It’s ironic that arguably the most successful screenwriter
to come out of UCLA has made a name for himself by writing a style
of screenplay that UCLA doesn’t teach. But that’s
Hollywood.
David Koepp is known in the film industry for writing
blockbuster hits such as “Spider-Man,” “Mission:
Impossible” and the first two installments of the
“Jurassic Park” trilogy. What distinguishes his writing
is that it’s dominated by screenplays adapted from previously
published material. Of the 16 feature-length films Koepp has
written, 10 are adapted. And that’s the way he likes it.
“It’s helpful,” Koepp said in a phone
interview, referring to the source material from which he writes.
“You have the benefits of someone else’s months of
thinking.”
Koepp’s newest film, “Secret Window,” which he
also directed, opens Friday. Based on a Stephen King novella
entitled, “Secret Window, Secret Garden,” the film
tells the story of Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp), a horror-fiction
author whose writing doesn’t seem all that different than
King’s. Living alone in a secluded cabin while working out a
messy divorce, Rainey is accused of plagiarism by a mysterious man
(John Tuturro) who wants Rainey to change the ending of one of his
stories.
Like Koepp’s career, the film is largely concerned with
the source and originality of writing. In no way is Koepp a
Rainey-like character, but the self-deprecating, humorous tone with
which the film handles an early scene of Rainey trying to write
could only have been created by another writer.
“It’s all pretty much sitting alone in a room
staring at a screen,” Koepp said. “That solitude is
interesting to me.”
That very seclusion, combined with the escalating importance of
proving his story’s originality, slowly drives Rainey to
insanity. What may separate Rainey from a writer like Koepp,
though, is his lack of self-discipline. Throughout the film, Rainey
avoids facing his work by taking long naps on his couch.
“(Koepp) writes 17 drafts,” said Richard Walter, a
UCLA screenwriting professor. “He has tremendous talent, but
what’s more important, he really has discipline. He
doesn’t get rattled.”
Walter taught Koepp in one of the three advanced screenwriting
workshops required of undergraduate film students, in which, over
the course of an academic year, they write a complete, original
feature-length screenplay. Walter hailed Koepp’s project,
“Fat City Upside Down,” as an “enormously
entertaining and professional” work, but Koepp gained more
success outside the world of original screenplays.
Still, UCLA does not offer any classes in writing screenplay
adaptations. In fact Walter frequently jokes during his lectures
that the only thing writers owe to stories they’re adapting
is “nothing.”
“You ought to preserve the tone and the intent of (the
original),” Koepp said. “But it’s a miracle a
book ever gets made into a movie, because they’re so
different.”
Koepp considers the process of writing adaptations a highly
specialized ability, and while he now prefers the process to the
process of writing original screenplays, he doesn’t regret
his background in original writing, nor does he think UCLA should
include adaptation classes in its screenwriting curriculum.
“You do adaptations when you acquire a set of
skills,” he said. “When you’re a young writer,
all you have is your voice.”
Koepp’s voice was forever changed after the release of his
“Jurassic Park” adaptation in 1993, which was based on
the Michael Crichton novel of the same name. The film grossed $357
million, more than $100 million more than the next-highest grossing
film that year, and propelled Koepp onto the A-list of
screenwriting adaptation specialists. In the 10 years since the
release of “Jurassic Park,” four of Koepp’s eight
big-screen adaptations grossed over $100 million.
“He has had great success doing big-budget Hollywood
movies,” Walter said.
But it was the absence of a big budget that convinced Koepp to
double as the director of “Secret Window.” More
specifically, the film’s intimate setting and close
relationship to writing within the story caught his eye.
“It’s kind of binary, either a one or a zero,”
Koepp said of directing. “Either you see it and know what to
do with it, or you don’t (direct it).”
While directing his own words may not be an entirely new
experience (Koepp also directed “The Trigger Effect” in
1996 and “Stir of Echoes” in 1999, neither of which
were very popular, at the box office or otherwise), the
high-profile cast of “Secret Window” may launch a
secondary career for Koepp. According to Walter, the transition
from writing to directing is not an extremely difficult one.
“The most over-appreciated job in the history of the
universe is the film director,” Walter said. “Directing
is a party compared to writing.”
Koepp may be interested in writing big-budget Hollywood films,
but he has little interest in directing them because of their
intricate complexity. Instead, he wants to direct movies like
“Secret Window,” which are driven more by
characters’ inner emotions than their outer threats. As a
writer, Koepp also cites the physical strain of directing as a
major deterrent, and he doesn’t plan on quitting his day job
to become a full-time director any time soon.
“(Directing is) easier mentally, but it’s harder
physically,” he said, pausing for a moment to think before
continuing. “I will always define myself as a
writer.”