Life continues to be super busy. I haven't actually watched a film since The Big Clock! Crazy! I have, however, managed to watch the first season of "The Tudors."
So, because I have zero content today and I haven't posted in ages, here's my answers to a fun meme involving movies and writing!
Name up to ten films that have had significant influence on your creative work.
In no particular order:
Ben-Hur - because of the ill-fated friendship storyline, and because Messala was the first fictional character I fell in love with whom my dad hated, and that forced me to really think hard about why I liked him anyway. Learning and exploring who Messala was and why he did what he did helped me understand areas of human motivation and need that I still use in character development today.
The Hunt for Red October - because it introduced me to Sam Neill, who is still the celebrity love-of-my-life, who influenced the creation of several novels, more than any other actor.
Star Wars - because that day I first saw it in 1977 changed my life and nothing in my life, creative or otherwise, would be where it is today without that film and its universe.
Where Eagles Dare - because it led me to Alistair MacLean and no single person has influenced me more in my writing than MacLean.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - because it gave me my lifelong obsession with submarines and beauty and dark characters.
Patriot Games - because I loved the book, and the movie sucked, and I learned quite a bit about stories exploring why the movie failed and the book succeeded. It also gave me Sean Bean, who has influenced nearly as many novels as Sam Neill.
Dragonslayer (1981) - because of how beautifully plotted it is, because of the plot twists, because of the climax, because it plays fair, because it showed me how everything put in a story matters - it must play out or it doesn't belong. (And Vermithrax is still the best dragon ever put on film).
Help! - because my first completed novel would not even have been started without this movie as a rough guide.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - because of the beauty of the islands and that need to find a place like that, because of abused authority and the rise up against it, because of the juxtaposition of harsh life on that boat vs. idyllic life on the island. All themes that I took to heart thanks to Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. This is the only movie version to date that I like.
Tosca - yes, it's an opera, but even though I'd seen it and heard it a jillion times as a child, it was the 1979 movie version filmed at the actual locations in Rome, with Domingo, Milnes, and Kabaivanska that really cemented this story, characters, and emotions in my mind. Elements of Tosca continue to be reflected in most of my writing.
1 comment:
Glad to see you posting! :)
Interesting list.
-- Don't hate me, but I haven't seen a single one on it. ;)
I like the idea, though, of What Movies have Inspired Your Writing.
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I hope you're well! :)
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