Month: January 2004

Big Fish

Writer guy

Tim Burton is an impressive talent whose films have run the gamut telling stories about some great and almost ridiculous, but still great characters. Big Fish is different. This is a film with a touching theme that cuts right to the heart of what makes us human, and it does it in such a brilliant and entertaining way, you don’t even care how hard he yanks on the heart strings. And he does tug. I heard tears behind me at the right places.

This is the big work, the kind every writer would love to have their name on, because not only does it work thematically, Tim Burton makes it work visually, and its fun. But don’t think this is just a comedy, it’s deeper than that.

Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney are great character actors, and there is lots of great acting in this movie. As far as the talent, everyone is exceptional in this except Billy Crudup. His performance was a little too sterile and detached for me. If my dad had a terminal illness, I think I’d be a little more emotional about it. However, a plus side to that, because Billy Crudup appeared detached, Albert Finney’s performance seemed even better.

The story is essence about a man’s attempt to understand with the colorful legacy of his father. It’s a legacy that as a boy he loved, and as a man he tried to reject, only to realize that what he was rejecting was himself. Like it or not, most of us aren’t so different from our parents. And maybe, just maybe, there’s a reason for that.

Where did it all go wrong?

Writer guy

This was the first day in the long time that the only thing I’ve written was the blog. That may be a point to consider for me. Sometimes irrelevant details get in the way of the whole picture and when the problems flare up. In those moments, I should take a step back and try and budget time for the big things first, like writing, rather than inverting priorities just because something urgent to push one problem to the head of the line. Most of the time urgent problems linger for awhile anyway, and I waste time trying to micromanage something that can’t be managed because it was out of my control in the first place.

Anyway, if I let myself focus on the problem too much, I wind up with another one, which is I don’t get done all that I would like. One problem or another got in the way of writing this book for years until I was in a place where I couldn’t take the problems anymore. Not writing became it’s own problem. In the end, not writing was harder than writing. I just went with writing.

Space oddity

Writer guy

Dinner with the professor and the wife Friday was fantastic. She had some good ideas about the screnplay though, we didn’t discuss it much. The wife and the professor connect in a positive way and it’s obvious that each is interested in the opinion of the other. It’s always nice when they people you respect, respect each other. Of course, I respect and admire the professor too. Not to put words in their mouth, but I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that the professor thinks what I’m doing with the book is a little crazy because the odds are long. But I think the odds of becoming a tenured professor at a major university are longer. They have to publish to get that far anyway, plus teach a full course load and that’s just what I know about. I’m sure there are other endless requirements to get tenure. All that sounds a lot harder than what I’m doing.

Most of the time, I don’t think about the odds. The odds aren’t in my control. Sometimes, you just gotta believe anyway. No matter what, you gotta believe.

Do we have a video yet?

Writer guy

Editor person called and they won’t be ready for today’s session. Since they’re out of town Thursday and Friday, we’re meeting on Saturday afternoon this week. That means no updates on the fourth draft, version two until then.
That’s not to say nothing is going on. I’ve been working on the outline and character sketches for the second book Again, another forward looking visualization. Sure, they’ll want part II! Why not? Selling part I is a forgone conclusion. Right? Right?????
The second book ( I’m still hashing out possible titles) will involve all the key characters from the first one, plus a brand new character, new guy. I see new guy as a sidekick for my hero, because every great hero has a sidekick.
The sidekick has to complement the hero, but also serve as a ready source of conflict. I need enough tension between hero and sidekick that it’s interesting, but not so much that it leads to one of them sleeping with the fishes. New guy needs a level of sophistication but he has to be able to kick butt.
There’s a lot of great sidekicks out there, and I want mine to be up to snuff, so I’m taking my time developing him, using some of the down time to research a number of far reaching topics such as the history of the Philippines, US Special Forces, star based sea navigation and the swallows of San Juan Capistrano.
On other fronts, it looks like my wife, the professor and myself are going to meet up for dinner this Friday. The professor is just that, a full tenured doctor of English at a major university. Long before editor person, the professor suffered through my writing, when I was a student back in college. I want to emphasize the suffering part. Despite this, the professor agreed to give me some feedback on the screenplay I wrote this past August. Any comments are good and I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say.
I have a separate plan and set of goals for the screenplay – but that’s all for now.