As I was
watching Moneyball, I described its style to myself (in one of those internal,
random and ongoing monologues I often have with myself) as “quiet poetry”. Yes,
there’s something distinctly poetic about it, but it’s not overt, over-the-top,
or cloying (not that poetry is those things, but I hope you know what I mean!).
I didn’t know
going in who had written the script, but there was a moment 2/3 of the way
through (if you must know, it was when the Red Sox owner is talking to the Pitt
character) and I sat back, awed by the wonderful language. The owner riffs on
baseball and its practices, and he speaks the way many of us aspire to speak:
with authority, with honesty, with singular insight. It is the perfect “speech”
… without sounding like a speech. And then I knew it—it HAD to be Aaron Sorkin.
At the end, the credits rolled by and there it was, his name as co-writer
(alongside Steven Zaillian—no slouch in the writing world either). He has
officially become my screenplay writing hero.
Is there a
writer whose work you'd be able to pick out of a lineup of writing excerpts (if you didn't know the piece)? Who is your writing hero?
Deb: I love Aaron Sorkin too. But my writing hero for film
is still Woody Allen. And oh how I envy you a film on a Wednesday afternoon.
Well done!
Barbara: I envy myself too, Deb ... except I saw the film and wrote my little love letter, like, 2 weeks ago. On a weekend night. Sometimes you just gotta blog when you gotta blog. (although I'm gonna guess you'd give a lot for a weekend movie night too, though, huh?)
