Movie Talk with David Koepp
Description
American Screen writer David Koepp begins by discussing his film Mortdecai 2015. As both writer and director he talks of being influenced by 1930's comedies 'they were filmed with an essence of glamour, beauty and elegance'. Koepp was also influenced by Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards films. This leads on to Bad Influence 1990 a dark thriller. As a writer he talks about always trying to 'mix it up', if you have any success in a particular genre, 'Hollywood rewards you and gives you money for something similar, so to break out of this you need to push yourself.' Jurassic Park 1993 although a huge success, Koepp talks about how there was no guarantee when they began the project as the CGI was so new - 'it could have sucked'. He talks about writing the film for Steven Spielberg the legendary film maker encouraging him to go ahead to use his imagination, there were no limits. Koepp goes on to reveal that he wrote himself a part in the sequel The Lost World 1997, he gets eaten by a T Rex. Mission Impossible 1996, Koepp talks about having to 'kill off' the team in order to make Tom Cruise the star of the franchise. The next film discussed is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008, Koepp recalls the pressure he was under when writing for these much loved films but how Steven Spielberg makes it easy each time, saying they create things together. He goes on to say that some projects with big studios where a lot of opinions are have to be navigated around is the complete opposite of this. Koepp now discusses Panic Room 2002. He talks about the writing process and how 'you begin being the monarch of your project but as more people get involved, you have to say goodbye to your original story - If you can't accept this, then write a novel instead, it's all part of the journey'. The next film discussed is Stir of Echoes 1999 starring Kevin Bacon, a low budget film he both wrote and directed. Premium Rush 2012 Koepp says he wanted to make a fast paced map movie going from A to B with bicycle couriers set in New York. Carlito's Way 1993 Koepp talks about always having wanted to make a gangster film, a world he wasn't familiar with and the author of the books the film was based on Edwin Torres introducing him to the seedy underworld of Spanish Harlem in the 70's. Koepp shares his thoughts on 'learning the industry' and also getting out there and experiencing it. He sees himself primarily as a writer who sometimes gets to direct his own films.