Qoutes from the writer

[Retroman]

Interview from December, 2004

DRE: I read that you pitched 20th Century Fox for you to write the Wolverine movie, then you got it and you also pitched Warner Bros on Troy. You must be pretty good at it.

DB: Well with Wolverine it was easier because Troy was already being done. For Troy it was a leap of faith because I had only done a $12 million Spike Lee movie. With Wolverine the story is already there so the people at Fox and Marvel know everything about Wolverine. That meeting was just showing them how passionate I was about this character. I’ve been reading Wolverine comics for 23 years.

DRE: What was the first Wolverine comic you ever read?

DB: I think it was the issue of X-Men that a friend lent to me when I was 12. I believe it was a really early issue of X-Men that Chris Claremont wrote.

DRE: Can you talk about what the story of the Wolverine movie will be?

DB: I’m not allowed to talk about it. Fox is pretty careful about that. It’s not even totally finalized what story we are doing. What I can say is that in the X-Men movies we’ve seen a lot of the sweet Wolverine so I think it’s time to mess him up a little bit because all the fans know that he’s the best there is at what he does but what he does isn’t very nice. Also getting to write “Snikt” in a comic book is the coolest thing.

DRE: Did Bryan Singer leaving change your timetable at all?

DB: He had already left before I came on. But I did get to meet Hugh Jackman the other day which was pretty cool.

DRE: Any Japanese stuff going into the Wolverine movie?

DB: [laughs] I can’t talk about it. Nice try though.

For what it’s worth that’s definitely the best Wolverine saga, the whole Lady Mariko and The Hand storyline. I went back and reread the Chris Claremont and Frank Miller miniseries and the Barry Windsor Smith Weapon X.

DRE: Have you been catching up on recent Wolverine comics to prepare?

DB: Yeah I hadn’t read any of the recent stuff so I’ve been catching up with the Grant Morrison X-Men comics and some of the new Greg Rucka stuff. One of the coolest things about this job is that I can call up Marvel and say send me whatever X-Men and Wolverine I want. It makes my 12 year old self so happy.

DRE: A lot of Hollywood people are writing comics right now. Would you be interested in doing that?

DB: Sure it would be a fun challenge. I think it would be a lot of fun to work with an artist.

Source: http://suicidegirls.com/words/David+Benioff/

04-15-2005

WOLVERINE SCREENWRITER KEEPS IT REAL

Newsarama’s friends at Comics Buyer’s Guide scores an exclusive interview with Wolverine screenwriter David Benioff in their latest issue (#1605, June 2005). The Troy scribe cops to a life-long obsession with the character, citing 1982’s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller limited series as his favorite Wolverine storyline and the moment Logan’s adamantium skeleton gets sheared of all flesh by a Sentinel blast in “Days of Future Past (Uncanny X-Men #141-142) as a traumatic moment for his as a kid.

While understandably tight-lipped on details regarding this screenplay (an assignment he calls “living a childhood dream” and aggressively pursued going back as far as 3 years ago), Benioff did tell CBG he’s writing Wolverine with Hugh Jackman very much in mind.

“Other than the height, I think Jackman was inspired casting,” he tells CBG. “Though, when he was first picked for the role, I thought, “Huh?’ at the time, probably along with most Wolverine fans. Now I can’t really imagine Wolverine being played by anyone else: Jackman’s performance obviates consideration of anyone else for the part.”

That said, Benioff did say he wants to “rough” Wolverine/Jackman up a bit, giving him an opportunity to show sides the first two movies didn’t afford the character aside from the Mansion invasion scene in X2. Promising his story will be a “bit darker and a bit more brutal”, Benioff says he’s writing an ‘R’ script and that Marvel Studios and director will have to decide where to go from there.

Finally, Benioff tells CBG that his script and vision stays away from the more “fantastical” elements associated with the X-Men franchise.

“I’m going to stay away from the ‘Four Riders’ kind of stories and the science fiction stories where he was battling aliens or demons”, says the writer. “I’m sticking with something more realistic. Of course it is kind of hard to talk realism when you’re speaking about a guy who has adamantium claws popping out of this hands. But my concept of him for this movie is the one I grew up with: He’s a gritty character, a tough, working-class Canadian guy who was born with certain special powers and granted more through a series of brutal experiments – for more that’s my Wolverine reality. I’m not going too far from that.”

The full 3-page interview which details Benioff’s thoughts on the character in much greater detail can be read in its entirety in the new issue of CBG, on sale now at comic book shops and newsstands and arriving in subscriber’s mailboxes right now.

Source: http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31765

 

[_BB_]

Finally, a writer who actually gets the wolverine character

 

[Boiiinng]

Sounds like no Origin, almost like he's never read it.

 

[Rac]

Origin wasn't that great so I'm not complaining.

 

[TNC9852002]

I'm sure they'll give him an original twist like only a Wolverine movie could have..

I hope they spill the beans on a possible storyline by the end of this year..

-TNC

 

[JokerNick]

what's was wolvie's origin, wasn't he born into a wealthy family and was very sickely? Wasn't it also, that the man who he thought was his father wasn't, and that man was killed by Wolverines real father, which then eolverine killed and that's when he mutant power started, when his false father was killed?

 

[Boiiinng]

what's was wolvie's origin, wasn't he born into a wealthy family and was very sickely? Wasn't it also, that the man who he thought was his father wasn't, and that man was killed by Wolverines real father, which then eolverine killed and that's when he mutant power started, when his false father was killed?

Been a while since I took it out of it's plastic, but yeah something like that. I'd at least like to see it on screen, it'd have a pretty good surprise factor for those who don't know.

 

[squeekness]

Thanks for posting that interview, Retroman. Sounds like we have a writer committed to the right things. That 1982 mini was one of Logan's best. I am looking forward to this film more and more.

 

[stormcloud03]

When can I see it?
It is a wolverine movie people and the writer seems to knows his stuuf and wolverine and ... *dreamy look* I can't wait to see it

 

[FireandIce213]

Damn Cant wait for this, I think the absolute darkest and most feral behavior we've seen out of wolverine in the X-Men movies was in the beginning of the first movie where he got into it with the guy in the bar who wanted his money back after wolverine beat him in a cage fight. As well as the mansion invasion scene in x2...I mostly cant wait to see wolverine/Jackman in his most feral and animalistic moments in this movie.

 

[GoHF]

well, don't get all happy just because we get a "comic book geek" on the movie... :P Even though this writer sounds like the real thing (and probably is), please don't forget this movie WILL be PG-13 (since Fox has a scientific study proving mature movies cause brain cancer, and something about not making tons of money from people that aren't even old enough to earn it). Outside providing a guideline in the form of a script, the author has little say in the final product.

We might get an X2-massion-assault-like wolverine, but most likely that'll be it, they won't go into anything too scary. I'm betting on "I am wolverine, behold my bad attitude for I smoke in hospitals, don't shave every day, the people I kill actually bleed and I have a canadian accent somewhere in there".

(the "bleeding" part: If you don't know what I'm talking about, just watch X3 a few more times. Claws go in clean, claws come out clean, no matter if he cuts legs, guts, faces, whatever)

And while I'm writing this, regarding characters and storylines, if X3 showed us anything it's that there are no noticeable limits to Fox's ability to bend and transform whichever parts of the canon it wants to. To say character X or character Y will or won't make it into the movie isn't a big deal, it's rather how they'll make it into the movie. I'm sure Omega Red would be cool, but without the white-skin, carbonadium tentacles or russian-badass-elite-assassin attitude, he'd be that much worse. I fear for the Weapon-X program :/

 

[Dark Knight]

everything he says is awesome! It certainly sounds like we will see an adaptation of Japanese origins and some Weapon X stuff in his script,,,,if you read between the lines.

Plus he says his script will be meant to be an R film....which is great to hear.

Hearing him talk about roughing up Wolverine and his story being more grounded in reality compared to him being half assed Wolverine in the X films is also great to hear. Everything sounds good to me so far.....just need a solid director and hope Avi Arad and Fox don't ruin it....

 

[triplefive]

I could be wrong, but the only time we've seen blood on Wolverine's claws is his OWN blood in the flashback scene in X2. Stupid PG-13 rating.

 

[Triligors]

He did mention rated R though. And hopefully Fox will stick with this- I mean, after all it is Wolverine. They will have tons of teenagers (sneaking in &/or going with a parental guardian) and adults seeing the film- especially with a hard R rating. I REALLY hope it is a hard R.

 

[Retroman]

^^He says he's writing it R Rated doesn't mean it will get that rating. FOX made Alien vs Predator PG-13 remember? I think Wolverine will be the same.

 

[Ender Durden]

is it just me or does this guy look more like wolverine (in the face) then hugh jackman does?

crap i know im gonna get flamed now....

 

[FunBobPants]

whoa. he does look kinda like wolvy. not more than Jackman, but he DOES look like wolvy

 

[Juggertha]

There is some seriously cool info there... ok, well not that much info. But just finding out that he is a real fan makes me a little more settled on it.

 

[Iron Man™]

Like the Iron Man film, this one is going to kick ass.

 

[Syncos]

Reguardless of how true this writer is to the source material, the fate of this movie really rests in the hands of whatever director they pick up.

-syn

 

[Iron Man™]

^ Well said, I agree.

 

[Gotham]

Very down to earth.

 

[Retroman]

Benioff is holding a Q&A tonight at The Henry Art Gallery (University of Washington) in Seattle, Washington. It costs 45 bucks for those who are interested!

I wonder what he'll make of the final movie because judging by the script review of his earlier drafts they've made lots of alterations.

Come meet WOLVERINE scribe and best-selling novelist David Benioff!
Written by Warren on April 8, 2009 – 7:26 am

Accomplished opera singers dream of being pop stars. Professional football players long to hit the links with Tiger Woods. Hollywood screenwriters wish they’d earned their ducats and made their names as novelists.

One of them has: David Benioff.

He broke into movies, adapting his own novel, 25th HOUR, for Spike Lee. Starring Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper, the movie may be Spike’s finest, um, hour, the morally harrowing tale of a dealer’s last day of freedom. Benioff’s STAY was executed by Marc (MONSTER’S BALL) Forster; the psychological thriller featuring Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Naomi Watts, blends Ambrose Bierce with M. Night Shyamalan creating a dazzling if confounding cinematic dream-state. Benioff then re-teamed with Forster to tackle the big-screen transfer of Khaled Hosseini’s novel, THE KITE RUNNER, an impressive effort which convincingly captured the book’s local flavor and large-scale melodrama. The screenwriter’s most recent accomplishment, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, already owns the dubious distinction of having been quite publicly pirated a month before its release. (Word-of-mouth from those darned downloaders, however, is exuberant. Fanboys are loving them some Benioff!)

This Saturday, The Warren Report will present a special screening of 25th HOUR at The Henry Art Gallery, followed by my in-depth interview with Mr. Benioff. We’ll discuss the craft and commerce of screenwriting, explore the luxuries the business provides and, possibly, the liberties taken with TROY.

For those who’d prefer a more intimate experience, and greater focus on Mr. Benioff’s novels, please, please purchase tickets now for Friday’s edition of Words & Wine, produced by Kim Ricketts Book Events. For just $45, you’ll enjoy my hour-long moderated chat with the author, multiple opportunities to mingle with the author, you’ll receive a (signed!) copy of his second novel CITY OF THIEVES, and all the delicious food and fabulous wine you can graciously consume — courtesy of Seastar and Chateau St. Michelle, respectively. With any luck, the writer’s wife, Amanda Peet, may partake as well. (A host can dream, can’t he?)

Don’t miss these chances to hobnob with one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters who is also, quite proudly, one of America’s finest novelists.

Source:http://thewarrenreport.com/?p=7011


Here's another interview with Benioff (from last year) where in which he discusses working on his favorite superhero....

IFOA: David Benioff on his novel and the upcoming Wolverine film

Posted: October 26, 2008, 8:57 PM by Ron Nurwisah
international festival of authors

Making writer David Benioff choose between screenplays and novels would be a painful choice. After all, he's had success in both mediums. He adapted the blockbuster novel the Kite Runner to the big screen, turned his own debut novel the 25th Hour into a film and followed it up with another novel, City of Thieves. Benioff leaves behind the contemporary urban grit of the 25th Hour for the cold climes of wartime Russia. The novel is the story of two Russian boys tasked with finding a dozen fresh eggs amidst the besieged city of Leningrad. I chatted with Benioff earlier this weekend at the IFOA:

National Post: I noticed that your novel plays a lot with autobiography. The novel starts with this scene in Florida where a screenwriter talks to his grandparents who have a last name suspiciously close to yours, but as you said it's a work of fiction. Can you talk about how that came about?

David Benioff: It’s kind of a collision of two different stories that I had, one with two boys looking for a dozen eggs in Leningrad and one being I wanted to write about my grandfather. They did live in Florida and obviously I am a screenwriter. So a lot of that prologue is real, the ‘I’ of the prologue is very similar to me.

Unfortunately, all of my grandparents have died. It’s kind of a natural process, the grandparents tend to die before the grandkids realize that they want to know more about their lives. There was a sense of wanting to rectify that mistake and go back and learn about my grandfather. I was kind of beating myself up. Why wasn’t I more curious to learn more about the man’s life? Because even though his life wasn’t the life of the novel it was still a very fascinating story. So I wrote that prologue.

Then I got the plot of the story about the eggs and they ended up coming together in my mind. I think it was because I didn’t want the first lines to be in Leningrad. I wanted there to be some kind of framing device, partly to get the reader into the story. It wasn’t so much of a strategy but for me as a writer to get into the story. To sort of work my way into 1942 and get comfortable there. That was how I did it, to imagine this as my grandfather’s story. But it wasn’t my real grandfather, I changed his name. It’s entirely a work of fiction.

At its heart, your novel, is a buddy story between this charmer, braggart Kolya and the more meek Lev Beniov. How did these characters come about?

They’re made up of characters. But when I was imagining them I was going back from first person to third person. But I ultimately decided that, like the Great Gatsby, the dominant character of that book is of course Gatsby, he’s the one that’s larger than life. but I don’t think that Fitzgerald could’ve written that book from his perspective. Part of the thing that makes him [Gatsby] larger than life is he’s being seen through the eyes of someone who’s life-size, who’s not as grand as he is.

I think it gives you more power to write about someone like that if you’re looking from the outside. Most of us aren’t like that. I’m certainly not. I don’t have Kolya’s great courage, or his confidence. All those things. It’s a lot easier for me to comment about him than occupy him from the inside or even write it in third person, where I’m commenting on both of them.

For me I was much more able to get into the mindset of it by getting into the character who was smaller of the two of them.


You're in a unique place when it comes to adaptation. You've taken literary work and turned them into film and had your own work turned into film. What have you gained from that?

I wouldn’t say I was unique, there are people I look up to, people like Richard Price, a great novelist and also a great screenwriter. Larry McMurtry, who wrote the beautiful screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, but is also a great novelist.

I’m very lucky that I get to do it. I think it’s really good for me going back and forth. There are certain stories I’m willing to devote years of my life too but there are other stories that I won’t want to spend three years on but it’s something I want to do.

Like Wolverine, I was a big comic book fanatic when I was a kid. He was my favourite superhero, so when the opportunity came up to write about him I jumped at it. But I wouldn’t want to spend three years writing about Logan.

I think it’s fun being able to go back and forth and I think it’s helpful for me when I’m adapting someone else’s book, a living writer anyway, as a novelist I know how protective they are of their material. I know they don’t want to see it f****d with. I think it gives me a different perspective from writers who aren’t screenwriters.

Can you drop any hints about this Wolverine film you're working on?

Well I'm finished it. No one has seen the final thing yet but I’m cauticously optimistic. The last time I talked to someone Canadian they asked me “he’s still Canadian, right?” And yes he’s still Canadian, there’s a key line right at the beginning where he makes that distinction between being American and Canadian. Again he’s a great, great character and obviously after working on the Kite Runner, which is obviously very serious, to go work on something completely different was good fun.

Do you worry about the more rabid fans?

The screenplay I wrote for Wolverine, it’s pretty faithful to the source material. Fans who have read the Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X or the other comics will recognize most of the story beads and certainly I hope will recognize the character. I think he’s much closer to the character we know from the comics than the character we know from the X-men movies. We’ve made him much more brutal and brooding and more like the Logan that I grew up with.


You mentioned that he was your favourite comic book character?

This was all I read when I was 13, 14 and I got away from it for a while. I got into other things but Wolverine was always the one character I came back to. I stopped reading Fantastic Four, Spiderman all that other stuff but I stayed with Wolverine. So of course, when I got the job I reimmersed myself. So all these comic books I hadn’t read in 20-25 years it was amazing how much I remembered.

He’s a really great character, there aren’t that many characters invented, whether it’s literature or comic books that make a real imprint on the culture. Wolverine is one of them.

What are you working on next?

I’m working on a screenplay on Kurt Cobain, the life and death. I wouldn’t say it’s fun to work on, because it’s incredibly depressing but it’s fascinating. He’s a fascinating character. The fact that he came out of this tiny little town, Aberdeen, and he never graduated high school and four or five years after when he was 21 or 22 he was already one of the most famous people on the planet.

SOURCE

 

[Hugh'sMrs]

The screenwriter’s most recent accomplishment, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, already owns the dubious distinction of having been quite publicly pirated a month before its release. (Word-of-mouth from those darned downloaders, however, is exuberant. Fanboys are loving them some Benioff!)

Fanboys are loving them Benioff. Oh really?

 

[Pauluz]

Do you worry about the more rabid fans?

The screenplay I wrote for Wolverine, it’s pretty faithful to the source material. Fans who have read the Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X or the other comics will recognize most of the story beads and certainly I hope will recognize the character. I think he’s much closer to the character we know from the comics than the character we know from the X-men movies. We’ve made him much more brutal and brooding and more like the Logan that I grew up with.

Oh, boy. What the hell happened since?