In some fashion, I've always been a writer since I was a teenager. In college, I took screenwriting classes that opened up the possibility of writing something that could possibly land on a film or television screen one day. Unfortunately nothing did except for a dialogue-less short movie and another short that eventually became the general idea for one of my published short stories.
As with most screenwriters, a movie or multiple movies inspire that idea that you could possibly write too. Whether it's being so inspired by someone's work that it produces your own ideas or being outraged that a movie is so bad that you can do better, everyone has a film that incited them to create their own unique work. Here are my top five....
1. Clerks: Released in 1994, by first time writer/director/actor Kevin Smith, it was shot for just above $27,000 using his own money and maxed out credit cards. To Smith, this was his answer to Richard Linklarter's
Slacker. Catching the movie in a theater, Smith was under the belief that he could make a movie on par to the Linklater movie and he went on to enroll in a film school. Dropping out half way through the program because there wasn't enough hands on experience with film production, he took his prorated tuition refund and put it towards making his own movie, along with money he received in government aid after his hometown had a flood.
The movie was shot in black and white and at nighttime at the Quick Stop convenience store, that was his place of employment, to cut down shooting costs.
Clerks won awards at Cannes, Sundance, and three Spirit awards while racking up three million dollars in the box office despite the limited amount of theaters showing it.
For me, just as Linklater's
Slacker made Kevin Smith think he could do at least just as well, I felt like I could at least shoot something just as good cinematography wise and possibly even writing wise. Topics in the movie ranged from
Star Wars, to customer psychology, relationships, and even death. The screenplay was dialogue heavy and between average Joe's getting by in their day to day life. The movie inspired me because it shattered my own belief that movies took millions of dollars to make and that only a few select people could ever make one. True, it's not an easy thing to do this day, but with today's technology, the many new outlets to showcase movies, and the cost of equipment becoming more attainable to buy or rent, it made me think I could one day write and maybe even direct my own movie one day.
2. High Fidelity: Based on Nick Hornby's book of the same name, this movie not only inspired me to want to make a movie, but write a book. Hornby's writing is often in first person and the lead character from
High Fidelity, Rob Gordon, often thought a lot like I did about music and even relationships. John Cusack's interpretation of Rob was well done, talking directly to the audience and breaking the fourth wall down to show you what his character was internally thinking in various scenarios. Just like the book, the characters often came up with top five or ten lists of songs or artists in different categories that weren't typically discussed among casual music fans. They also ranked other categories of life such as "Top 5 Girlfriends".
Ironically set in another retail setting, just like one that I was working in at the time, the film was relatable to me. I worked in a music store at the time of the movie was released, I often made lists (and still do) in my head of my top fives and tens, and just like Rob who was going through relationship woes, I wasn't in the most stable of relationships at the time.
When I saw this movie, it opened me to the possibility that I could have a character that revealed his internal thought process to the audience, while still trying to interact with the characters of his world and better his own life. Even at the end of the movie, when everything supposedly gets better, he acknowledges that his life still isn't perfect, but will have to do. It wasn't the happily ever after that many rom-com movies have and made it feel a little more life real life to me.
3. Four Rooms: A movie directed by four different directors, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Alexdre Rockwell, and Allison Anders. Each director oversaw the filming of one of the four rooms based in a fictional hotel on New Year's Eve night. The protagonist was a bellboy working on his first night, played by Tim Roth. Despite the modern look of cinematography to the movie, the writing seemed to reflect styles that were reminiscent of the 1940's or '50's. Tim Roth played Ted similar to how Jerry Lewis used to act out his characters during his prime.
I liked how each room was a story of its own, but also intermingled beyond the bellboy. One such crossover was when Sarah, the little girl in the third room, makes a call to a random room, she reaches Siegfried from the second room. The idea that completely separate stories could be set in a similar universe and intermingle with each other, was new to me. Kevin Smith in his movies would take this to a more macro scale, as all of his characters existed in the same universe for all his movies containing Jay And Silent Bob.
Four Rooms was just like that, but all within one movie. It intrigued me that I could have four separate storylines, yet connect them all together.
And though I have my favorite storyline in this movie (
The Wrong Man based in the second room), each story was just as strong as the rest while also subtly displaying the abilities and style of each director involved. Each room was filled with stars and the cast list reads as a who's-who of Hollywood. The cast list included actors and actresses such as Tim Roth, Madonna, Bruce Willis, Quentin Tarantino, Jennifer Beals, Salma Hayek (as an extra), Alicia Witt, Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Antonio Banderas, Marisa Tomei, and Kathy Griffin.
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