Leigh Whannell: 'Let me tell you how a slasher film works generally ... with the famous graph!', 1998

1998, ABC Studios, Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia

Wonderful rant about horror movies and studio opportunism from a young Leigh Whannell, who was a movie reviewer on the Australian TV show Recovery. A few years later he took his own advice on horror scripting and created the mega successful Saw franchise with friend and fellow Australian James Wan..

It's movie time.

Jane Gazzo: It is.

Let's talk. Halloween, Part Seven. Horror. Horror. What are they saying? …

Okay, let's talk. Horror is a lot like heavy metal. I say this, it is because-

Dylan Lewis: Can you hear me?

Horror is a lot like heavy metal. Because-

Jane: Why?

Heavy metal, sorry, is always there. It never goes away. It's always just sitting there and every once in a while a heavy metal album crosses over and becomes a mainstream hit and everyone goes "Metal's back" and the heavy metal fans are like, "It was always there, man, I was always into it."

The other reason heavy metal is like horror, because only a true metal fan knows all the little subdivisions, black metal blah, blah blah. And the other reason it's like horror is because society genuinely views hardcore horror fans and hardcore heavy metal fans as a little nutsy cow, a little disturbed.

And that's a problem with Halloween 7 (H2O), it comes along after Scream, which was a huge hit and now all the moneymakers are like, "Okay, let's do one of those Halloween films… : It'll be a hit like Scream."

But all the horror fans who've been sticking through six films, well not part three, because that had nothing to do with Michael Myers, that was about a masked bird thing, but anyway, so five Michael Myers films-

Jane: Five!

And all of a sudden this movie comes along catering for people who are just walking in there for the first time. And the horror fans are like, "I know all this stuff." They're taking ages, setting up. Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee's character from the first one. All the horror fans they've sat through five movies before horror was cool. They sat through all that and then suddenly Scream comes out, now they have to reestablish a character for those who don't know. And they're sitting there and bleeding, that's what's the problem with this. Let me tell you how a slasher film works generally … This is how it generally works, with the famous graph. You've got a bit of boring stuff, then a death, then another bit of boring stuff and a death. Then another bit of character, in third character, boring stuff, boring stuff, maybe a bit of nookie, a death and then it all goes to the end. Now, what Kevin Williamson did when he wrote Scream was, all he did to make it a mega hit … All Kevin Williamson did to make Scream goodies, he made these bits [points to graph] in between the deaths, interesting! He made them like 90210, he put in good dialogue.

See in your usual slasher films, these bits are all crap and it's like, "Hurry up on the fast forward a bit and then kill." Kevin Williamson made these bits interesting, boom, Laurie goes through the roof. H2O and takes us back 10 years. All these bits are boring again, you're sitting there going, "What's going on? It's taking us back to the eighties." And as a horror fan, I was sitting there and I was very disappointed, they could have done more. The script was just appalling. As I said, those little bits were boring and unfortunately Halloween [H2O] doesn't make the grade. Let's have a look at it. Yo.

Oliver Stone: 'You don't have to fit in', Writers Guild of America - 2017

19 February 2017, Beverly Hilton Hotel, California, USA

It’d be remiss of me not to remind you, especially you younger writers, that you can be critical of your government and your society. You don’t have to fit in. It’s fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and avoid the Obamas and Clintons. But remember this: In the 13 wars we’ve started over the last 30 years and the $14 trillion we’ve spent, and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have perished from this earth, remember that it wasn’t one leader but a system, both Republican and Democrat.

And call it what you will, military industrial, security, money, media, complex.

It’s a system that has been perpetuated under the guise that these are just wars justifiable in the name of our flag that flies so produly over our lives.

Our country has become more prosperous for many but in the name of that wealth we cannot justify our system as a center for the world’s values. But we continue to create such war and chaos in the world.

No need to go through the victims, but we know we’ve intervened in more than 100 countries with invasion, regime change, economic chaos. Or hybrid war, soft power, whatever you want to call it, it’s war of some kind. In the end, it’s become a system leading to the death of this planet and the extinction of us all.

I’ve fought these people who practice war for most of my life. It’s a tiring game. And mostly you’ll get your ass kicked. With all the criticism and insults you’ll receive, and the flattery too, it’s important to remember, if you believe in what you’re saying and you can stay the course, you can make a difference.

I urge you to find a way to remain alone with yourself, listen to your silences, not always in a writer’s room. Try to find not what the crowd wants so that you can be successful, but try instead to find the true inner meaning of your life here on earth, and never give up on your heart in your struggle for peace, decency, and telling the truth.