You might think a screenwriter who gets an Oscar nomination would be exempt from “notes” — the heavy-handed suggestions given by studio executives, producers and sometimes actors in the process of developing and shooting a film.
You’d be wrong.
Fox Searchlight execs asked for less math in three-time nominee “Hidden Figures,” screenwriters Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi said at the annual Writers Guild of America Beyond Words panel on Thursday.
And Damien Chazelle said he was asked to scrap the climactic drum solo in his first feature, “Whiplash.”
Here are some of the most revealing stories from this year’s other writing nominees at the Audi-sponsored event.
Eric Heisserer (“Arrival”) “It was the start of a pitch, I said ‘There’s a spy and his wife.’ The executive said, ‘There is no wife. Continue.'”
Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”)
“So, where are the white people?”
[Note: Heisserer jumped in and said, “In the audience.” He got a big laugh.]
Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”)
“It was on ‘Whiplash,’ it ends with a kind of long drum solo, which was the whole point of making the movie. And the note was to get rid of all that. The note was written out — ‘He’s good at drumming. We get it.'”
Allison Schroeder (“Hidden Figures”)
“I was really excited, I was pitching this thriller with two female leads, about espionage. [The executive] said, ‘Oh! We love it! It’s great. Can you either change it to incest or two men? I said, ‘If you’ll really hire me? Yes.'”
Theodore Melfi (“Hidden Figures”) “Most of the notes you get are from actors. They’re bad. This one studio [Fox Searchlight] person said, ‘Do we have to have so much math?’ So I pretended to be interested but, no, it’s about math. And then Kevin Costner calls me one night and says, ‘I’ve been thinking about a receding hairline.’
“I said, ‘OK. Why?’ He said, ‘I just think this guy would have a receding hairline.’ And so I call the studio because I love to torture them, and said, ‘Kevin Costner wants a receding hairline,’ and they flip out, saying ‘We want Kevin Coster just the way he is!’ So I went back to Kevin and said everyone at the the studio thinks it will make you look old. He went, ‘Oh. Can I chew gum?'”
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (“Deadpool”) “We wrote a parody of ‘The Sopranos’ called ‘The Tomatoes.’ It was all fruits and vegetables in the leads. it was the Tomatoes vs. The Bananas. The note came back, ‘We love it, but do they have to be fruits and vegetables?'”
Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”)
“I’m trying to think of a really bad note that I’ve gotten, but for the past 20 years when executives give me notes I go into a kind of self-induced hypnotic trance in which I just nod and say… ‘Oh that’s interesting.’ I pitched a comedy once and someone said, ‘Where’s the fun?’ I said I didn’t know.”
Taylor Sheridan (“Hell or High Water”) “I’m with [Lonergan]. When I start getting notes, it just starts to sound like the teacher from the Peanuts cartoon. I was in a meeting, I wrote this pilot for AMC, and we’re all sitting there and they’re giving me all their notes and I’m listening and at one point I say, ‘What the f— are you people talking about?”
And they said, ‘Taylor, you have to look for the note within the note.” I said, ‘OK, but why don’t you just give me the note?’ They looked at me dead seriously and said, ‘Well we don’t know what the note is.'”
Todd Black (producer of “Fences”)
“We made a Western called ‘The Magnificent Seven’ [with Sony Pictures]. And the biggest note in development and shooting it was, ‘Do they have to wear cowboy hats and have facial hair?’ And I said, ‘Do you not want them not to have horses either?’ That was a huge note on a daily basis.”
Oscars 2017: We Predict Nominations in All 24 Categories (Photos)
TheWrap awards guru Steve Pond expects a whole lot of "La La Land" -- and some surprises
Best Picture
Predicted nominees, in order of probability: "La La Land" "Moonlight" "Manchester by the Sea" "Arrival" "Lion" "Hell or High Water" "Hidden Figures" "Fences"
If there's a ninth nominee: "Hacksaw Ridge"
Best Director
Predicted nominees: Damien Chazelle, "La La Land" Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight" Denis Villeneuve, "Arrival" Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea" David Mackenzie, "Hell or High Water"
Best Actor
Predicted nominees: Casey Affleck, "Manchester by the Sea" Denzel Washington, "Fences" Ryan Gosling, "La La Land" Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge" Viggo Mortensen, "Captain Fantastic"
Best Actress
Predicted nominees: Emma Stone, "La La Land" Natalie Portman, "Jackie" Isabelle Huppert, "Elle" Amy Adams, "Arrival" Meryl Streep, "Florence Foster Jenkins"
Best Supporting Actor
Predicted nominees: Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight" Jeff Bridges, "Hell or High Water" Dev Patel, "Lion" Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea" Hugh Grant, "Florence Foster Jenkins"
Predicted nominees: "Manchester by the Sea" "La La Land" "Hell or High Water" "Captain Fantastic" "The Lobster"
Best Animated Feature
Predicted nominees: "Zootopia" "Kubo and the Two Strings" "My Life as a Zucchini" "The Red Turtle" "Your Name"
Best Documentary Feature
Predicted nominees: "O.J.: Made in America" "Life, Animated" "I Am Not Your Negro" "Cameraperson" "13th"
Best Foreign Language Film
Predicted nominees: "Toni Erdmann" (Germany) "The Salesman" (Iran) "Land of Mine" (Denmark) "My Life as a Zucchini" (Switzerland) "Paradise" (Russia)
Best Original Song
Predicted nominees: "City of Stars" from "La La Land" "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana" "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from "La La Land" "Letter to the Free" from "13th" "The Rules Don't Apply" from "Rules Don't Apply"
Best Original Score
Predicted nominees: "La La Land" "Moonlight" "Lion" "The BFG" "Nocturnal Animals"
Best Cinematography
Predicted nominees: "La La Land" "Moonlight" "Arrival" "Silence" "Jackie"
Best Editing
Predicted nominees: "La La Land" "Hacksaw Ridge" "Arrival" "Moonlight" "Manchester by the Sea"
Best Costume Design
Predicted nominees: "Jackie" "La La Land" "Florence Foster Jenkins" "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" "The Dressmaker"
Best Production Design
Predicted nominees: "La La Land" "Jackie" "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" "Hail, Caesar!" "The Handmaiden"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Predicted nominees: "Deadpool" "Star Trek Beyond" "A Man Called Ove"
Predicted nominees: "La La Land" "Hacksaw Ridge" "Arrival" "Rogue One" "Deepwater Horizon"
Best Visual Effects
Predicted nominees: "The Jungle Book" "Rogue One" "Deepwater Horizon" "Arrival" "Kubo and the Two Strings"
Best Documentary Short
From what I have seen and heard, the ones to watch in the documentary-short category are "The White Helmets," "Joe's Violin," "Close Ties" and "4.1 Miles" at the top of the list, with "Watani: My Homeland" and "Extremis" in the running as well.
Best Live Action Short
I wouldn't bet against Kim Magnusson's "Silent Nights" since the Danish producer has been nominated five times and won twice. There's also buzz behind the postapocalyptic "Graffiti," the Student Oscar winner "Nocturne in Black," the comic "Timecode" (with a late-minute twist, which Oscar voters love) the Hungarian childhood tale "Sing" and Selim Azzazi's "Ennemis Interieurs," about a man caught in a French terrorist investigation.
Best Animated Short
Two are from Disney/Pixar ("Piper" and "Inner Workings"), though neither is among those companies' best, while "Borrowed Time" was made by moonlighting Pixar artists. Viewers can change the perspective in "Pearl" by 360 degrees, but the technology might outweigh the charming story. Academy voters like hand-drawn animation, which could help "Once Upon a Line," and they like personal stories, which covers "Pear Cider and Cigarettes." But also look out for "Blind Vaysha," which has a spectacular look, and "The Head Vanishes," about a woman suffering from dementia.
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TheWrap awards guru Steve Pond expects a whole lot of ”La La Land“ — and some surprises
TheWrap awards guru Steve Pond expects a whole lot of "La La Land" -- and some surprises