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Monahan's scathing review of ''Manhattan File'' magazine, titled "Filed Away", and published in the ''New York Press'' in 1994<ref>William Monahan. "Filed Away: Another Vain Experiment Fails", ''New York Press'', vol. 7, no. 52 (December 28, 1994-January 3, 1995).</ref> delighted the publisher of ''Hamptons'' magazine, who sought to reprint the article in his publication, which covered [[The Hamptons]] [[summer colony]] during the tourist season; the publisher's ulterior motive was to slander ''Manhattan File'' for personal reasons. Monahan declined the request but accepted an offer to write a weekly column for ''Hamptons'' throughout the summer season of 1995. At the conclusion of his column's successful run, Monahan requested and was promoted to editor for the next year; however, his stint as editor at ''Hamptons'' in 1996 was brief. After editing three issues he quit, and several weeks later he wrote a cover story for the ''New York Press'' titled "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at ''Hamptons''", in which he described the workplace environment as chaotic and "ridiculously unworkable".<ref name=Burningdeck>William Monahan. "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at ''Hamptons''", ''New York Press'', vol. 9, no. 29 (July 17-23, 1996).</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997) |editor=Bill Henderson |publisher=[[Pushcart Press]] |year=1996 |month=December |chapter=Contributors' notes |isbn=978-1888889000 |quote=WILLIAM MONAHAN has edited a magazine on Long Island, lived in New York City, and is now on the road.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=TCA 1996 badge |author=Aaron Barnhart |publisher=[[Flickr.com]] |url=http://flickr.com/photos/tvbarn/1366014219/ |accessdate=2007-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mission Statement |publisher=''HAMPTONS'' magazine |url=http://www.hamptons-magazine.com/mission.php |accessdate=2007-10-20}}</ref>
Monahan's scathing review of ''Manhattan File'' magazine, titled "Filed Away", and published in the ''New York Press'' in 1994<ref>William Monahan. "Filed Away: Another Vain Experiment Fails", ''New York Press'', vol. 7, no. 52 (December 28, 1994-January 3, 1995).</ref> delighted the publisher of ''Hamptons'' magazine, who sought to reprint the article in his publication, which covered [[The Hamptons]] [[summer colony]] during the tourist season; the publisher's ulterior motive was to slander ''Manhattan File'' for personal reasons. Monahan declined the request but accepted an offer to write a weekly column for ''Hamptons'' throughout the summer season of 1995. At the conclusion of his column's successful run, Monahan requested and was promoted to editor for the next year; however, his stint as editor at ''Hamptons'' in 1996 was brief. After editing three issues he quit, and several weeks later he wrote a cover story for the ''New York Press'' titled "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at ''Hamptons''", in which he described the workplace environment as chaotic and "ridiculously unworkable".<ref name=Burningdeck>William Monahan. "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at ''Hamptons''", ''New York Press'', vol. 9, no. 29 (July 17-23, 1996).</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997) |editor=Bill Henderson |publisher=[[Pushcart Press]] |year=1996 |month=December |chapter=Contributors' notes |isbn=978-1888889000 |quote=WILLIAM MONAHAN has edited a magazine on Long Island, lived in New York City, and is now on the road.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=TCA 1996 badge |author=Aaron Barnhart |publisher=[[Flickr.com]] |url=http://flickr.com/photos/tvbarn/1366014219/ |accessdate=2007-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mission Statement |publisher=''HAMPTONS'' magazine |url=http://www.hamptons-magazine.com/mission.php |accessdate=2007-10-20}}</ref>


In late 1996, Monahan was honored with a 1997 [[Pushcart Prize]] for his short story, "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", having been nominated in 1995 by the Amherst literary magazine ''[[Old Crow Review]]''; Bill Henderson, the editor of ''The Pushcart Prize'', would later provide a blurb for Monahan's first novel ''Light House: A Trifle'', which in several passages skewers short story anthologies.<ref name=Pushcart>{{cite book |title=The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997) |editor=Bill Henderson |author=William Monahan |publisher=Pushcart Press |year=1996 |month=December |chapter=A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo |isbn=978-1888889000 }}</ref> In 1997, Monahan was working for several publications in [[New York City]]. He earned some of his living off of book reviews for ''[[The New York Post]]'', writing a review of Oliver Stone's first novel ''[[Oliver Stone#Other work|A Child's Night Dream]]'' in one instance, and contributed to the recently launched [[men's magazine]] [[Maxim (magazine)|''Maxim'']], a tremendously successful publication in its first years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Required Reading |author=William Georgiades |date=[[2007-02-25]] |work=[[The New York Post]] |url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/02252007/entertainment/required_reading_entertainment_william_georgiades.htm |accessdate=2007-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Felix Dennis - owner of Dennis Publishing forwards Maxim magazine |author=Tony Silber |date=[[1999-04-15]] |publisher=''Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management'' reprinted by FindArticles.com |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_5_28/ai_54471794 |accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> He was also hired to work as an editor at [[Spy (magazine)|''SPY'']] magazine, a satirical monthly, by the editor-in-chief [[Bruno Maddox]], reminiscing later in an interview with ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' that he "had God's own job there". Unfortunately, in 1998, ''SPY'' magazine was shutdown; he worked on the last four issues, rewriting the articles and improving the jokes, but was soon out of a job.<ref name=BostonGlobe1>{{cite news|title= Standing at the corner of Shakespeare and Scorsese |author=Sam Allis| date=[[2006-10-03]] |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/10/03/standing_at_the_corner_of_shakespeare_and_scorcese/ | accessdate=2007-01-01 }}</ref>
In late 1996, Monahan was honored with a 1997 [[Pushcart Prize]] for his short story, "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", having been nominated in 1995 by the Amherst literary magazine ''[[Old Crow Review]]''; Bill Henderson, the editor of ''The Pushcart Prize'', would later provide a blurb for Monahan's first novel ''Light House: A Trifle'', which in several passages skewers short story anthologies.<ref name=Pushcart>{{cite book |title=The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997) |editor=Bill Henderson |author=William Monahan |publisher=Pushcart Press |year=1996 |month=December |chapter=A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo |isbn=978-1888889000 }}</ref> In 1997, Monahan was working for several publications in [[New York City]]. He earned some of his living reviewing books for ''[[The New York Post]]'', writing a review of Oliver Stone's first novel ''[[Oliver Stone#Other work|A Child's Night Dream]]'' in one instance, and contributed to the recently launched [[men's magazine]] [[Maxim (magazine)|''Maxim'']], a tremendously successful publication in its first years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Required Reading |author=William Georgiades |date=[[2007-02-25]] |work=[[The New York Post]] |url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/02252007/entertainment/required_reading_entertainment_william_georgiades.htm |accessdate=2007-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Felix Dennis - owner of Dennis Publishing forwards Maxim magazine |author=Tony Silber |date=[[1999-04-15]] |publisher=''Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management'' reprinted by FindArticles.com |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_5_28/ai_54471794 |accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> He was also hired to work as an editor at [[Spy (magazine)|''SPY'']] magazine, a satirical monthly, by the editor-in-chief [[Bruno Maddox]], reminiscing later in an interview with ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' that he "had God's own job there". Unfortunately, in 1998, ''SPY'' magazine was shutdown; he only worked on the last four issues, rewriting the articles and improving the jokes, and was soon out of a job.<ref name=BostonGlobe1>{{cite news|title= Standing at the corner of Shakespeare and Scorsese |author=Sam Allis| date=[[2006-10-03]] |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/10/03/standing_at_the_corner_of_shakespeare_and_scorcese/ | accessdate=2007-01-01 }}</ref>


===''Light House: A Trifle''===
===''Light House: A Trifle''===

Revision as of 19:45, 11 February 2008

William J. Monahan
William Monahan, at The Departed's Boston Premiere, Loews Boston Common, on October 3, 2006.
William Monahan, at The Departed's Boston Premiere, Loews Boston Common, on October 3, 2006.
Born (1960-11-03) November 3, 1960 (age 63)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Pen nameClaude La Badarian[1]
OccupationScreenwriter
Novelist
Journalist
Essayist
Critic
NationalityAmerican

William Monahan (Template:PronEng)[6] (born November 3 1960) is an American screenwriter, literary novelist, and former journalist. After attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he studied Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, Monahan, already a professional writer while an undergraduate, as well as a musician in Northampton, Massachusetts, moved to New York City to pursue a career as a journalist, writer and critic. He wrote many scabrous pieces for the New York Press, a few reviews for The New York Post, and contributed to the magazines Talk, Maxim, and Bookforum. He was also an editor at SPY magazine. He won a 1997 Pushcart Prize when the Amherst literary magazine Old Crow Review nominated one of his short stories. After SPY failed, he concentrated on writing films and he wrote Light House: A Trifle, his first novel, which garnered praise from critics.

Monahan went to work in Hollywood in 1998, when Warner Bros. bought the film rights to Light House: A Trifle while it was still in manuscript, and contracted him to adapt it to the screen for director Gore Verbinski. In 2001, 20th Century Fox bought Monahan's spec script about the Barbary Wars called Tripoli, with Ridley Scott, who was to become Monahan's primary collaborator, attached to direct. Monahan has since worked with Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, among other filmmakers. His first produced screenplay, Kingdom of Heaven was made into a film by Ridley Scott and released to theaters in 2005. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Monahan prefers that screenplays be written by one writer rather than a collaboration of multiple screenwriters writing competing drafts. Thus far he has followed his scripts through production. In 2006, Monahan started his own production company, Henceforth, and negotiated a "first-look" producing deal with Warner Bros. Monahan currently resides on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and two children.[2]

Early years

Monahan was born in Boston, Massachusetts to an Irish-American family and was raised Catholic. He spent his early years in the neighborhood of Roslindale, eventually moving to the suburbs of Boston at age six when his parents divorced.[2][7] Over the years he frequently moved, living in many of the suburban communities on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his mother and sister.[4] His father worked as an engineer and lived in the neighborhood of West Roxbury where Monahan would regularly visit and immerse himself in his father's extensive book collection; Monahan particularly enjoyed reading Shakespeare's plays.[8][2] His interest in movies began at age seven, when it occurred to him that a screenwriter was behind the story in Lawrence of Arabia;[5] he wrote his first screenplay at age twelve.[9]

While attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Monahan studied Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, and began a literary career, publishing in the small presses and zines emerging in the Pioneer Valley.[4] His first published piece was a short story titled "At the Village Hall" appearing in the Northampton zine Perkins Press. Two years later, his first novel Light House was published serially in the Amherst literary magazine Old Crow Review in five installments and was later released as a book under the title Light House: A Trifle. When Kurt Vonnegut Jr. visited the campus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as part of the university's Distinguished Visitors Program, Monahan attended the event as a writer for Old Crow Review and questioned Vonnegut; he later published his account of the event in his piece for the New York Press titled "And Slow It Goes".[10][11][12] At one point, Monahan entered into a short-lived business partnership with a lady interested in bookmaking (whom he had met when he crashed his motorcycle in front of her car) to print a slate of 100 paperback copies of a short novella he had written titled Jejeune; he later reconsidered the undertaking and bought out his partner, burning "all the copies but one".[13]

Musician

In the late 1980s Monahan was a musician playing guitar in a band called the Slags; they performed in and around Northampton, Massachusetts before breaking up.[14] A few years later, he was a member of another band called Foam which produced a demo tape.[15] Monahan was also acquainted with Mike Ruffino, a writer and a bassist for The Unband, whom he hired as his assistant when he was editor of Hamptons magazine.[16][17]

Man of letters

Main article: List of works by William Monahan

In 1993 Monahan began contributing essays, short fiction, and cover stories to the alternative weekly newspaper New York Press, which generated a favorable response from readers. However, gradually the reactions from readers became polarized, often expressing outrage as the New York Press published numerous satirical articles by Monahan in 1995, including "The Angel Factory", "Heroin", and "Dr. Rosenthal, I Presume" (See Reception). In one of his cover stories, titled "Ceci n'est pas une bombe", he proposed a novel theory about the targeting methodology of the Unabomber that would ultimately be proven correct.[18]

Monahan's scathing review of Manhattan File magazine, titled "Filed Away", and published in the New York Press in 1994[19] delighted the publisher of Hamptons magazine, who sought to reprint the article in his publication, which covered The Hamptons summer colony during the tourist season; the publisher's ulterior motive was to slander Manhattan File for personal reasons. Monahan declined the request but accepted an offer to write a weekly column for Hamptons throughout the summer season of 1995. At the conclusion of his column's successful run, Monahan requested and was promoted to editor for the next year; however, his stint as editor at Hamptons in 1996 was brief. After editing three issues he quit, and several weeks later he wrote a cover story for the New York Press titled "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at Hamptons", in which he described the workplace environment as chaotic and "ridiculously unworkable".[16][20][21][22]

In late 1996, Monahan was honored with a 1997 Pushcart Prize for his short story, "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", having been nominated in 1995 by the Amherst literary magazine Old Crow Review; Bill Henderson, the editor of The Pushcart Prize, would later provide a blurb for Monahan's first novel Light House: A Trifle, which in several passages skewers short story anthologies.[23] In 1997, Monahan was working for several publications in New York City. He earned some of his living reviewing books for The New York Post, writing a review of Oliver Stone's first novel A Child's Night Dream in one instance, and contributed to the recently launched men's magazine Maxim, a tremendously successful publication in its first years.[24][25] He was also hired to work as an editor at SPY magazine, a satirical monthly, by the editor-in-chief Bruno Maddox, reminiscing later in an interview with The Boston Globe that he "had God's own job there". Unfortunately, in 1998, SPY magazine was shutdown; he only worked on the last four issues, rewriting the articles and improving the jokes, and was soon out of a job.[2]

Light House: A Trifle

Main article: Light House: A Trifle
File:Portrait of Claude La Badarian by Antony Zito.jpg
Portrait of Claude La Badarian by Antony Zito (www.ZitoGallery.com) from the original serial run in 2001.

In 1998, Monahan sold his first novel Light House: A Trifle to Riverhead Books, a Penguin Group imprint. He had been working on the novel for several years, after its original serialization in the Old Crow Review, and had done a great deal of rewriting at the urging of his agent. While the novel was still in manuscript, Warner Bros. optioned the film rights and hired Monahan to write the script.[26] Although he was spending time in the cities of San Francisco and Northampton, Massachusetts working on the script, he occasionally wrote for New York Press and even contributed an essay, on the depiction of Gloucester, Massachusetts in the movies, to Talk magazine's debut issue in August of 1999.[27][28] Finally, in 2000, Light House: A Trifle was published; it garnered critical acclaim but had lackluster sales.[29][30] William Georgiades, in a review for The New York Times, called it "a sort of old English farce that allows Monahan […] to skewer whatever comes to mind: modern art, magazine writing, education, the young". [31] BookPage Fiction's Bruce Tierney called Monahan "a worthy successor to Kingsley Amis",[32] however, Claire Dederer, in an editorial review for Amazon.com, cautioned that "[Light House] is not a novel for the culturally illiterate", and criticized the occasional inside-jokes that "[make] most sensible people very tired".[33] The novel intentionally references the satirical novels of the early 19th century British author Thomas Love Peacock and tells the story of an artist named Tim Picasso who runs afoul of a drug lord and seeks refuge at a New England inn in the middle of a nor'easter.[30]

In late 2001, Monahan wrote a comic serial narrative at the New York Press over thirteen weeks titled "Dining Late with Claude La Badarian" using the pseudonym Claude La Badarian, a fictional restaurant critic from the fictional magazine The Aristocrat. These short stories made satirical reference to his first novel and literary career.[1] "Dining Late with Claude La Badarian" was described by Monahan as "a blackmailed dining column written by a delusional media scumbag" allegedly intended as "a small yet integral part" of a forthcoming second novel.[34] Each of the twelve columns contained a portrait of Claude La Badarian drawn by Antony Zito, a New York portrait painter and curator as well as a former Slags band member. At the conclusion of the serial, Monahan and Bruno Maddox went on a joint book tour that was interrupted by the 9/11 attacks. Shortly thereafter, Monahan sold his spec script Tripoli to 20th Century Fox, and was commissioned to write Kingdom of Heaven by Ridley Scott. He has apparently published no fiction since moving into film.[35]

Screenwriting career

"I wanted to be an old-fashioned man of letters, so I essentially prepared myself very carefully through my 20s for a job that doesn't exist anymore; you may be able to find a man of letters in Syria or the Horn of Africa, but you could work Manhattan or London with dogs for a year and never find one. Anthony Burgess is dead, Vidal is the last lion, and at any rate belles-lettres aren't where they were left. Anyway, I'm making movies now. Just before all this happened, I thought, 'Out of everything you can do or think you can do, pick one thing and be it.' What I picked was to be the screenwriter."

William Monahan[30]

Monahan's first film commission was the adaptation of his own novel, in 1998, with Gore Verbinski attached as director. Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to the unpublished manuscript for his satirical novel Light House: A Trifle, a deal which briefly gave them the exclusive right to purchase the copyright at a future date.[36] Penguin Putnam subsequently delayed publishing Light House: A Trifle for a couple of years, so that they could release the novel alongside the film, however, the screenplay adaptation was never produced. Monahan continued working as a journalist, editing for Details magazine, and reviewing books for Bookforum magazine, but had committed to film writing. When Light House was finally released in 2000, Monahan had divested himself of any immediate interest in being a novelist. After less than four years in publication, Light House: A Trifle was taken off the market by Monahan while he was on location in Spain for the production of Kingdom of Heaven; he bought back the rights from the Penguin Group, later lamenting that it was "an empty, damaging gesture".[5][26] Light House was available in a German edition translated by Ulrike Seeberger but went out-of-print.[37]

Tripoli

In 1990, Monahan wrote a script titled Tripoli, about William Eaton's epic march on Tripoli during the Barbary Wars, registering it with the WGA with the alternate title of "Captain Eaton", and later set out the opening of Tripoli in prose form under the title of "Romantic" in 1997, published in the Old Crow Review.[38] While working at SPY magazine, where Monahan would spend two weeks working in Manhattan followed by two weeks writing his own material in Massachusetts, he took the Tripoli script out of a drawer and placed it with an agent.[30] In 2001, shortly after he got married, Tripoli sold to 20th Century Fox, in a deal worth mid-six figures in American dollars with Mark Gordon attached as the producer.[39] The historical epic follows Eaton's campaign against Yusuf Bashaw to restore Yusuf's brother, the exiled heir Hamet Karamanli, to the throne of the Barbary Coast nation of Tripoli, and features a French mercenary named Joubert.[40] Ridley Scott signed to direct. Monahan met with Scott to discuss Tripoli and Scott mentioned his desire to direct a film about knights. Monahan suggested the fall of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem as a setting, and Ridley Scott and Fox commissioned Monahan to write the original screenplay which became Kingdom of Heaven.[35]

Negotiating deals and production rewriting

In 2002, Monahan was hired by Universal Pictures to write the screenplay for Jurassic Park IV;[41][2] he portrayed the kids in the script "like the ones in Willy Wonka".[5] When Monahan had to go on location for the production of Kingdom of Heaven, John Sayles was hired to write the subsequent drafts.[42] The next year, Columbia Pictures hired Monahan to adapt an unpublished manuscript by journalist Doug Stanton about the bloody uprising in the Afghan city Mazari Sharif after the recent American incursion against the Taliban; Stanton's novel had been optioned by producer Mace Neufeld.[43]

As the January 2004 production of Kingdom of Heaven approached, Monahan negotiated a production write-through contract so that he could be present on the movie sets to make modifications to the shooting script.[44] In the interim, Brad Pitt's production company Plan B hired him to write an adaptation of Hong Kong director Andrew Lau's gangster film Infernal Affairs. Monahan would adapt Infernal Affairs as a battle between Irish-American gangsters and cops in Boston's Southie district, with Martin Scorsese directing the completed screenplay under the title The Departed for Warner Bros.;[45][46] the script would later win him two Best Adapted Screenplay awards, from the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Kingdom of Heaven released to theaters

"The crucial skill of a working screenwriter is that you have to have some depth of ability and ideation. Your ninth idea has to be as good or better than your first, and that's where a lot of people crack up. You have to remain on top of your game and in absolute control of the text and a successful advocate of your own intentions no matter what influences hit the picture or from which direction. You do that by having the best ideas in the room. If you don't, you will be replaced. It's nothing personal."

William Monahan, on developing a screenplay.[9]

Main article: Kingdom of Heaven (film)

While Monahan was on the set of Kingdom of Heaven his wife gave birth to a baby girl named Iris. He was already a step-father to his wife's son. Monahan managed to get two days off to spend with them.[47] After production completed, Monahan was hired to collaborate once again with director Ridley Scott on an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's ultra-violent Western novel Blood Meridian for producer Scott Rudin.[48][49] In post-production on Kingdom of Heaven, Scott edited a 3-hour long cut but decided to pare it down after it was discovered at a preview screening that the audience felt the film was too long; Scott was gradually convinced as well and settled on a 145-minute cut.[50]

The months leading up to Kingdom of Heaven's theatrical release were troubled when author James Reston Jr. claimed that Monahan's Kingdom of Heaven script violated the copyright of his 2001 novel Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. Reston claimed he had previously offered Ridley Scott the book for a movie deal but was turned down. He alleged that the entire second half of Monahan's shooting script was based on the first 105 pages of his book, and noted that "Kingdom of Heaven" is the title of the second chapter.[51] 20th Century Fox denied all of Reston's claims and Monahan, in an e-mail, commented, "There was no infringement, period. I've been familiar with the fall of the Latin Kingdom for thirty-odd years." Reston did not pursue the matter and never filed a lawsuit.[52]

In the meantime, Monahan had secured work on two Warner Bros. projects. He was hired to adapt Louis Begley's novel Wartime Lies for Warner Independent Pictures, previously in development as a Stanley Kubrick project called Aryan Papers.[53] A second script was to be based on Marco Polo's autobiography Travels, as a star vehicle for actor Matt Damon, titled The Venetian, and set during Polo's Far East explorations.[48][54]

When Kingdom of Heaven was released theatrically in May 2005 it was poorly received by critics and was a box-office failure. Peter Canavese of Groucho Reviews described Kingdom as a "confusing compromise at best and a dull obfuscation of history at worst" and Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid wrote that Kingdom "has at its center a bold story, and yet it sits there like a stone pillar".[55][56] Ridley Scott would later remark that he got carried away with cutting the film in the editing room and learned that "the enemy is previews" because these test screenings are tantamount to asking an inexperienced group of people to be film critics.[57] Kingdom was reappraised by critics when it was released on DVD in the form of a director's cut, containing an additional 45 minutes of footage previously shot from Monahan's shooting script. Critics were pleased with the extended version of the film and James Berardinelli of ReelViews remarked how "now that the director's cut is available, there's no reason for anyone to watch the neutered theatrical edition".[58]

Best Adapted Screenplay Awards for The Departed

The Departed, Monahan's second produced screenplay
Main article: The Departed

In 2006, Warner Bros. hired Monahan to adapt David Ignatius' novel Body of Lies into a film titled Body of Lies, about a CIA operative who goes to Jordan to track a high-ranking terrorist, with Ridley Scott directing.[59] Shortly afterwards, Monahan started a production company on the Warner Bros. lot called Henceforth and negotiated a first-look producing deal that gave the studio the first right of first refusal on any films produced by Henceforth. In return Henceforth received from Warner Bros. the film rights to produce John Pearson's true crime novel The Gamblers, which Monahan would adapt to the screen.[26][54]

When Martin Scorsese's The Departed was released to theaters in October 2006, Monahan received considerable praise from critics and was applauded for accurately depicting the city of Boston. Monahan had chosen not to watch Infernal Affairs so that he could create an original interpretation of the Hong Kong action film, working from an English translation of the Chinese script, and using his intimate knowledge of the way Bostonians talk and act, learned from his youth spent in the many neighborhoods of Boston, to create characters that The Boston Globe described as distinctly indigenous to the city.[60][61][62]

The Departed won many critics' prizes.[63][64][65] The Los Angeles Times reported that Monahan had hired a publicist to run a campaign promoting his screenplay during awards season,[66] although he had in fact hired the publicity firm to manage relations with the studio involved, and respectfully refused most publicity offers during the Awards Season, including an appearance on The Charlie Rose Show; he rarely does in-person interviews.[30] He was honored by the US-Ireland Alliance for his writing in film[29] and ended up winning two Best Adapted Screenplay awards for The Departed, from the Writers Guild of America and from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[67][68] He was later invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[69] As of 2007, he is working on a film treatment for a follow-up to The Departed, which may be either a prequel or a sequel.[70]

Taking on producing duties

After winning the 2007 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed, it was announced that Monahan had been hired to work on two film projects: an adaptation of the Hong Kong film Confession of Pain and an original Rock and Roll film called The Long Play. Monahan would executive produce and adapt for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way at Warner Bros. Pictures the Hong Kong film Confession of Pain, his second adaptation of a Media Asia Films production created by directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak and screenwriter Felix Chong.[71][72][71] Monahan's other assignment was to rewrite a script titled The Long Play, originally written in 1999 by Rolling Stone magazine writer Rich Cohen, who was hired by Mick Jagger and Scorsese to research and write the first drafts of a story about the history of the rock music business;[73] in the intervening years Matthew Weiss, who wrote the screenplay for Niagara, Niagara, did several rewrites of the original drafts.[74] The Long Play was nurtured at Mick Jagger's production company Jagged Films. Martin Scorsese became involved while the film project was at Disney and negotiated a turnaround deal to bring The Long Play to Paramount.[75]

In 2007, the movie rights to Robert Graves' Claudius novels (a fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who ruled from 41–54 A.D.), previously held by the BBC and Jim Sheridan, were expired and consequently brought back into the marketplace on behalf of the author's estate.[76] The movie rights were contested by several studios, including Warner Bros., but producer Scott Rudin outbid them, buying the rights to Graves' Claudius novels (I, Claudius and Claudius the God) in a two million dollar deal. The production companies of Monahan and DiCaprio (Henceforth and Appian Way, respectively) both had first look deals with Warner Bros., but despite the studio's losing bid, they became attached to the project with Monahan adapting the Claudius novels and DiCaprio starring.[77][78]

Writing process

Monahan has asserted that screenplays should be written by one author and does not support the collaborative model in which multiple screenwriters write competing drafts until the producer and director are satisfied.[5] His interest in motion pictures began at an early age, but he steered clear of the film industry because, as he has admitted, he mistakenly surmised that the collaborative model was a de facto practice for creating screenplays.[9] In his late 30s, he went to Hollywood to adapt his first novel into a film.[36] Since then, he has generally been the sole writer on his screenplays, except for Jurassic Park IV, which was taken over by John Sayles and rewritten when Monahan had to go on location for Kingdom of Heaven.[5] Monahan's view is that a screenwriter can retain the authorship of their screenplay if they have the support of a powerful film director and successfully advocate their ideas, even in the face of the inevitable influences of actors, directors and producers. He prefers writing screenplays over other genres because generally a released film will reach a wider audience and have a greater cultural effect than a published novel.[9]

In his youth, Monahan developed an appreciation for Shakespeare and went on to concentrate on Shakespeare's works at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has studied English drama for over thirty years and has stated that because of those efforts he has reached a level of ability where he is "post-conscious about craft".[26] He has a strong interest in history and reads the available primary sources when researching a historical period, however, although he aims for historical accuracy he has remarked that even Shakespeare would take liberties in order to dramatize a scene.[52][79] He is critical of screenwriting courses that emphasize formulaic approaches to storytelling and that teach their students one kind of narrative in which characters must experience change while on a Hero's journey; he argues that these are types of stories and screenplay structure doesn't always have to follow such archetypes.[26]

Monahan has quipped that he would prefer to work on an old Olivetti Praxis typewriter in many instances because there are too many distractions on a modern computer.[26]

Credits

Essays, criticism, reviews, and short fiction

Main article: List of works by William Monahan

Novels

  • William Monahan (June 2000). Light House: A Trifle. New York: Riverhead Books. ISBN 9781573221580.

Films

Screenplays (unproduced)

References and notes

  1. ^ a b William Monahan (2001-06-21). "The Last Supper: Being eventually a PROPOSAL for a column called DINING LATE WITH CLAUDE LA BADARIAN, By Claude La Badarian". New York Press. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f Sam Allis (2006-10-03). "Standing at the corner of Shakespeare and Scorsese". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ William Monahan interviews David Thewlis (2007-10-15). "Fiction (With a Twist of Lennon)". BlackBook magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b c John Koch (2007). "Profane Eloquence: Through the words of William Monahan, Boston swagger meets Hong Kong crime drama". Written By. The Writers Guild of America, West. Retrieved 2007-03-07. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Susan Wloszczyna (2007-02-15). "William Monahan: His 'Departed' left Hong Kong for the USA". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-02-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Pronunciation of William Monahan". inogolo.com. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
  7. ^ William Monahan. "Holiday Gift Guide: Merry Crucifix", New York Press, vol. 9, no. 48 (November 27–December 3, 1996).
  8. ^ William Monahan (December 1995). "The Irish question". Old Crow Review (6). FkB Press: 5 pages.
  9. ^ a b c d Dylan Callaghan (2006-10-13). "A Man of Letters". Writers Guild of America, West. Retrieved 2007-01-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Michael Busack, Collegian Staff (2005-04-20). "Robert Kennedy Jr. criticizes environmental policy". The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  11. ^ William Monahan. "And Slow It Goes: Portrait of Kurt Vonnegut as Hot Fudge Sundae", New York Press, vol. 7, no. 23 (June 8-14, 1994).
  12. ^ The literary magazine Old Crow Review was founded in 1990, releasing 13 issues between the years 1993 and 2005, published by FkB Press in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
  13. ^ William Monahan. "Holiday Gift Guide: The Seven Pillars of Christmas", New York Press, vol. 7, no. 48 (November 30-December 6, 1994).
  14. ^ William Georgiades (1991). "Contributors Notes". Perkins Press. 2 (4)."William Monohan [sic] 'writes fiction and plays guitar for the Slags.' A long (but it's worth it) short story eats up pages 12 and 13."
  15. ^ BostonBeanEater (2007-04-04). "The Last Gang: Are there any Clash II interviews with Nick - Pete - Vince". clashcity.com. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  16. ^ a b William Monahan. "The Burning Deck: My Brilliant Career at Hamptons", New York Press, vol. 9, no. 29 (July 17-23, 1996).
  17. ^ Michael Ruffino (2004-11-01). Gentlemanly Repose: Confessions Of A Debauched Rock 'n' Roller. Citadel. ISBN 978-0806526263. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Alston Chase (2003). Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. pp. 43-44. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. ^ William Monahan. "Filed Away: Another Vain Experiment Fails", New York Press, vol. 7, no. 52 (December 28, 1994-January 3, 1995).
  20. ^ Bill Henderson, ed. (1996). "Contributors' notes". The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997). Pushcart Press. ISBN 978-1888889000. WILLIAM MONAHAN has edited a magazine on Long Island, lived in New York City, and is now on the road. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  21. ^ Aaron Barnhart. "TCA 1996 badge". Flickr.com. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  22. ^ "Mission Statement". HAMPTONS magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ William Monahan (1996). "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo". In Bill Henderson (ed.). The Pushcart Prize XXI: Best of the Small Presses (1997). Pushcart Press. ISBN 978-1888889000. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. ^ William Georgiades (2007-02-25). "Required Reading". The New York Post. Retrieved 2007-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Tony Silber (1999-04-15). "Felix Dennis - owner of Dennis Publishing forwards Maxim magazine". Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management reprinted by FindArticles.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ a b c d e f "William Monahan – Exclusive Interview". Collider.com. 2007-02-18. Retrieved 2007-02-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ William Monahan. "So Seedy! Smell that fish bait! Gloucester's a perfect town for pictures", Talk magazine, September 1999, Premiere issue, p. 82.
  28. ^ Russ Smith (1999-08-11). "MUGGER: I'm in Bermuda and Rick Lazio Isn't". New York Press. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ a b "Van Morrison, Terry George and Bill Monahan honored in LA" (Press release). US-Ireland Alliance. 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-03-05. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ a b c d e Juan Morales (2005-05-04). "His success story? An epic: 'Kingdom of Heaven' is William Monahan's first produced script, but Ridley Scott, for one, expects more". Los Angeles Times through LexisNexis® Academic. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ William Georgiades (2000-07-23). "An Offshore Farce". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ Bruce Tierney (2000). "Review: Light House". BookPage Fiction. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  33. ^ Claire Dederer. "Amazon.com Editorial Review of Light House". Retrieved 2007-10-01.
  34. ^ Claude La Badarian (2001-08-15). "That Asshole, Monahan". New York Press. To my horror, Monahan said that his next plan was to do a blackmailed dining column written by a delusional media scumbag. It would be a small yet integral part of what, with apologies to me, he was calling Second Novel. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ a b Garth Franklin (2005-05-04). "Interview: Ridley Scott "'Kingdom of Heaven'"". Dark Horizons. Retrieved 2007-01-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ a b Chris Petrikin, Dan Cox (1999-01-12). "'Mars' loses Verbinski: Studio, director cannot agree". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ "Light House: Roman. Aus d. Amerikan. v. Ulrike Seeberger von William Monahan". Buch.de. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  38. ^ William Monahan (December 1997). "Romantic". Old Crow Review (8). FkB Press: 16 pages.
  39. ^ Cathy Dunkley, Jonathan Bing (2001-11-27). "Monahan 'Tripoli' spec lands on Gordon's shore". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ Stax (2003-08-07). "The Stax Report: Script Review of Tripoli". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ Dana Harris (2002-11-06). "Lizards leap again for U: 'Tripoli' scribe returning to 'Park' pen". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ Paul Davidson (2004-09-17). "Rewriting Jurassic Park IV: Silver City scribe tackles new dinosaur tale". IGN. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. ^ Claude Brodesser (2003-03-16). "Monahan eyes war script for Col:Busy writer has two tales for Scott, a 'Jurassic' sequel". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ Sasha Stone (2007-02-16). "William Monahan Talks The Departed". OscarWatch.com. Retrieved 2007-02-26. Did you spend any time on the set? I was on set through the entire shoot on what is known as a production write-through contract. I did the same thing on Kingdom of Heaven. I'll rarely be in there with headphones on while the cameras are rolling, because I think that actors need to work with the director without the writer spooking at them. I'll usually watch the first couple of takes on behalf of the team to make sure I'm not catching any gremlins and then split. I worked through post-production as well, with Thelma and Marty, doing ADR stuff. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  45. ^ Claude Brodesser, Cathy Dunkley (2004-02-12). "Scorsese takes on Hong Kong gangs: Pitt considering role in popular 'Infernal' redo". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  46. ^ Dade Hayes (2006-12-14). "Brad Pitt's role as filmmaker threatens to eclipse his actorly exploits and tabloid profile". Variety. Retrieved 2007-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  47. ^ "William Monahan's 2007 Oscar Acceptance Speech". OSCAR.com. 2007-02-25. Retrieved 2007-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ a b Michael Fleming (2005-05-02). "Warner Bros. plays 'Polo': Historical epic to feature Damon as explorer". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  49. ^ Liza Foreman (2004-05-10). "The Vine: Monahan eyed for 'Blood' work". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  50. ^ Rob Carnevale. "Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut - Ridley Scott interview". IndieLondon. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  51. ^ William Triplett, Claude Brodesser (2005-03-28). "Inside Move: Scribe on crusade over 'Heaven' script: Reston fires on Fox over 'Kingdom'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  52. ^ a b Bob Thompson (2005-05-01). "Hollywood on Crusade: With His Historical Epic, Ridley Scott Hurtles Into Vexing, Volatile Territory". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  53. ^ Claude Brodesser (2005-05-10). "WIP a 'Wartime' recruit: Warner catches WWII 'Lies'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  54. ^ a b Michael Fleming (2006-10-05). "'Departed' scribe digs WB: Studio inks overall deal with Monahan". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  55. ^ Peter Canavese. "Kingdom of Heaven (2005) Review". Groucho Reviews. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  56. ^ Jeffrey M. Anderson. "Kingdom of Heaven (2005) Review". Combustible Celluloid. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  57. ^ Edward Douglas (2006-11-03). "Ridley Scott's French Invasion". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2007-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  58. ^ James Berardinelli (2006). "Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut:A Film Review". ReelViews.net. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
  59. ^ Michael Fleming (2006-03-13). "Warner sets spy team: Scott to helm Monahan-adapted 'Penetration'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  60. ^ Beth Accomando (2006-10-06). "Movie Review: The Departed". KPBS.Org. Retrieved 2007-03-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  61. ^ David S. Cohen, Justin Chang (2007-02-25). "Oscar winners weigh in on victory: Backstage notes at the Academy Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  62. ^ Sam Allis (2006-12-31). "The Storyteller". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  63. ^ Wesley Morris (2006-12-11). "'The Departed' tops Boston film critics' awards". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  64. ^ "'Departed' tops Chicago critics' list". Chicago Sun-Times. 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  65. ^ "Oscar 2006: Southeastern Film Critics Select The Departed". Hollywood News. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2007-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  66. ^ Jay Fernandez (2007-02-21). "SCRIPTLAND: Publicists get ink for screenwriters: Even Oscar-nominated writers need someone looking out for their interests in the crush of award season". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-02-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  67. ^ Dave McNary (2007-02-11). "'Departed' shines at WGA kudos: 'Miss' a hit with scribes". Variety. Retrieved 2007-02-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  68. ^ Gregg Kilday (2007-02-26). "Scorsese cuffs Oscar: 'Departed' named best pic". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  69. ^ Associated Press (June 19 2007). "Film Academy Invites 115 New Members". abc7.com. Retrieved 2007-06-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  70. ^ Dennis Michael (2007-02-01). "Monahan Has Started More Departed". FilmStew.com. Retrieved 2007-02-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  71. ^ a b Borys Kit (2007-02-27). "Monahan, DiCaprio reconnect". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  72. ^ "Media Asia's event film "Confession of Pain"" (Press release). Media Asia Entertainment Group Ltd. 2006-07-10. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  73. ^ Jonathan Bing (2001-01-17). "HBO gets 'Tough' with rock scribe Cohen". Variety. Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  74. ^ "Matthew Weiss: Filmography". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
  75. ^ Michael Fleming, Pamela McClintock (2007-02-26). "Scorsese, Monahan ready to 'Play': 'Departed' duo rock on at Paramount". Variety. Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  76. ^ Michael Fleming (2007-09-05). "Scott Rudin seizes 'I, Claudius': Producer nabs screen rights to Graves book". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  77. ^ Borys Kit (2007-09-06). "Rudin picks up 'Claudius' film rights: DiCaprio, Monahan eye project". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-10-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  78. ^ Marc Graser (2007-10-05). "Hollywood's family fray: Streamlined Disney fights to keep crown". Variety. Retrieved 2007-10-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  79. ^ Richard Corliss and Jeanne McDowell (2004-10-03). "A burly war epic and a gay TV channel. Next year should be fun". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  80. ^ "About This Book: Light House: A Trifle". Powell's Books. Retrieved 2007-03-08.

Further reading

Main article: List of works by William Monahan

Interviews


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