The latest AFF emailer has a link to this Guardian article in which Shane Black gives a masterclass in action films, listing ten things your movie HAS TO HAVE. It’s decent advice from a guy who made millions selling spec scripts like Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero, The Long Kiss Goodnight, etc. He has a–er, unique style that you either love or hate. Example description of a house from Lethal Weapon:
The kind of house that I’ll buy if this movie is a huge hit. Chrome. Glass. Carved wood. Plus an outdoor solarium: A glass structure, like a greenhouse only there’s a big swimming pool inside. This is a really great place to have sex.
(Hmm, the article implies that Black worked on the recent flop 12 Rounds, then there’s this at the bottom: “This article was amended on 26 May 2009 to correct the impression given in the original first paragraph that Shane Black worked on 12 Rounds.” Umm…no, it still implies that he worked on it.)
Funnily enough, the Guardian also has this much more interesting article which lambastes 12 Rounds for having yet another GENIUS PSYCHO KILLER. I liked this complaint a lot because I’ve been reading too many spec scripts full of super-badasses, AKA Mary Sues. I mean, we need one or two Hannibal Lecters and the occasional Liam Neeson’s-character-in-Taken, but does every damn script have to have a super-genius-super-kung-fu-killer in it? I’m looking at you, Kurt Wimmer.
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