by Paul Matwychul on Fast Forward Weekly, November 19th 2009

Peter Morgan is one of the few screenwriters who appears to have no ambitions to become a director, but his scripts have such consistent themes that he practically qualifies as an auteur anyway. A typical Morgan script will dramatize a little-known footnote of ’70s history and use that story as a springboard for pitting a cocky, callow, but likable young hero against a faded but still formidable legend. In The Queen, Tony Blair faced off against Queen Elizabeth, in The Last King of Scotland, a young doctor had to square off against Idi Amin, and in Frost/Nixon... well, that one’s right there in the title.

In his latest film, The Damned United (and it feels right to call it a Peter Morgan film, even though Tom Hooper directed it), the two main characters will be less familiar to North Americans than to Brits. The cocky hero this time is football manager Brian Clough (Michael Sheen), whose leadership transformed Derby County from a laughingstock to a contender for the First Division title. His rival is Don Revie, the beloved manager of Leeds United, whose brutal style of play made the team the dominant force in British football in the early ’70s. He also snubbed Clough during their first match against each other and Clough has dreamed of revenge ever since. And so, when he’s hired as Revie’s replacement, Clough is more interested in repudiating Revie’s legacy than in winning games or endearing himself to his new team.

So the stage is set for one of the great fiascos in the history of British sport. Clough lasted a mere 44 days as Leeds’s manager before his poisonous relationship with his players and the Leeds fans resulted in his ouster and cost him not just his friendship with his invaluable right-hand man, Peter Taylor, but almost his entire sports career.

You don’t have to know anything about British football — God knows I sure don’t — to enjoy The Damned United. Morgan has always been more interested in character than setting, and he makes the film less a sports story than a study in bad management techniques. Michael Sheen, Morgan’s favourite leading man, is terrific as usual, especially in the scenes where Clough’s blinkered overconfidence gets the better of him. And with Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor, Colm Meaney as Don Revie and Jim Broadbent as Derby’s tightwad team owner, the cast is practically an all-star team of ruddy-faced Irish and British character actors. Minor, but very entertaining.

 From the Filmmakers, Actors and Writers Unite Blog  

18th Novelber 2009

I've been receiving a lot of emails from aspiring writers who are eager to submit their work and get started, so I will go ahead and update my blog.

If you are writing or have written a script(s) and want to get it sold, then listen up. Now's your chance to get your name out. Our company is currently accepting work from aspiring new writers on a continuous basis. There is no deadline, but it is to your benefit to send your ...

Award winning screenwriter dies

The award winning screenwriter Frank Deasy, who had been campaigning for more organ donations, has died in hospital in Edinburgh.

From BBC News, 21 September 2009

Mr Deasy, 49, died on Thursday in Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary, where he had been due to get a liver transplant.

The screenwriter, whose screen credits include Prime Suspect, appealed at the weekend for more organ donors especially those with blood group B.

Mr Deasy is survived by his wife ...

Life is good for Scott Moore. Well, life would be good for anyone who helped create the top-grossing R-rated comedy in film history. Yeah.

That's bigger than "Borat." Bigger than "There's Something About Mary." Bigger than "Animal House," for chrissake!

Scott Moore loves it.

"It's so great," he says via phone. He's getting ready to visit Boulder for a screening of his film, the summer's big smash hit "The Hangover," which he wr...

The country is polarized, Michael Moore is Hollywood's most polarizing filmmaker, and almost everybody is agitated about the economy. Put it all together, and the timing for Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" couldn't be any more provocative.

Moore's latest nonfiction jeremiad -- about the incestuous relationship between go...

Source :  The L.A. Times, September 13 2009

Make 'em laugh but get 'em to care. Ricky Gervais lives by that precept. With 'The Invention of Lying,' he's found a like minded young collaborator. Reporting from Lowell, Mass. - The scene being filmed called for Ricky Gervais to clear up the question of whether or not he was the Messiah.

Despite the weighty confusion, the British comedian looked every bit himself -- barrel-waisted, sheepish and wearing a dark suit -- as he stood on the stoop of an a...