Gossip Girl Creator to Pen Next X-Men Movie
By Nick Haramis May 02, 2008
Josh Schwartz sits perched atop a bar stool at Coffee Shop, the Union Square eatery made famous for its appearance on an episode of "Sex and the City." He's dressed casually, his hair perfectly unkempt. He's wearing glasses, and we don't recognize him at first. We sit at our table, he sits at his stool. It's awkward. Eventually, however, realizing our mistake, we approach the creator of "Gossip Girl," "Chuck," and "The O.C." to talk shop over a beer.
You do not mess with Andre Leon Tally, he cautions, discussing his stint this week as a juror at the Tribeca Film Festival, alongside the Vogue Editor-at-Large, director Doug Liman, and writer Jay McInerney. He was judging this years documentary offerings, vying for Hotel Gramercy Parks win, but was beat out by cinephile bullies who favored Zoned In, the story of one Daniel B. Nartey II, a former drug dealer who went on to attend Brown University.
Schwartz discusses The O.C. and its inevitable demise. The ratings had dropped in the third season. There was pressure from the studio to do something radical, and so we killed off Mischa Bartons character. Was she pissed? She wasnt exactly pleased. I thought it might be good for her to, you know, take a breakshed been feeling overworkedand maybe even go to college. She didnt.
The subject of The CWs Gossip Girl comes up a few times during our hour-long meeting. With The O.C., I wasnt able to prepare the cast for celebrity. This time around, I think everyone knew what to expect. Chase [Crawford] now hangs out on the Lower East Side to avoid the New York socialite scene. If he sees those types of people when hes out, he leaves, because otherwise hell be dating them the next day in the news. Is Blake Lively happy to be starring in the sequel to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? I think it was actually America [Ferrera] who was less into it. I mean, when they were filming that movie, nobody really knew who Blake was. Now theyre marketing the ad campaign around her.
The obvious question comes up. How much are Schwartzs representations of these worldsthe wealthy, privileged enclaves of Newport Beach and Manhattans Upper East Sidecolored by his own experience? I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. If I were to search my soul, I guess, somewhere, there might be this morbid, masochistic fascination with my exclusion from them.
On the strike: I got a splinter on the first day, so I went home and watched the first four seasons of The Wire. Would he be interested in that kind of project, writing a show for HBO? I cant really talk about it yet, but theres something in the works.
Something he can talk about, however, is news that he will pen the screenplay for the next installment of X-Men, a prequel of sorts. Im very well aware that Ill be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck. Of the project, he beams with excitement about the opportunity to involve lesser known X-Men characters who havent yet been portrayed on film. It will center on teenage characters at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Its not like Im adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that. Despite his enthusiam, hes cautious, given the double-edged sword inherent in the seemingly inexhaustible renaissance of the genre. The Hulk looks like its going to be terrible. And why does he look like hes fighting against the monster from Cloverfield? I mean, with Transformers, its not like fans were going to come back saying, You used the wrong car. This, however, is a different story. Of his predecessors and their successes (or failures), he says, Brett Ratner didnt have a lot of credibility going in to the third X-Men movie, but I think Bryan Singer [who directed the first two installments] got a free pass on Superman Returns because of his work on X-Men.
But wait, back to Gossip Girl. He talks about the casting process, the satisfaction that comes from discovering unknown actors and watching them explode into superstars. Was he responsible for casting Lydia Hearst? Shes best friends with Michelle Trachtenberg [who was recently added to the cast]. Michelle actually told me she was friends with Lydia, and so it worked out great. Would he ever consider casting New York scenester Leven Rambin? Whats she done? Well, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on All My Children. Is she hot? Yeah, totally. Okay, Leven Rambin. Ill keep that in mind.
The former University of Southern California film student has little interest in directing his own feature film. I hear about directors who delegate jobs to everyone on set and, essentially, do nothing. Im sure I could handle that, but to be honest, I dont wake up in the morning thinking, Ive got to direct!
He gets a text message. Were hoping its something like S and B spotted pulling out each others weaves outside the Waverly," but Schwartz says with a groan, Its my friends birthday party tonight. Its at six. He is way too old and way too young to be eating that early. He takes one final swig from his bottle of Amstel Light and, with that, hes off.
