It's the Story, Stupid. - Review - book review

Reason, August, 2000 by Steve Kurtz

The book is full of great tales on how a script was written and filmed--or not filmed. For instance, after his years in the wilderness, Goldman was called in to adapt the popular novel Memoirs of an Invisible Man for director Ivan Reitman and star Chevy Chase. In the mid-'80s, both were white hot. Unfortunately, Reitman wanted a farce, while Chase wanted a film about the loneliness of invisibility. When two powerful people butt heads, those below often feel it the most, and soon enough Goldman was off the stalled project. (Chase ultimately got his way, and the film was released in 1992, directed by John Carpenter. It was a flop.)

In 1990, Goldman adapted Misery from Stephen King's bestseller. The moment in the novel that knocked him out is when the protagonist has his feet lopped off. He wrote it into his script, but director Rob Reiner changed it so the hero "merely" has his ankles broken with a sledgehammer. Goldman screamed, but Reiner wouldn't budge. Misery became a hit, and the hobbling scene was the most memorable thing in it. Goldman now admits he was mistaken--his scene did in fact go too far. Why didn't he know it then? Easy Nobody Knows Anything.

Even some things Goldman claims to know now are uncertain. For example, he believes his lion-hunting film, The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), was ruined when star Michael Douglas demanded his part be rewritten. Goldman thinks giving Douglas' character a painful past took away from his mystery and made him more of a whiner. It's impossible to say for sure, but it's hard to believe this relatively minor modification was enough by itself to change the film from hit to failure.

Which Lie Did I Tell? is not all war stories. It also deals with topics ranging from Goldman's favorite scenes in other people's movies to his comments on how well various news stories would adapt into movies to other writers' comments on an uncompleted screenplay by Goldman himself. Holding it all together are several lessons. For one, a writer had better believe in a story before committing to it, because it takes a lot of work to craft a good screenplay. Second, a writer must be willing to take harsh criticism from friends--if they won't tell you the truth, don't expect any mercy from people you're hoping will pay you. And above all, never forget that it all starts with the writer; directors and stars may get more credit, money, and fame, but nothing can happen until someone puts word to page.

As central as the writer is to the film, so is the story to the writer. But if the book has a significant lapse, it's that Goldman has been writing big-budget pieces for so long that his idea of a story is a Hollywood story. There should be no wasted motion, no matter how entertaining--every line, every action, has to fit into the larger structure. And there's no room for ambiguity--everything should make the lead look good, because, in Goldman's words, "Stars do not--repeat--do not play heroes--stars play gods." And while you certainly want good characters, their main purpose is to function well in an entertaining plot.