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William Monahan

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William J. Monahan
William Monahan in October 2006
Born (1960-11-03) November 3, 1960 (age 64)
United States Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality United States
Occupation(s)Screenwriter
Novelist

William J. Monahan (born November 3 1960, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter most famous for his screenplay for Kingdom of Heaven and his adapted screenplay for The Departed.

Early years

Monahan was born in Dorchester and spent his early years in Roslindale, moving to the suburbs of Boston later on when his parents split. He lived all over the North Shore with his mother and sister. He regularly visited his father at his place in West Roxbury which had an extensive library from which Monahan enjoyed reading Shakespeare particularly. He attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.[1]

Upon graduation, he moved to New York City and worked as a journalist, essayist and critic, contributing to Talk, Maxim, and The New York Press.[2] He was also a writer and editor at the now-defunct Spy magazine. At Spy magazine he would come in at the close of the magazine and act as the rewrite man and the joke puncher.[1] In 1997 he became better-known after winning a Pushcart Prize for short fiction. In 2000 he garnered critical acclaim for his first novel Light House: A Trifle.[3]

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

Monahan originally wanted to be a man of letters but found they no longer existed in America, so he decided to concentrate on screenwriting.[2] In 1998 Monahan broke into Hollywood when Warner Bros. optioned his satirical novel Light House: A Trifle, meaning they had the exclusive right to purchase his novel at a future date. Warner Bros. not only optioned Monahan's novel but also hired him to adapt it into a screenplay with Gore Verbinski attached as director.[4]

In 2001, 20th Century Fox bought Monahan's spec script Tripoli about William Eaton's epic march on Tripoli during the Barbary Wars for mid-six figures to be produced by Mark Gordon.[5] The script was given to Ridley Scott to direct. Monahan was discussing Tripoli with Ridley Scott over breakfast on the day the 9/11 attacks took place of all times when Ridley Scott brought up his interest in doing a film about knights. Monahan suggested the Crusades as a setting because "you've got every conceivable plot imaginable there, which is far more exotic than fiction." Scott was captivated by the concept and hired Monahan to write the screenplay for Kingdom of Heaven. Tripoli was eventually shelved, but Monahan retained ownership of the screenplay and is adamant that the film will be made one day.[6][7]

Monahan's screenwriting career had taken off, and year after year he secured work at a clip plentiful enough to fill out a classic Hollywood montage sequence. In 2002 Monahan was hired by Universal Pictures to write the screenplay for Jurassic Park IV, with John Sayles writing the second draft.[8][9] In 2003 Monahan was hired by Columbia Pictures to write Mazar e Sharif for producer Mace Neufeld, a story about the bloody uprising in the Afghan city Mazari Sharif during the American incursion against the Taliban, drawing on an unpublished manuscript from journalist Doug Stanton.[10] In 2004 Monahan was hired to write a police thriller for Martin Scorsese based on the Hong Kong gangster film Infernal Affairs respun in Boston's Southie district as a battle between Irish-American gangsters and cops, released in 2006 as The Departed.[11] The same year, he was hired to adapt Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian for producer Scott Rudin with Ridley Scott to direct.[12][13] In 2005 Monahan 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."[14] Undaunted by the work load and the continuous transitions from one historical period to another, Monahan signed on to write The Venetian for Warner Bros., the story of Marco Polo's Far East explorations based on Polo's autobiography Travels.[12][15] In 2006, with no final cut on his career in American cinema in sight, Monahan was hired by Warner Bros. to adapt David Ignatius' novel Body of Lies about a CIA operative who goes to Jordan to track a high-ranking terrorist, with Ridley Scott to direct.[16]

The Departed

Monahan's screenplay for The Departed was lauded by critics and credited for accurately depicting the city of Boston when the film was released to theaters in 2006. Monahan captured with remarkable authenticity the city's blue-collar speech, no doubt owing to his youth spent in the many neighbourhoods of Boston.[17] By the end of 2006 The Departed was winning many critics prizes. Monahan was honored by The Boston Society of Film Critics with the award for best screenplay, and by the Chicago Film Critics Association for best adapted screenplay, and by the Southeastern Film Critics Association with another best adapted screenplay award.[18][19][20] Monahan took an unusual route for a screenwriter and hired a publicist to run a campaign promoting his screenplay during awards season.[21] So far, Monahan has won a Writers Guild of America award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a nomination for an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay for The Departed.[22]

Monahan is currently working on a film treatment for a follow-up to The Departed which may be a prequel or a sequel.[23]

Henceforth productions

In 2006 Monahan started a production company on the Warner Bros. lot called Henceforth and inked a first-look producing deal with the studio. Henceforth's first project will be to produce John Pearson's true-crime novel The Gamblers which the WB has acquired the rights to.[15]

Controversy

In 2005, author James Reston Jr. claimed Monahan's screenplay for Kingdom of Heaven contained "flagrant copyright violation" and illegal use of material from 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, that the entire second half of the 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 of his book.[24] Monahan commented, "There was no infringement, period. I've been familiar with the fall of the Latin Kingdom for thirty-odd years." 20th Century Fox denied all the claims and Reston never filed a lawsuit.[25]

Personal life

Monahan currently resides at his home on the North Shore in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and two children.[17] He is represented by the Endeavor Talent Agency.[26]

Credits

Novels

  • Lighthouse: A Trifle (June 2000)

Films

Screenplays (unproduced)

  • Tripoli (2001)
  • Mazar e Sharif
  • Blood Meridian (adaptation)
  • Wartime Lies (adaptation)
  • The Venetian
  • Body of Lies (adaptation)

References

  1. ^ a b Sam Allis (2006-10-03). "Standing at the corner of Shakespeare and Scorsese". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
  2. ^ a b Dylan Callaghan (2006-10-13). "A Man of Letters". Writers Guild of America, West. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
  3. ^ "The art of writing and making films: The Departed". The Writing Studio. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  4. ^ Chris Petrikin, Dan Cox (1999-01-12). "'Mars' loses Verbinski: Studio, director cannot agree". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  5. ^ Cathy Dunkley, Jonathan Bing (2001-11-27). "Monahan 'Tripoli' spec lands on Gordon's shore". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  6. ^ Garth Franklin (2005-05-04). "Interview: Ridley Scott "Kingdom of Heaven"". Dark Horizons. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  7. ^ Stax (2007-02-20). "Monahan Talks Tripoli: Will the Ridley Scott epic be resurrected?". IGN. Retrieved 2007-02-20.
  8. ^ Dana Harris (2002-11-06). "Lizards leap again for U: 'Tripoli' scribe returning to 'Park' pen". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  9. ^ Paul Davidson (2004-09-17). "Rewriting Jurassic Park IV: Silver City scribe tackles new dinosaur tale". IGN. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ a b Michael Fleming (2005-05-02). "Warner Bros. plays 'Polo': Historical epic to feature Damon as explorer". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  13. ^ Liza Foreman (2004-05-10). "The Vine: Monahan eyed for 'Blood' work". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  14. ^ Claude Brodesser (2005-05-10). "WIP a 'Wartime' recruit: Warner catches WWII 'Lies'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  15. ^ a b Michael Fleming (2006-10-05). "'Departed' scribe digs WB: Studio inks overall deal with Monahan". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  16. ^ Michael Fleming (2006-03-13). "Warner sets spy team: Scott to helm Monahan-adapted 'Penetration'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  17. ^ a b Sam Allis (2006-12-31). "The Storyteller". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  18. ^ Wesley Morris (2006-12-11). "'The Departed' tops Boston film critics' awards". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  19. ^ "'Departed' tops Chicago critics' list". Chicago Sun-Times. 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  20. ^ "Oscar 2006: Southeastern Film Critics Select The Departed". Hollywood News. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ Dave McNary (2007-02-11). "'Departed' shines at WGA kudos: 'Miss' a hit with scribes". Variety. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
  23. ^ Dennis Michael (2007-02-01). "Monahan Has Started More Departed". FilmStew.com. Retrieved 2007-02-20.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ Bob Thompson (2005-05-01). "Hollywood on Crusade: With His Historical Epic, Ridley Scott Hurtles Into Vexing, Volatile Territory". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  26. ^ Michael Fleming (2005-11-03). "Endeavor trio partner up: Agency ups Donnelly, Hodes, Wiczyk". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-06.

Further reading

Online

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