home"Words on Film" looks at the writing process behind films that have been nominated for “Best Original Screenplay” at the Academy Awards. Over the next five weeks, this feature will be dedicated to the five 2013 nominees.
In an interview with Vulture, Gatins talks about the most difficult scene he had to write (and fight to keep included in the script):
"There’s a scene in the stairwell at the hospital where this gaunt young man appears — the character’s name is actually Gaunt Young Man — and he kind of takes the movie on a ride you’re not expecting for seven minutes. I had a lot of screenwriter friends who read it and thought it was unnecessary, because the script was always long, but for me it was important. A working screenwriter should adhere to the idea that you can’t just have the Oracle of Delphi show up and give you a seven-minute monologue and exit the movie — it’s not supposed to work that way — but I put all that aside and said, “For some reason, this character is important to me.”
"That scene has so much going on for me because the cancer that he talks about is the cancer that my best friend had — and my friend is a survivor, which is great. But it was a really intense period in his life and tangentially mine, too, so I kind of brought a lot of that to that character. In my everyday life, I’m not thinking about what I really believe and why I’m here and God or Allah or any of that, but I promise you that when tragic things happen, like someone getting gravely ill, you really do have to go through it in your brain to say, 'Why do I think this has happened?'"
Flight has a strange way of reminding us about the most intimate, personal memories that we keep. It's appealing when a screenwriter puts so much of himself into the story. You can't help but feel just a little bit more for that part of the film after reading Gatin's connection to it.
The rest of Flight is also inspired by Gatin's personal life. In particular, his fears. The screenplay goes deep into the two things that terrify him: flying and overdosing on alcohol. Gatin has been sober for many years now, his writing starting to take off once he removed himself from a dangerous lifestyle, but his fear of worse days still remains and shows through in the film.
CHYRON -- ATLANTA 6:12 AM
EXT. SOMEWHAT SEEDY TWO-STORY HOTEL IN ATLANTA -- PRE-DAWN
It’s still more night than day as we look down on the HOTEL ATLANTA. The lit sign for the HOTEL ATLANTA may be the only source of light as we hear a metallic rattle.
EXT. HOTEL ATLANTA -- SECOND FLOOR -- PRE-DAWN
We follow the metallic rattle to a door. The rattling stops and we watch the knob slowly turn. Tight on a feminine arm with a tattoo that announces “hope.” We pull back to find that both arms are employed in the pulling of what looks like a large suitcase.
The tattoo that announces hope is a great symbol for the film. Hope is something we all carry through the difficult times in life and it is this that makes the film resonate with all viewers even if the plot may be a little out of reach for some.
You can read the full screenplay here.
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