Script Apart with Al Horner

For a film built around a song titled Remember Me, Pixar's Coco sure has proven absolutely unforgettable in the seven years since its release. Directed by past Script Apart guest Lee Unkrich, the animation told the story of Miguel – a young boy voiced by Anthony Gonzalez who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family and reverse their ban on music. It’s quite simply one of the richest and boldest family movies of all time, confronting ideas around death, legacy and remembrance in a way that moved the needle culturally in this way that only Pixar can. Much like how Inside Out gave parents a framework for talking to their kids about emotions, Coco is renowned today as a text that helps facilitate conversations with children about what it means when someone passes away.

In the conversation you’re about to hear, co-writer Matthew Aldrich drops by to break down the film in detail. We discuss the musical version of the film that was in development before he joined the project. We get into how the film’s villain, Ernesto Del La Cruz, represents the folly of chasing the wrong sort of remembrance: a remembrance of celebrity and fame, rather than family. And you’ll hear about what makes Remember Me such a beautiful part of Coco – the genesis of that astounding piece of music, that lands like a gut punch when we hear it for the final time in act three.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

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Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley are the co-writers (and in Greg's case, director) of Sing Sing – a prison drama that tips on its head the entire prison drama genre. This is a film that forefronts humanity and tenderness instead of the violent and savagery that often powers movies set in jail. There are prison dramas we all adore but how many times have we seen a vision of prison that depicts those places as violent pits where society’s most dangerous animals stew in their savagery?

In Sing Sing – about a group of convicts who stage a play at the Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison near New York – our characters, many of whom are played by real-life graduates of the Rehabilitation Through The Arts programme seen in the movie, are depicted with a rare sensitivity. Whatever their pasts, as this group of would-be thespians build towards the staging of a comedy titled Breakin' The Mummy's Code they’re human to viewers in a way cinema rarely affords. It’s besides the point to say that the film is already being tipped for Oscar glory – this film and the performances of Colman Domingo and newcomer Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin in particular, is a phenomenal achievement in itself without awards validation. Don't miss this in-depth conversation about how it came together on the page.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

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"His stories were good because he imagined them intensely, so intensely that he came to believe them." So wrote Patricia Highsmith in her seminal literary thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1955. You might also characterise the work of our guest today, the talented Mr. Steven Zaillian, this way. The worlds and characters of his films and TV shows are imagined in such rich detail and complexity that you can absolutely imagine him believing them to be real as he crafts them on the page. In fact, that level of detail and depth has been his calling card for over thirty decades in Hollywood now. From 1990’s Awakenings and 1993’s Schindler’s List, which won Steven an Oscar, all the way to films like Gangs of New York, American Gangster, Moneyball, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Irishman, there’s a thrillingly convincing quality about whatever story he’s telling – oftentimes, his characters are people you can imagine pulling up a barstool next to you and telling you a tale you’ll never forget.

This month, he’s up for an Emmy for his work with Ripley – a Netflix adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, that Steven acted as showrunner for, writing and directing every episode. The series is a hypnotising ten hours in the company of a conman, Tom Ripley, who’s hired by a wealthy businessman to convince his son to return home from a life of leisure abroad on the Italian coast. But the more Tom – played here by Andrew Scott – ensconces himself in the lives of Dickie Greenleaf, played by Johnny Flynn, and Dakota Fanning as his partner, Marge Sherwood, the more his lies and his lust for what Dickie has mutates into something murderous.

In the spoiler conversation you’re about to hear, Steven tells us about the relevance of fraudster stories in a time of Trump and other public deceivers. We get into the writing tricks and tips that make you root for the morally thorny characters he often writes. And the rationale behind every change from both the novel and the Matt Damon-starring 1999 adaptation of Ripley is uncovered too, as we delve into the slightly different ending to this version of the tale and the meaning of Italian artist Caravaggio’s presence throughout this story. 

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

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Unless you’ve spent the last year locked in a radiation-proof vault deep below the surface of the Earth, you’ll have no doubt heard about Fallout – a TV video game adaptation unlike any other. Created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and our guest today, former Portlandia writer Graham Wagner, the show brought to life the blue suits, barbarism and bizarre humour of one of the biggest game franchises of the century so far, transporting viewers to a nuclear-scored Wasteland hundreds of years in the future. The surprises of this Prime Video series, produced by Westworld creators Jonathan “Jonah” Nolan and Lisa Joy, just kept coming across the eight episodes comprising its first season, with each revelation a powerful observation about the greedy workings of corporations to whom nothing’s more important than their profits – not even human survival.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

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Today on Script Apart – a film about a man trapped in an air-conditioned purgatory, full of fast food joints, luggage carousels and people in transit, while he himself remains frustratingly locked in place. 2004’s The Terminal is the Steven Spielberg-directed tale of Viktor, played by Tom Hanks: a kind-hearted soul marooned at an American airport owing to a unique diplomatic situation that broke out his fictional home country, Krahkozia, while he was flying to the US. The film was written by our guest today, Sacha Gervasi, who you might also know from movies like the music documentary Anvil and the Peter Dinklage-starring My Dinner With Herve, as well as the 2012 Alfred Hitchcock biopic with Anthony Hopkins.

In the conversation you’re about to hear, Sacha and I get into what The Terminal taps into that gave it such universal appeal on release, twenty years later and also notably during the pandemic, when people were confined to their own purgatories in lockdown. You’ll discover the darker tone of the original draft of the movie, written for Sam Mendes to direct before a reshuffle behind the scenes. And you’ll discover what the film sought to express about the arbitrary nature of borders, as well as the truth behind the real-life inspiration for the film: Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived in Charles De Gaulle airport for eighteen difficult years.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

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This week on Script Apart – a sit-down on a proverbial park bench to pick through the box of chocolates that is Forrest Gump, with the legendary screenwriter behind the classic drama, Eric Roth! Marking the film's 30th anniversary, Roth regales us with secrets from the Gump's creation, breaking down why he elected not to make Forrest a NASA astronaut (unlike in the book on which it's based) and what makes the character so enduringly endearing.

You'll also discover how the relationship between Forrest and Jenny was informed by Eric's own love for his wife, what the feather at the beginning of the film represents, and what happened to the ill-fated sequel that Roth wrote – only to abandon in the days after 9/11.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

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Two sisters on opposite sides of the Force; one terrible trauma that sent them on those divergent paths... Set one hundred years before the Skywalker Saga that would define a galaxy, The Acolyte – Disney's newest Star Wars TV show – explores uncharted territory for the franchise in more ways than one. Not only have fans  never seen this era in Star Wars lore explored on-screen before; it's also a departure in just explicitly it explores the idea that the Jedi as an institution might be corruptible and flawed. For 47 years, since George Lucas' game-changing A New Hope, the Jedi have been held up as a noble band of guardians. This new series, from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland, asks the question: what if there's more to that nobility than we've come to understand?

In a spoiler-filled interview, recorded days after the show's finale, Leslye breaks down its major surprises, key scenes and crucial characters – explaining how Fight Club, Frozen and Kill Bill played a significant part in its conception...

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

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A Quiet Place: Day One is an alien invasion tale well and truly worth shouting about. Written and directed by our guest this week, Milwaukee-born filmmaker Michael Sarnoski, it’s a rare example of sequel that prioritises its characters and their connections instead of chasing bigger, more bombastic explosions. Where most franchise follow-ups get bogged down in expanding the mythology and upping spectacle of previous instalments, this one is focused on telling a devastatingly simple story. Sam, a cancer patient by Lupita Nyong'o, realising her world is ending, crosses New York in search of one last slice from her favourite pizzeria. 

In the conversation you’re about to hear, Sarnoski tells Al about what inspired such an intimate approach to tackling a Quiet Place sequel. We get into the scene in Central Park that unfortunately had to be scrapped and the subtle joke involving Sam’s cat’s name that acts as a clue to the structure/inspiration behind the movie. 

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

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The Bikeriders is another triumph for Little Rock-born filmmaker Jeff Nichols. Inspired by and named after a 1968 photographic study of Chicago bikers by Danny Lyon, the film charts the rise and fall of not just a motorcycle gang but also an era in American history. It stars Austin Butler as young rebel Benny, Jodie Comer as his long-suffering partner Kathy, Mike Faist as Lyon and Tom Hardy as gang founder Johnny – and that’s just scratching the surface of a brilliant ensemble cast.

At first glance, the drama seems like a departure for Jeff, known for movies like sci-fi adventure Midnight Special and apocalyptic drama Take Shelter. Peer a little closer at his screenplay, however and you soon start to see familiar Nichols-isms. For starters, there’s a “rurality” to Jeff’s work too, with so many of his stories unfolding down down dusty dirt trails, in parts of America that Hollywood doesn’t often turn its cameras towards. Then there’s the themes of masculinity, finality and devotion that simmer beneath the surface of all his movies, and rear their heads again here.

In the spoiler conversation you’re about to hear, we get into those recurring threads across his work, the post-Vietnam context for the film’s final act, the influence of Scorsese’s Goodfellas on the first act’s structure and the modern male malaise that this film comments on. Be sure to watch the film before tuning in.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

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Brian Duffield is one of the most original writer-directors in genre cinema right now – a spec script maestro whose films are homages to the popcorn thrill rides he grew up on, without being nostalgic replays of those ‘90s classics. Instead, his movie’s always offer something new. Take Spontaneous, for example – his brilliant coming-of-age directorial debut romcom, set in a high school in which students are spontaneously combusting. Or even more pertinently, one of last year's most thrilling horrors: No One Will Save You, Brian's tale of a young woman with a chequered past, whose solitary life is interrupted by an alien invasion. The film plays out almost entirely without dialogue.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Brian about who Brynn was to him, the idea of this story being about alienation in more ways than one, and exactly what is happening as the film reaches its ending – a moment that had the internet rife with theories as to exactly what goes down as Brynn’s fight to survive takes on a dreamy, seemingly utopian turn.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on [email protected].

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

Support the show