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Named "Best Screenwriting Magazine" by the Los
Angeles Times and the Washington Post,
Creative
Screenwriting brings you the finest articles on the craft
and business of screenwriting 6 times a year. Buy the magazine on these newsstands or:
Click Here to
Subscribe
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Free Podcasts — Jeff
Goldsmith's Interviews With
Writers And Directors At the Creative Screenwriting
Film Screening Series — Click
here
Excerpts
from the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting!
Return to Battle
BY DANNY MUNSO
In 2001, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg executive-produced the
acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers for HBO, an
epic tale about a company of American soldiers who fought in the
European theater
during World War II. As that project concluded, Hanks and Spielberg
were already talking about showing the other side of America's
participation in the war via the battles in the Pacific against the
Japanese. In addition to the letters the power duo received after Band
premiered from Pacific veterans asking them to bring their story to
life, Spielberg's interest in the venture was personal because both his
father and uncle fought in the Pacific. One of the writers of Band,
Bruce C. McKenna, was also already thinking along similar lines.
He approached Spielberg after the 2002 Emmy Awards and asked if he was
thinking about tackling the Pacific war next. "I said, 'Please, if you
ever do, I'd love to write you a couple of episodes,'" McKenna
remembers. "Eighteen months later, I got a phone call from Tom Hanks
who wanted to know if I was interested in working on The
Pacific.
I tried not to seem too eager." McKenna sat down with Spielberg, Hanks
and Hanks' producing partner at Playtone, Gary Goetzman, to discuss the
project in March 2003.
Like
what you just read? Read Danny Munso's entire on The
Pacific in the latest issue
of Creative Screenwriting!
Iron
Man 2
BY PETER CLINES
Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) isn't sure how he
went
from virtual obscurity to writer of two back-to-back tentpole films.
"Your guess is as good as mine," he laughs. "I've been in Hollywood for
about 20 years now. Everyone has a weird road in this town and mine's
no different, I guess."
While working on Tropic Thunder, he met Robert
Downey Jr. hot off the first Iron Man
film, who suggested Theroux might be a good fit with Marvel Studios. A
fan of "Iron Man" comics as a kid, Theroux was excited for the meeting.
"I went when they were gearing up for the very first initial push into
development for Iron Man 2," the screenwriter
recalls. "I sat
with them for a long time and had long discussions about the character
and world. Shortly thereafter, they said they'd love to have me and I
was completely flattered and floored, and we started developing the
script right away." With director Jon Favreau working on Couples
Retreat
for portions of the time, they would meet as often as possible for long
sessions with Downey, Marvel executive Kevin Feige and producer Jeremy
Latcham. "Those guys had the benefits of doing [the first Iron
Man]
and were well versed in the pitfalls and problems of where certain
ideas could take you. They were great at helping me eliminate certain
things that I otherwise might waste time spinning my wheels in."
Like what you just
read? Read Peter Clines' entire interview with Justin Theroux in the latest issue
of Creative Screenwriting!
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