Today’s video interview, hosted by the most excellent site MakingOf.com, is with screenwriter-director Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky’s writing credits include Supermarket Sweep (1991), Protozoa (1993), Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Below (2002), The Fountain (2006), and the upcoming Black Swan (2010). He directed all of those films as well as The Wrestler (2008).
In this interview, Aronofsky talks about:
* How he starts his story-crafting process with a theme.
* How sometimes he doesn’t know what a movie is about until “you’ve done a month of press and been forced to talk about it abstractly”.
* What he calls his “muscle draft,” going off by himself to write, committing to yourself “by the end of this week, I’m going to have a draft.” How he ends up with “a 60, or 70, or 80 page script that’s terrible, but it’s something… It’s the muscle draft, you muscled your way through it.”
* How screenwriting is like sculpture.
* “That’s what screenwriting is. You just keep making passes at it, from beginning to end, you don’t go back, and eventually you get to where you’ve got something that makes sense.”
* How writing is like watching Mick Jagger sing or Michale Jordan soar, the purity and height of creative expression.
* “That’s what I love about writing. The possibility of connecting with a character who’s been floating around in your brain for so long.”
Here’s the interview:
H/T to Mahmoud for forwarding me the link to the interview.
I watched this when it was first available. His focus on explicit theme is a refreshing change from the "emergent" crowd. And it's interesting to contrast his over all approach with Richard Kelly's (his video is on the same site).
very helpful vid. thanks for posting.
Darren Aronofsky is one of the most important filmmakers of our generation, I love everything he has done so far, and continue to look forward to anything he is involved with.
Interesting to see how he works and his method of writing a script, great video!