Quote from: Voodoo Magic on May 14, 2019, 07:08:29 PM
The Arrival story felt very average, been there done that, paint by numbers in my opinion.
That could be said for just about every story the last several decades. I forget who said it, but someone - a director, writer had once said (loosely quoted), "There's really only nine truly original scripts in film history. Everything else is just a variation of those original nine. (I'm curious what nine scripts he was referring to) Hey! Another challenge! Anyone care to adventure what those nine scripts might be?
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on May 14, 2019, 07:08:29 PM
But the direction was superb and greatly elevated the material, as most great directors do. And it was an adapted short story by Ted Chiang.
But this may not necessarily be the case of a great director solely elevating an "average story" as you imply.
Eric's adaption was good enough for Eric to win the Saturn Awards Best Writer award, the Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation award, Oscar nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the scriptwriters Holy Grail of awards....... won the Writers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay award, all for Arrival.
If it was an average script that was elevated only by great direction as you imply, why would all those accolade organizations shower Eric's adapted screenplay with such praise? Film industry politics? It's rigged? His studio slipped payola under the table to those organizations?
