Screenwriters of ‘American Fiction,’ ‘Past Lives’ and More Reveal Toughest Scenes, From the Invention of a Lie to A Sadistic Husband’s Arrival
variety.comTodd Gilchrist editor The creative process can sometimes be highly organized, and others completely ephemeral: for every story that’s been mapped out beat by beat there’s another that arrived completely intact from a writer’s fingers in a feverish outpouring of inspiration.
Somewhere in between these extremes is the unglamorous, frequently tedious work of chipping away at an idea, a sequence, or line of dialogue that gets to the heart of what a scribe wants to say — or more precisely, hopes to communicate.
Ahead of the Academy Awards on March 10, Variety spoke with several of the screenwriters nominated in the categories of original and animated screenplay about the scenes they found most difficult to write.
Whether it was identifying the kernel of an idea from which the rest of their narrative popped or translating the inspiration of source material (or real life) to something dramatically credible on the page, they explain in their own words how they conquered those challenges en route to Oscar glory. Samy Burch, “May December” (original screenplay) Loosely inspired by true events, “May December” follows the relationship between Gracie Atherton (Julianne Moore) and husband Joe (Charles Melton), who met as pet shop co-workers when he was a teen, as actor Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) prepares to play Gracie in an upcoming film.
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