I would say ‘The Chill’ by Ross Macdonald is sort of a prototypical example of how the private detective genre elevates itself to the level of literature. Shane Black Read Quote
I’m the kid in school who always, you know, got the straight A’s. I got to be that, you know, alpha aggressive work-ethic guy. And to have people assume that I was just this blithe, in-your-face guy writing crap, tossing it off, garnering insane amounts of money, and laughing all the way to the bank – frankly, I guess I got sensitive. Shane Black Read Quote
The reason I took on directing a film myself was because, no matter how skilful a director was or how much I liked the film, there’d always be beats where I’d go, ‘Oh… well, that’s skilful, in a way, but it doesn’t get the flavour I’d intended in the script.’ Shane Black Read Quote
No one cares about your ideas. They’re not going to come knocking on your door looking for ideas. They’re going to want some concrete evidence that you have the potential to serve them or give them value for money. So that’s my advice: write your spec scripts, no matter what. They’re essential as a calling card, even if they don’t get produced. Shane Black Read Quote
For me, the stamp that I impose on stuff comes from the fact that in the ’80s, when I was starting to write movies, I looked back to the ’70s. So the films I enjoyed as a kid were the thrillers that came out of the ’70s. Back then, you didn’t have action movies; you had adventure films or thrillers. Shane Black Read Quote
I think, in big-budget movies where everything seems so poured over and restricted and the studio wants to examine every frame to make sure it’s vetted properly, you lose a little bit of playfulness. Shane Black Read Quote
Iron Man 3′ was very educational. There’s a train that starts moving which already has so many moving parts, and it’s a constant process of animatics and storyboards and consulting meetings, and it’s a very mechanical process once the script is written. It’s sprawling, and they’re throwing money at it to get these things accomplished. Shane Black Read Quote
