Whether he likes it or not because of the movies hes written, 25th Hour and Troy, David Benioff is a hot Hollywood screenwriter. But of course like all novelists hes got to eventually go back to his roots and for Benioff its his short stories. Eight of his best shorts have been collected into the book When The Nines Roll Over. Just as a small taste, the title story is about a young singer who leaves her drummer boyfriend for the A&R man who signs their band.
Now Benioff is going to increase his Hollywood hotness by writing the Wolverine solo movie and also the movie Kite Runner for director Sam Mendes which is an adaptation of the book by Khaled Hosseini.
Check out the official website of David Benioff
Daniel Robert Epstein: How long have you been writing the stories that ended up in When The Nines Roll Over?
David Benioff: A long time actually. Some of them are five years old so it probably took three years to do them all.
DRE: Were any of them published someplace else first?
DB: Yeah a few of them were in some smaller literary magazines. Some of them were in Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppolas magazine and others in Tin House.
DRE: Were any of them new for the book?
DB: Yeah about half of them.
DRE: Whose idea was it to collect them?
DB: It was my idea because I always wanted to. Short stories were the first things I wrote. Most of them I write and a few weeks later I think they are crap but these are ones that I like.
DRE: What do you like about the short story format?
DB: I think part of it is that I like writing endings. With a short story you are always a lot closer to an ending than with a novel. It gives you a chance to play with a lot of characters and they might be stories that wouldnt work in a longer format.
DRE: Do the stories in the book share a theme?
DB: I dont think so but if you can find one Id be happy to hear about it.
DRE: Are any of them autobiographical on purpose?
DB: Not really.
DRE: How did the stories start?
DB: It depends. Sometimes it starts with the first line then I have to figure out the rest. With the last story, Merde For Luck, I had this image of a guy sitting on a plane after he just shot himself. I tried to imagine how awful that would be for that person then I was trying to figure out why he shot himself. I dont have one specific method for these stories. With the story, Zoanthropy, I just had this image of lions wandering around New York. It may have been me walking past the stone lions in front of the 42nd street library or maybe it was from the movie 12 Monkeys which had a lion sitting in the city of Philadelphia during winter.
I guess there are few stories in the book with other people thinking about someone elses talent like Alexander in Merde for Luck thinking about Hector dancing. This idea that talent can be something quantifiable, like the talent agencies in Hollywood, is interesting to me.
DRE: Why did you pick When The Nines Roll Over for the title of the book?
DB: I think part of the reason is that I liked the title and its probably one of my favorite stories in there. Part of my family came over to America through Ellis Island and their real name was Tabachnik then it was changed to something else. I ended up giving that name to the main character. He is really interesting to me. Ive always loved characters that arent particularly likeable which is kind of anathema in Hollywood. You are always being told by studio executives to make the characters more likable. I think the characters I love are not particularly sweet people and Tabachnik on the surface is kind of an asshole and yet hes the center of the story.
DRE: How well is the book doing?
DB: It did fine. It made it onto the LA Times bestseller list but its not setting any records.
DRE: I saw you on some hot list as a hot screenwriter. You are exploring this theme but you are also someone who is a commodity.
DB: Yeah [laughs]. I was just watching the South Park special the other night and Matt Stone and Trey Parker were in a hot tub talking about when they were in college and they couldnt wait to get to LA and sell out. Its amazing looking at those guys who came up with this world where these paper cutout characters are walking around town and that someone made them millions. Its shocking. There are nice things about being commoditized, such as I get to live in a nice house, and there are not so nice things such as Im writing screenplays but I dont get final word on what happens with that story.
DRE: Are people telling you not to write a book but write movies instead?
DB: Its not so much that but when you are writing a novel you have absolute power but with a screenplay you are working with a collaborative medium and are maybe the eighth most powerful collaborator. I knew that coming in because you would have to be a fool not to know that.
DRE: So is it true you were the only screenwriter on Troy?
DB: Thats true but it doesnt mean that every word on screen was mine. Troy was originally my pitch to Warner Bros. They bought it and I wrote the script.
DRE: Thats so unusual.
DB: It was and with 25th Hour that happened to. Thats also happening with Stay which is being directed by my friend, Marc Forster [Finding Neverland]. I got spoiled by this which is bad because I know its not going to happen all the time. When other writers are brought in to rewrite my script it will be a shock.
DRE: Did Spike Lee add the 9/11 aspects to 25th Hour?
DB: Yeah, that was his idea. In the fuck you monologue I added Osama and Spike added the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Peppers characters are looking at Ground Zero and talking about the air quality.
DRE: With Troy being such a big hit, what does that do for you?
DB: I guess I get paid a little more but the real fun thing is that I got to travel around the world as it opened up in different countries. I got to go to the Cannes Film Festival and then to Japan. Obviously Brad Pitt is famous here but in Japan he is like a god. To be near that is fun and it made me glad to be anonymous.
DRE: Troy got some negative criticism. Do you take that as personally as you would negative comments about your books?
DB: I would take it personally for all of them. I dont really believe it when people say they dont read their reviews or dont care about them. How could you not care after working on something a long time? But there is nothing much you can do about that. You cant go punch them in the nose and ultimately you are in the ring and taking blows. But Id rather be taking blows than be outside the ring like a critic.
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. Ive 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: Im not allowed to talk about it. Fox is pretty careful about that. Its not even totally finalized what story we are doing. What I can say is that in the X-Men movies weve seen a lot of the sweet Wolverine so I think its time to mess him up a little bit because all the fans know that hes the best there is at what he does but what he does isnt 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 cant talk about it. Nice try though.
For what its worth thats 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 hadnt read any of the recent stuff so Ive 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.
DRE: Are you interested in directing films?
DB: Yeah Im actually hoping to direct a short 30 minute film next year. Its based on my short story, When The Nines Roll Over. Ive never directed anything so it should be fun. Ive started talking to cinematographers and actors about it.
DRE: You could get Brad Pitt and Edward Norton to be in it!
DB: Yeah but I think I will want a cast of unknowns.
DRE: I think that will be inevitable.
DB: Yeah I have no money for anybody.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Now Benioff is going to increase his Hollywood hotness by writing the Wolverine solo movie and also the movie Kite Runner for director Sam Mendes which is an adaptation of the book by Khaled Hosseini.
Check out the official website of David Benioff
Daniel Robert Epstein: How long have you been writing the stories that ended up in When The Nines Roll Over?
David Benioff: A long time actually. Some of them are five years old so it probably took three years to do them all.
DRE: Were any of them published someplace else first?
DB: Yeah a few of them were in some smaller literary magazines. Some of them were in Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppolas magazine and others in Tin House.
DRE: Were any of them new for the book?
DB: Yeah about half of them.
DRE: Whose idea was it to collect them?
DB: It was my idea because I always wanted to. Short stories were the first things I wrote. Most of them I write and a few weeks later I think they are crap but these are ones that I like.
DRE: What do you like about the short story format?
DB: I think part of it is that I like writing endings. With a short story you are always a lot closer to an ending than with a novel. It gives you a chance to play with a lot of characters and they might be stories that wouldnt work in a longer format.
DRE: Do the stories in the book share a theme?
DB: I dont think so but if you can find one Id be happy to hear about it.
DRE: Are any of them autobiographical on purpose?
DB: Not really.
DRE: How did the stories start?
DB: It depends. Sometimes it starts with the first line then I have to figure out the rest. With the last story, Merde For Luck, I had this image of a guy sitting on a plane after he just shot himself. I tried to imagine how awful that would be for that person then I was trying to figure out why he shot himself. I dont have one specific method for these stories. With the story, Zoanthropy, I just had this image of lions wandering around New York. It may have been me walking past the stone lions in front of the 42nd street library or maybe it was from the movie 12 Monkeys which had a lion sitting in the city of Philadelphia during winter.
I guess there are few stories in the book with other people thinking about someone elses talent like Alexander in Merde for Luck thinking about Hector dancing. This idea that talent can be something quantifiable, like the talent agencies in Hollywood, is interesting to me.
DRE: Why did you pick When The Nines Roll Over for the title of the book?
DB: I think part of the reason is that I liked the title and its probably one of my favorite stories in there. Part of my family came over to America through Ellis Island and their real name was Tabachnik then it was changed to something else. I ended up giving that name to the main character. He is really interesting to me. Ive always loved characters that arent particularly likeable which is kind of anathema in Hollywood. You are always being told by studio executives to make the characters more likable. I think the characters I love are not particularly sweet people and Tabachnik on the surface is kind of an asshole and yet hes the center of the story.
DRE: How well is the book doing?
DB: It did fine. It made it onto the LA Times bestseller list but its not setting any records.
DRE: I saw you on some hot list as a hot screenwriter. You are exploring this theme but you are also someone who is a commodity.
DB: Yeah [laughs]. I was just watching the South Park special the other night and Matt Stone and Trey Parker were in a hot tub talking about when they were in college and they couldnt wait to get to LA and sell out. Its amazing looking at those guys who came up with this world where these paper cutout characters are walking around town and that someone made them millions. Its shocking. There are nice things about being commoditized, such as I get to live in a nice house, and there are not so nice things such as Im writing screenplays but I dont get final word on what happens with that story.
DRE: Are people telling you not to write a book but write movies instead?
DB: Its not so much that but when you are writing a novel you have absolute power but with a screenplay you are working with a collaborative medium and are maybe the eighth most powerful collaborator. I knew that coming in because you would have to be a fool not to know that.
DRE: So is it true you were the only screenwriter on Troy?
DB: Thats true but it doesnt mean that every word on screen was mine. Troy was originally my pitch to Warner Bros. They bought it and I wrote the script.
DRE: Thats so unusual.
DB: It was and with 25th Hour that happened to. Thats also happening with Stay which is being directed by my friend, Marc Forster [Finding Neverland]. I got spoiled by this which is bad because I know its not going to happen all the time. When other writers are brought in to rewrite my script it will be a shock.
DRE: Did Spike Lee add the 9/11 aspects to 25th Hour?
DB: Yeah, that was his idea. In the fuck you monologue I added Osama and Spike added the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Peppers characters are looking at Ground Zero and talking about the air quality.
DRE: With Troy being such a big hit, what does that do for you?
DB: I guess I get paid a little more but the real fun thing is that I got to travel around the world as it opened up in different countries. I got to go to the Cannes Film Festival and then to Japan. Obviously Brad Pitt is famous here but in Japan he is like a god. To be near that is fun and it made me glad to be anonymous.
DRE: Troy got some negative criticism. Do you take that as personally as you would negative comments about your books?
DB: I would take it personally for all of them. I dont really believe it when people say they dont read their reviews or dont care about them. How could you not care after working on something a long time? But there is nothing much you can do about that. You cant go punch them in the nose and ultimately you are in the ring and taking blows. But Id rather be taking blows than be outside the ring like a critic.
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. Ive 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: Im not allowed to talk about it. Fox is pretty careful about that. Its not even totally finalized what story we are doing. What I can say is that in the X-Men movies weve seen a lot of the sweet Wolverine so I think its time to mess him up a little bit because all the fans know that hes the best there is at what he does but what he does isnt 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 cant talk about it. Nice try though.
For what its worth thats 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 hadnt read any of the recent stuff so Ive 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.
DRE: Are you interested in directing films?
DB: Yeah Im actually hoping to direct a short 30 minute film next year. Its based on my short story, When The Nines Roll Over. Ive never directed anything so it should be fun. Ive started talking to cinematographers and actors about it.
DRE: You could get Brad Pitt and Edward Norton to be in it!
DB: Yeah but I think I will want a cast of unknowns.
DRE: I think that will be inevitable.
DB: Yeah I have no money for anybody.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
good article.
interesting writer.