SCRIPT TO SCREEN - SCRIPTWRITER BRUCE ROBINSON AND REVIEW OF 'WITHNAIL AND I'
RESEARCH ON BRUCE ROBINSON AND REVIEW OF 'WITHNAIL AND I'
On 26/10/18 we my classmates and I watched 1987's comedy 'Withnail and I', after the screening it got me thing about the writer/director Bruce Robinson because the film is an unusual comedy, it's not laugh out load comedy but dark humour, I become intrigued as to why and how Bruce developed such a complex comedy, because looking at his work it was evident that he was not like any other writer that I have read about.
I watched some interviews and read about him, what a fascinating guy!
So I put my pen to my pad and here follows my research of Bruce Robinson and his first film 'Withnail and I'.
Bruce Robinson
Bruce trained as an actor at London's central school of speech and drama but after his break, playing the part of Benvolio in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Bruce found it hard to get any serious acting roles he spent most of his time sitting by the phone waiting for his agent to call.
ROMEO AND JULIET TRAILER.
Bruce started writing in the 1970's it was then he decided to write about his own experience as a struggling actor living in Camden Town with his friend Vivian.
In an interview at the BFI, Bruce recalls that he was so broke that he was reduced to one light bulb to use around the flat, at night he would take it to his bedroom and during the day he would sit by a gas fire all day and write using the heat and light from that.
He used to pray to 'the god of equity or any god' he remembers, just to get work any work.
In the 1980's 'Withnail and I' was created, Bruce say's in an interview that he "wanted to make something good out of a shit situation", Withnail and I was born.
CAST AND CREW OF WITHNAIL AND I
Cast.
Paul Mcganne - 'Marwood'. Richard E Grant - 'Witnail'
Richard Grittith - 'Uncle Monty'
On 26/10/18 we my classmates and I watched 1987's comedy 'Withnail and I', after the screening it got me thing about the writer/director Bruce Robinson because the film is an unusual comedy, it's not laugh out load comedy but dark humour, I become intrigued as to why and how Bruce developed such a complex comedy, because looking at his work it was evident that he was not like any other writer that I have read about.
I watched some interviews and read about him, what a fascinating guy!
So I put my pen to my pad and here follows my research of Bruce Robinson and his first film 'Withnail and I'.
Bruce Robinson
Bruce trained as an actor at London's central school of speech and drama but after his break, playing the part of Benvolio in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Bruce found it hard to get any serious acting roles he spent most of his time sitting by the phone waiting for his agent to call.
ROMEO AND JULIET TRAILER.
In an interview at the BFI, Bruce recalls that he was so broke that he was reduced to one light bulb to use around the flat, at night he would take it to his bedroom and during the day he would sit by a gas fire all day and write using the heat and light from that.
He used to pray to 'the god of equity or any god' he remembers, just to get work any work.
In the 1980's 'Withnail and I' was created, Bruce say's in an interview that he "wanted to make something good out of a shit situation", Withnail and I was born.
CAST AND CREW OF WITHNAIL AND I
Cast.
Paul Mcganne - 'Marwood'. Richard E Grant - 'Witnail'
Writer/Director - Bruce Robinson & Denis O'Brian
Edited - Alan Strachan
Executive producer - Paul M.Heller
Associate producer - Lawrence Kirsten
Co-Producer - David Wimbury
Production Management - Matthew Binns
AD-1st - Peter Kohn
AD-2nd - Kathy Sykes
How did Bruce Robinson Influence my own work as a writer?
I admire Bruce as a writer because he had a vision and he was willing to walk of set because the producers told him that the film wasn't funny like he had suggested, I wouldn't do that as a new comer but I understand what he is implying.
When I first come up with my idea for 'Y4' I was adamant that it was a good script, after all I have been writing for so long that I didn't see the holes in the script, I made 6 drafts of the screenplay but that was a creative decision that I made because after speaking with Steve Coombes on pitch day and the first draft deadline line his entitle advise was to show my lead character 'Annie' dead at the end, Annie asking my younger character (Josh at the time) for a drink of whisky or a smoke at the beginning and when playing the game of scrabble to star to spell a word that looks like is going to be a swear word when they are playing in the hospital day room, this advise i did not take because it wasn't a true representation of my characters, I didn't want to walk out of University when he gave me this advise like Bruce wanted to do on the set of 'Withnail and I', but I did take take the risk of being graded low in the marking stage because I chose not to put it in.
How did Bruce Robinson Influence my own work as a writer?
I admire Bruce as a writer because he had a vision and he was willing to walk of set because the producers told him that the film wasn't funny like he had suggested, I wouldn't do that as a new comer but I understand what he is implying.
When I first come up with my idea for 'Y4' I was adamant that it was a good script, after all I have been writing for so long that I didn't see the holes in the script, I made 6 drafts of the screenplay but that was a creative decision that I made because after speaking with Steve Coombes on pitch day and the first draft deadline line his entitle advise was to show my lead character 'Annie' dead at the end, Annie asking my younger character (Josh at the time) for a drink of whisky or a smoke at the beginning and when playing the game of scrabble to star to spell a word that looks like is going to be a swear word when they are playing in the hospital day room, this advise i did not take because it wasn't a true representation of my characters, I didn't want to walk out of University when he gave me this advise like Bruce wanted to do on the set of 'Withnail and I', but I did take take the risk of being graded low in the marking stage because I chose not to put it in.
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