Brian Helgeland
Brian Helgeland
Brian Thomas Helgelandis an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He is most known for writing the screenplays for L.A. Confidential, Mystic River, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Helgeland also wrote and directed 42, a biopic of Jackie Robinson, and Legend, about the rise and fall of the Kray twins...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth17 January 1961
CountryUnited States of America
writing thinking suffering
I think writing is a difficult thing and you need to suffer a little bit, even if it's just to sit there and think what an idiot you are and how anyone else could do this better than you can.
writing thinking hands
I think Cool Hand Luke was probably the first movie in which I was aware of the writing as its own separate thing. It was that speech when the guy reads Paul Newman the riot act. The speech about going in the box.
drama writing thinking
I write R-rated action dramas, and every year that goes by, that gets to be a smaller and smaller world you have to work in. You have to think of how to get the studio excited and sell them something.
thinking sometimes periods
As much as I love period movies and especially more swashbuckling movies, I think that sometimes they tend to be, umm... it's hard for the audience to relate to them.
writing thinking world
I think there's something strange about writing a script I've written many, many scripts - dozens and dozens of scripts - and every time I start one, I think to myself: 'why in the world do I think I know how to do this?'
years two scripts
It's always once the script's done in the first two years if it doesn't get going somehow or another, I've never had an old script that someone's made later on.
long credit scripts
Because I've been at it so long and very steadily, I have a lot of credits, but I probably have twice as many scripts that were never made for whatever reason.
years prison ends
In exchange for ten years of being on top, I'm gonna end up in prison or I'm gonna end up dead, and there's something fascinating about that.
writing oil fire
If you write an original, its like you went in and dug a well, and you hit oil. But an adaptation, its like the oil wells on fire, and they bring you in to put the fire out and get it working again - or something like that.
evil guy boring
Its as boring to see a completely evil villain as it is to see a completely good guy.
cutting pages firsts
If Im in the bookstore, and I see a 700-page novel, my first thought is, Ooh, how could you cut this down to size and make a movie out of it?
writing years film
I worked as hard to write the worst film of the year as I did to write the best film of the year.
lying long okay
It's okay to lie as long as you reach a higher truth doing it.
littles able action
Its such an egotistical thing to be able to just stand there and say, Action! Its like being a little mini-god.