Ted Elliot, who was a big shot at the time (and still is) having just written Disney’s big hit Aladdin (1992), describe the “standard Hollywood rewrite process” as, “Dissection. And nothing comes out of dissection alive.” So, David People’s western script was rewritten and rewritten, and then forgotten.
A decade elapsed. Clint Eastwood decides to read the script in whatever form it is now in. He reads it, says, “That sucks,” and inquires of his production company, Malpaso, why they ever bothered to purchase the property? Clint is given the original Whiskey River Murders script – which I’ve read – and that’s the movie Unforgiven. Clint shot the original script, pretty much without any changes. It’s an inspired script that caused Clint to get inspired and do the best work of his life, which inspired Jack Green to do his best work, and Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris, and Sol Rubinek (whom I met in Best Buy), and everybody else. And that’s how a great movie got made.
But wait, I’m not done. At the Oscars in 1993 Unforgiven rightly wins: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing – Jack Green doesn’t win Best Cinematography, but that’s okay because the winner, A River Runs Through It shot by Philippe Rousselot, is a great-looking movie – but David Webb Peoples lost Best Original Screenplay to that dumb movie, the Crying Game. As Alex says in A Clockwork Orange with his eyes propped open, “It’s a sin!” Mr. Peoples is 82 years old and I just want to tell you, dude, you got ripped off. Your script it great.
Have a lovely day, and watch Unforgiven again.