In Contention

Tag: Peter Buchman

  • 1/7 Oscarweb Round-up

    Anne Hathaway• Noah Forrest talks with “Che” scribe Peter Buchman. [Movie City News]

    • David S. Cohen takes a deeper look at the visual effects bake-off. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Tom O’Neil chats with Dave Karger and Michael Musto about the seemingly Oscar-locked Heath Ledger. [Gold Derby]

    • Reed Johnson talks to the descendents of “Defiance”‘s Bielski brothers. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Yet another “what’s up with all the movie Nazs” piece. [The Independent]

    • Christopher Goodwin talks to Daniel Craig about his experimentalism. [The Times]

    • Anthony Breznican profiles “Rachel Getting Married” star Anne Hathaway. [USA Today]

  • Page to Screen has officially closed

    Sorry for the column to go out with a whimper like that, but the more things piled on, the less time I had to read William Monahan’s “Body of Lies” and offer up the final column.  I’m seeing the film on Monday, so by now it’s a bit moot, so I just wanted to note that this season of Page to Screen came to a close with Brian’s review of Peter Buchman’s “Che” two weeks back.

    I’m thinking about revamping the column next year, perhaps taking it back to it’s source material commentary roots (a concept that has been lifted elsewhere in the interim, as we went the script review route for the last two years).  But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

    We hope you’ve enjoyed the reviews and gathered some helpful insights along the way.  If you want to read back over our series of seven screenplay reviews this season, have a look here.

  • PAGE TO SCREEN: “Che” by Peter Buchman

    Page to Screen at In Contention“To the people of Santa Clara, this is Commandant Che Guevara. The enemy would have us live in fear. But it is they who should be afraid. Because the power of the people is irresistible. Blockade the streets. Open your homes to rebel soldiers. And if you have a gun, pick it up. If there was ever a time to fight for your liberty, that time is now.”

    Consider myself a former believer in the church of Steven Soderbergh. When the director won his much deserved Oscar for “Traffic” I thought for sure we were seeing the emergence of one of the most important American directors in quite some time. And then what happened? The movies he was making — the “Ocean’s” trilogy, “Bubble,” “The Good German” and more — all sounded so interesting and promising on paper, and in the opinion of this writer, all ended up entirely soulless and lacking.

    So I have been cautiously anticipating the Che Guevera one-two punch of “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla.” You’ll have to forgive me (but I’m sure you’ll understand) if I certainly wasn’t in anticipating Peter Buchman’s scripts. He debuted with “Jurassic Park III” (how the hell do you get to start your career with a “Jurassic Park” movie?!) and followed it up with the excruciating “Eragon.” Not exactly the man I’d select for this task, to be certain.

    But thankfully, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla” — collectively, “Che” — are far superior works than Buchman’s previous two scripts. What we have here are handsomely crafted pieces that are easily malleable for a director like Soderbergh to reconstruct the way he wants, which according to the reviews I’ve read, seems to be exactly what he’s done. Scenes from “Guerrilla” appear in the first half of the film (what I presume will be “The Argentine” section), predominately Guevera’s famous speech at the United Nations in New York City.

    (more…)