AVC: Screenwriters are notoriously powerless in Hollywood. Being such a famous and highly paid writer, do you feel you have more clout?
SB: No. I have no power, and that's what's so humbling. I mean, Joel still respected me. Eventually, when he started seeing dailies, he was able to just leave us alone even more. Because he kind of relaxed to the idea that we were going to get the job done, and I kind of knew what I was doing. But getting the movie made was the hardest thing, initially, because nobody knew who I was any more. I was in this whole thing, this writer thing, but that and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee.
AVC: Do you feel like the notoriety surrounding how much you got paid for some of your scripts put more pressure on the films themselves?
SB: I don't know. I don't think Long Kiss Goodnight is a bad movie. I don't think we were shunned because of the script sale or anything like that. I think it just didn't get people's asses in the seats on opening day. They just didn't come out to see it. Who knows why? I was honestly a bit disappointed, because I sold the script because Renny Harlin and Geena Davis were available. And the very next day, Renny said, "Uh, I forgot to tell you something. There's this contractual thing, and I might have to go do another movie first." And that was Cutthroat Island. So he came off of Cutthroat Island, which was one of the biggest bombs of the decade, and I think that may have hurt us too. I wish we had released our movie before Cutthroat Island.
AVC: What about Last Action Hero? Why do you think that was received the way it was?
SB: I think it was overhyped. L.A. papers had pictures of Arnold wrestling a dinosaur. It's like, "Who will win, Jurassic Park or Last Action?" When you hype yourself up that much, you're just cutting your own throat. The movie just wasn't funny or satisfying enough to sustain the kind of audience attention that... Jurassic Park delivered the goods 100 percent. I think Last Action Hero was basically very muddied. I don't think there was a writer in Hollywood who wasn't at one point asked to do a rewrite on Last Action Hero. It came back to me and my partner eventually—they just ran out of other people to ask. I think Carrie Fisher even worked on it at some point. So it was a painful experience. I didn't really find the finished product that wonderful, but you know, it happened on my watch, so I gotta take the blame.
AVC: Have you always wanted to try directing?
SB: Yes and no. I never really realized it was an option. Finally, after being so bored and aggravated by these scripts that go out into the world and I don't see again except when they show up on the screen, I needed more control. I also felt that in a way, I hated the writing process so much. It's excruciating, as I'm sure you know, and so lonely being in the solitary prison of my office. A lot of brain-wracking. It just felt like it was so much hard work, and I would send it away. I felt as though I was doing all of this heavy lifting, this weightlifting, every day, all day. It was excruciating. And I stayed skinny, and someone else got all the muscles. I was eating all my vegetables, but then I wouldn't get dessert. To me, directing is the dessert. It's the chance to put a script on its feet. It's more social. It's more like putting a group of people together with one energy that's focused on a common objective, and that is such a great, powerful energy to participate in. It's a privilege to channel the kind of energy that develops from the process of all those people looking in the same direction. All night shoots, marching up and down in the bitter cold, I loved every second of it.
AVC: Still, the script to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang seemed to imply a sense of joy in the writing itself.
SB: I remember seeing that people were saying, "God, this is unusual." I'd say, "What's unusual?" They say, "There's so many words, there's so much talk in this film." They're just not used to making movies where there's that much talk. And that's probably true, and yeah, that's kind of the point. When you only have $15 million, you have to talk about something interesting. You can't just cut to a helicopter exploding.
AVC: What's the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career?
SB: I think the most important thing is to, without belligerence, stand up for what want. Argue compellingly if someone tries to change your script. Yeah, legally they can if they want to. But rather than give up, as some of the writers do, and just wail about how your script got rewritten, it's much more difficult—but well within the realm of possibility—to argue very sincerely, calmly, and reasonably from your point of view, such that the director or the producer might decide, "All right, let's do it that way."
You can win as long as you chose your battles. You can win more arguments then you might think as a writer, even though you legally have no recourse, and your script can get muddied and altered in any way possible. You can use reason, logic, and passion to argue persuasively for a case in your favor. So what I've learned is to just basically not buckle—not be belligerent, not be angry, not throw fits, but just not buckle. Though there are times where you have to stand up and yell. If I've got to throw a chair, I'll throw a chair. There was a meekness about me when I started, and I think the meekness has sort of evaporated. I hope that it's left behind a more passionate person, not a meaner person. So I guess that's what I've learned.
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