'Waterworld' writer lectures at CSULB

By Denice Leong, Forty-Niner Online
Sept. 18, 1995

David Twohy, screenwriter of the adventure film "Waterworld," answered questions and provided advice to film students following a screening of the movie Sept. 11 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Twohy opened his lecture with comments on "Waterworld." The original script was written eight years ago by Peter Raider. It was criticized for being a glorified pirate movie, but was also viewed as a good epic with the flooding of the world.

Twohy joined the crew of "Waterworld" for a brief four-month period, a time that resulted in his submission of two drafts that laid a basic framework. He primarily served as a director's liaison, giving the crew some direction. "I would dream something up and then an artist would be in the corner sketching as I'd speak. It was very good for the creative process," Twohy said.

When he joined the set he worked with director Kevin Reynolds. "Reynolds would pinpoint the problem, but didn't know the solution, so we would brainstorm. We needed a real strong bad guy," Twohy said.

Problems arose when Kevin Costner decided he wanted to explore character development. "Had I known that he wanted to get into that much character development for a summer film, then I would have worked into the action and trying to define character through action," Twohy said.

About the breakdown between Costner and Reynolds, Twohy said, "A breakdown tears a film apart. Two people were making two separate films. Reynolds wanted to make the grand summer film and Costner wanted to make a character-driven epic."

As the budget started to skyrocket, people began to criticize the movie. Twohy decided to buy a full page ad in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety magazines in defense, a stand which was later highly praised. "People were criticizing it, but they had not seen it or any footage, yet. I told people to just wait until you see it and if you hate it, then you can criticize it, but not now. It's too early," Twohy said.

In response to the finished product, Twohy, who has viewed two versions of "Waterworld," said, "I like the first half better than the second half. It moves better. The second half suffers from not being able to show everything they wanted to. A lot of connective tissue and jumps were cut out that makes sense of the second half of the story."

Twohy graduated 19 years ago from Cal State Long Beach with a radio/TV/film degree. He spent the first six years working as a bartender while writing screenplays. It took eight years before one of his films was produced. "I tried for many years not to have an agent, but I had to go get one and they went out and marketed my screenplays," Twohy said.

Currently, Twohy is making the transition from writer to director.

"It's a way of protecting your own work as a writer. Most writers take up directing as a form of self-defense. Writing is an avenue to directing," Twohy said.

His advice to film students is, "If you want to be a director, writing is a good way to get there. If you want to be a writer, you must write. The people who wait for inspiration to strike before they write must realize it isn't going to happen. You've got to make inspiration strike."

In regards to whether or not it matters where you graduate from, Twohy replied, "Maybe it can be faster to graduate from USC because they sort of have that network in place, but ultimately it relies on your talent and I think that's going to carry the day. The speed in which you get there may be effective, but whether you get there or not is dependent on your talent."

Twohy is currently working on an independent science fiction thriller titled "Shockwave," due out in 1996.