Posted by doncraniole at usercc46.uk.uudial.com on April 01, 2002 at 21:39:55:
Being a young British scriptwriter, and a fan of Kevin's work, in particular Chasing Amy (which for me gelled into a cohesive whole moreso than his other, perhaps deliberately more episodic pieces), there are a number of questions I would like to put to him. How, in particular do you work in your writing of a screenplay Kevin? They say that in writing any screenplay, a writer must create his film by 'drawing from three bank accounts' if you will. The first of these is 'the memory account', taking ideas and characters and emotions which you yourself draw from memory. Secondly, you must draw from the 'imagination account', to step inside the lives of your characters and imagine just what they would do in a certain situation: how they think, their opinions, etc. (A perhaps unjust criticism which is often made of you is that you are sometimes unable to create characters with vastly different opinions and ideals as your own). Thirdly, the writer must withdraw from 'the fact account'. This is the act of going to the library (or the comic book store) to stack up a list of templates of similarly themed films as the one you are trying to write and thinking, 'how can i make this better?' The question to you, albeit a protracted one, is that I am keen to know how much from each of these three accounts do you withdraw in your writing stages? And further to this, after your New Jersey films, are you considering tackling wholly new terrain? Do you, like other fresh comedic talents Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson do, create a character and build a narrative around them? Or perhaps create a funny scene and build around it? Your comments would be genuinely useful and interesting to me.
Obviously, with Jay and Silent Bob's most recent outing much of the machinery was in place for you to build a story around your titular anti-heroes, but what was it in particular which lead you to satirise Hollywood? Are you a sucker for self-referentiality and intertextuality to such an extent that a Hollywood scenario presented to you endless possibilitites for pastiche and parody of both your characters, your actors and Hollywood itself? Or, with your history of 'creative differences' with other artists, do you harbour any real resentment towards the institution of Hollywood? I'm not entirely sure that you are aware, but I happen to be a big fan of your's who also ranks Magnolia as one of the greatest two or three films of the decade so far. Just so you know you aren't mutually exclusive directors. (Requiem for a Dream is also an example of a director who is the absolute master of his art - How do think Aronofsky's Batman will turn out? Like him or hate him I would be interested to hear your opinion.)
A final question. In the Linklater film, Dazed and Confused, which character are you most like, and why oh why don't you cast Wiley Wiggins in your next movie. That method acting he does in that film where he holds the bridge of his nose whenever he's annoyed - genius!
Simon Craig, BA(Hons)Film MA Scriptwriting