BEFORE: I fell a little behind in my postings, since there was a beer dinner I attended on Monday, and it ran long, leaving me short on time. And occasionally some new flavor combinations are discovered at these things, through the deft pairing of beers with certain foods. It's a difficult sacrifice, but one I'm willing to make to advance human knowledge.
Anyway, I'd originally planned to watch this directly after "The King's Speech" and not jump around so much chronologically - I don't want to wear out the time machine, after all - but rather than change course and watch a number of Natalie Portman films, I'm going ahead with the plan as originally scheduled. If only there were a movie link between Natalie Portman and Ewan Macgregor (last seen in "Amelia"). Don't worry, I'm sure it will come to me.
THE PLOT: A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
AFTER: This film pops up in my chain at a very interesting time, just as a book about animation is being released, for which I essentially functioned as a ghost writer. Or perhaps "typist and resident grammar stickler" is a better title. Anyway, you won't see my name on the cover (that's just the gig) but I was well-thanked in the acknowledgements. Don't worry, I was paid by the hour and received some other benefits, and only had to give up a couple Saturdays last summer.
But what I did learn was how to write in someone else's voice when needed - taking that person's words (scribblings, really) and figuring out better ways to say certain things, changing the words, or improving the order of the words, without changing the meanings. It's funny, I never considered myself much of a writer (my film-school writings are beyond embarrassing), nor do I call myself one now, but I've got over a thousand short essays under my belt, on a wide range of topics, so I could make a case for myself if I so desired.
As for tonight's film - Ewan MacGregor plays a writer brought in to ghost for an ex-politician who's written his memoirs, but unfortunately in a very dry, factual style. His editors think the book will sell better if a more human element, some heart, can be added. So he's sent to the P.M.'s vacation home (set somewhere on Martha's Vineyard, or possibly Nantucket) to interview him, and then shadow him on an upcoming tour of the U.S., improving the manuscript along the way.
But then a scandal breaks, something involving suspected terrorists, interrogation methods, and the politician's role in their transport (I think, it's a little bit fuzzy) so the writer is left alone, and while he claims to not be any sort of detective, still can't resist the urge to do a little sleuthing on his charge's backstory.
Right, right, spoiler-free zone. I shouldn't even mention the spoiler-free zone, because then you might draw the conclusion that there are spoilers to spoil. Look, just forget I said anything, OK? Thanks. Let me just say - debatable, quite unlikely, and HELLs no.
But even without discussing the plot further, I can point out some neat tricks in the film. Like how the main character is never named - not in the dialogue, not even on the IMDB page, where he's just called "The Ghost". I get it, you want me to think of him as everyone, as no one - but it's a little strange to have a main character that is regarded with such little importance that he isn't even given a name. And I've got to call a NITPICK POINT here, since he gets introduced to, what, a dozen or so people in the film - and none of them ask him his name? When I meet someone new, isn't that usually my first question?
Another neat trick is shooting a film set in New England when the director (Roman Polanski) is legally barred from entering the U.S. I found a web-page that gave a detailed list of the shooting locations in Germany and the U.K., which were carefully selected for their resemblance to New England beaches and towns. The giveaway was probably a particular ferry that looks nothing like the one that runs out to Martha's Vineyard, which I've been on. So they didn't get it exactly right, but they sure came close.
I'm sort of counting on my BFF Andy to chime in here (assuming he's seen the film) and supply another nitpick point or two, related to the writing process. I assume no one in this day and age would still be working with a giant phone-book-sized paper manuscript (except my boss, but that's another story) as well as a copy on a flash-drive. It would be one or the other, right? Because any changes one would make to the paper copy would have to be made AGAIN to the computer copy, so that's twice the work. Welcome to my world.
Also starring Pierce Brosnan (last seen in "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief"), Olivia Williams (last seen in "The Postman"), Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson (last seen in "The Green Hornet"), Timothy Hutton (last seen in "Kinsey"), Jim Belushi, with a cameo from Eli Wallach (last seen in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps").
RATING: 5 out of 10 club sandwiches
Editors will work with whatever method the writer prefers, particularly if it's a high-profile book that's expected to make a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteOn my own books, everything's done in Word so that we can track all of the changes made by myself and everybody else, and the manuscript also acquires reams of digital notes and conversations. The last step is Author Review. I'm sent a PDF of the entire finished book and I have a day or two to give it one last scan for typos and showstopping mistakes before this same file is sent to the printing plant. At least once, my AR copy was sent as a box of printed pages and I made my corrections by hand.
(This, I suspect, was meant to underscore the fact that I should make a change unless it was really, REALLY necessary.)
Authors can be very particular. I, myself usually write fiction in longhand and then transcribe it when it's done. There are going to be many drafts before it's finished anyway, and writing longhand means you just keep driving forward, forward, forward instead of constantly trying to fix something you've already written. Many authors will print what they have and make changes in longhand.
More than anything, though: Hollywood has almost no idea how to film someone typing and make it look good. A thick bundle of dogeared, hand-scribbled pages is a great visual.