Word: scripting
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...beautiful place to be lost in. Nichols, as always, is terrific at suggesting worlds without words. The camera catches a glance from a pretty lawyer at Henry's firm, and we know in that instant that she has had an affair with the old, nasty Henry. But then the script insists that these epiphanies be spelled out in illuminated capital letters; and Nichols, a jaunty yachtsman of a director, must trawl through treacle. Strings swell at the merest emotion. And -- lordy! -- dog-reaction shots! By the end, when the pooch trots into a school chapel, you may want the animal...
Things got worse. The caterer was pressed into service as an emcee. When no script appeared, print-ad winners were asked to identify themselves as slides of their work appeared on a screen, sometimes backward or out of focus...
...line. He has invested about $80 million in Morgan Creek and has attracted $200 million from outside investors. "If studio executives lost 25% of their own money on a film," he says, "they'd make better movies." Robinson spent only 20 hours considering whether to buy the Robin Hood script for $1.2 million, and even less time deciding whether to hire Kevin Costner to play the lead for $7.5 million. Deriding some studio executives as dithering bureaucrats, he declares, "I'm never going to have to ask some guy who makes $250,000 a year if I can make...
Robinson is a demon for details, beginning with a movie's script. "A lot of companies start with an imperfect script, which is like drawing a road map while on a trip," he says. Other steps get just as much scrutiny, from choosing a director to arranging a sound track. "You don't know how good your movie will be, but you can avoid making a bad one," says Robinson. He tries to avoid the movie industry's all-consuming politics. "People don't go to the movies to see pitches and deals, they go to see good films...
...Costner's larger, busier take on the legend, the only green power is at the box office. With a sigh, the script reprises Robin's recruiting of his Merry Men (a pallid crowd here), his verbal jousting (uninspired), his romance with Maid Marian (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, her wondrous screen potential again untapped). The movie treats these plot points as tiresome requirements, not chances to work fresh alchemy on old elements. At 2 hours 20 minutes, the enterprise lacks passion, or even a sense of inspired fun; it is as if the filmmakers were dutifully honoring business commitments. Wading through...