Writer
discusses script,
big screen
By Oscar Montealegre
On-line Forty-Niner
Initially,
David Benioff had intentions to write the
great American novel. However, waves of
rejection notices were given from publishers.
Instead of giving up on writing, he pursued
his career with a different approach, which
was simply shortening his stories.
David Benioff, the screenplay writer for
“The 25th Hour” discussed last Thursday
evening his literary works to an array of
students at the main gallery of the Faculty
Development Center. The Department of English
“Visiting Writers Series” and the English
Students Association presented the event.
“The 25th Hour” was released to theaters
last Dec in which Spike Lee directed the
movie starring Edward Norton. Benioff has
also finished writing his other screenplay
for Warner Bros. based on Homer’s “The Iliad.”
“I got the idea for writing ‘The 25th Hour’
from a party I attended in New York,” Benioff
said. “I saw a man there that was going
to jail the next day, and I really curious
what he was thinking. I couldn’t keep my
eyes off him that night. So I decided to
write a novel based on this idea.”
“The 25th Hour” was first a novel that was
converted to a screenplay. However, Benioff
got the luxury to adapt his own novel into
a screenplay, which is not necessarily encouraged
in the Hollywood industry.
When Benioff was asked if the director Spike
Lee was faithful to the novel, Benioff replied.
“After Spike Lee finished reading the screenplay,
he told me that I left a few events out
of in the screenplay that he thought should
be there. Also Spike Lee said that he thought
I was not too faithful to the novel, which
was a relief.”
“I had a hard time changing the screenplay
after Sept. 11 since ‘The 25th hour’ as
a novel was originally written before Sept.
11, however, Spike Lee wanted to project
what New York City was experiencing after
Sept. 11. [Lee] did not want to hide anything.”
Benioff attended Dartmouth University, and
later received his master’s degree at two
different universities, Trinity University
of Dublin and UC Irvine.
“I think it is great to be able to hear
what an established screenwriter has to
say about his works,” English Literature
major Michelle Abesilla said. “Also, it
is a great to get a hands-on experience
from people from different fields,”
“I saw the ‘The 25th Hour’ and I thought
seeing him in person would be a great opportunity
to see what Benioff has to say,” biology
major Chris Reyes said,
Benioff also elaborated on the difference
between writing a novel and a screenplay.
“Writing a screenplay differs because it
demands a collaborative effort and the writer
is no longer the boss and whole set of pressures
surface in the procedure of writing a screenplay,”
Benioff said.
Benioff is in pre-production in writing
a screenplay based on Hemingway’s “For whom
the Bell Tolls.” |
