Roger [Corman] didn't actually hire me, though. I was hired by AIP [American International Pictures], the studio that made the picture, which was Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson. It was a great learning experience for me, because not only did I work on the script, but they hired me back to go on location when they were making the movie, to write new scenes and so forth.

Curtis Hanson

Categorized in : Writing Goes On Scripts

You can dress it up, but it comes down to the fact that a movie is only as good as its script.

Curtis Hanson

dresses directors facts

Self-awareness and self-esteem. Those aren't female issues, those are human issues.

Curtis Hanson

issues female self-esteem

Whereas to write, all you need is paper and an idea, so I felt that writing might be my stepping stone.

Curtis Hanson

writing ideas needs

Hollywood, of course, is the city of illusion.

Curtis Hanson

illusion hollywood cities

What you care about [movie] is whether it's moving you, or whether you're caught up in it.

Curtis Hanson

caught care moving

Consequently, their school [film-school ] was the school of life, and it was very much reflected in their work.

Curtis Hanson

film-school film school

You can imagine what it was like for me to actually be sitting in a room with matching typewriters, working under the tutelage of this guy I so admired, both as a filmmaker and as a man.

Curtis Hanson

guy typewriters men

I grew up as a reader as well as a movie-lover, so many of the novelists I admired - and so many of the great filmmakers I loved - were self-taught.

Curtis Hanson

taught novelists self

Consequently, it's so gratifying to then make a picture that's successful and gives you leverage to have better circumstances than you've ever had, before the next time out.

Curtis Hanson

next successful giving

When I first went to Pittsburgh, I had never been there before, and we hadn't even decided to shoot there yet. I just went to see the location of Michael Chabon's novel. Once there, I became aware that Pittsburgh is a "wonder boy," in the narrow sense of the term, just as the human characters are.

Curtis Hanson

pittsburgh character boys

I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker.

Curtis Hanson

approach lovers makers

Put simply, there are many people who want to make movies and very few opportunities for them to do it.

Curtis Hanson

want opportunity people

There are many people who want to make movies and very few opportunities for them to do it. I had a checkered early career with a lot of very unhappy experiences where pictures got taken away, re-cut, re-titled... all the nightmares one hears about. Consequently, it's so gratifying to then make a picture that's successful and gives you leverage to have better circumstances than you've ever had, before the next time out.

Curtis Hanson

taken successful opportunity

I was never a critic. I was a journalist and wrote about filmmakers, but I didn't review movies per se. I make that distinction only because I came to it strictly as someone who was just a lover of storytellers and cinematic storytellers. And I still am. I'm still a great movie fan, and I ,that love of movies is very much alive in me. I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker.

Curtis Hanson

filmmaker critics lovers

I never intended to have a career as a journalist, writing about people who make movies. I did it as something that was really rewarding to do, given the opportunity to express myself about something I cared about, and also to learn a lot by watching filmmakers I admired. In a sense, it was my film school. After doing it for a few years, I decided that the time had come to get it together and do some work of my own. Even for a cheap movie, you need film stock and equipment and actors. Whereas to write, all you need is paper and an idea, so I felt that writing might be my stepping stone.

Curtis Hanson

writing opportunity school

I also got to know Roger Corman a bit while we were on location in Mendocino. And then, subsequently, a woman who also worked on The Dunwich Horror named Tamara Asseyev and I teamed up and co-produced a picture that I wrote and directed, called Sweet Kill, that Roger Corman's then-new company distributed.

Curtis Hanson

roger location sweet

It was a unique experience in several ways, because I don't think Sam [Fuller] had ever collaborated with another writer over his whole career.

Curtis Hanson

careers unique thinking

I had written the script a few years earlier for Paramount, then later got hired with Sam [Fuller] to write an entirely new script that he was going to direct. And that was one of the great thrills of my professional life.

Curtis Hanson

scripts writing years

I had the great fortune to actually become friends with Sam [Fuller] and ultimately collaborate with him on White Dog, which we wrote together.

Curtis Hanson

dog white together

Samuel Fuller pictures were both written and shot in such an unusual way that his voice came through loud and clear, and it made a big impression on me.

Curtis Hanson

unusual voice way