A new feature piece in The New Yorker has gone in-depth on writer/director Scott Frank.
To many, he’s known for creating the Netflix mini-series sensation “The Queen’s Gambit” and, before that, the acclaimed Western series “Godless”. He’s also directed thrillers “The Lookout” and “A Walk Among the Tombstones”.
However he’s most famous for his writing – his scripts began in the 1990s with Kenneth Branagh’s wonderfully bonkers reincarnation thriller “Dead Again” along with working alongside Aaron Sorkin on the script for “Malice”.
Things really took off as he penned “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight,” “The Interpreter,” “Heaven’s Prisoners,” the “Flight of the Phoenix” remake, “Marley and Me,” “The Wolverine” and “Logan”.
What he’s best known for in the industry however, much more so than the public is aware, is his services as a script doctor. The new piece reveals Frank can charge as much as a $300,000 weekly fee for his services to tweak and fix a film’s script – having done so for nearly sixty films.
His work on “Minority Report” was so extensive, mostly involving the Cruise character’s grief over his lost child, that he ended up receiving credit for that. On many others, however, he’s not been credited as a writer.
The feature goes on to talk about some of the jobs he did – giving the soldiers of “Saving Private Ryan” “active connections with people back home”, building the mother-and-son relationship in “The Ring,” giving Sandra Bullock’s astronaut a life outside work in “Gravity,” and adding John Lithgow’s father character in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.
Other films have included “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Unfaithful,” “Night at the Museum,” and “a lot of the X-Men” films along with Luca Guadagnino’s scrapped “Scarface” remake. Frank says “90% of what I get called in on is character work”.
Frank’s new six-episode television series “Monsieur Spade,” starring Clive Owen, begins airing on AMC next month. Scott co-wrote and directed all six episodes.
For the full piece, head over to The New Yorker.
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