Schrieber Theory Test Case?
Posted on July 27, 2005 by Tito
At Book Expo America, Ed Champion’s cohort the "roving reporter" spent a few minutes with Chronicle book critic David Kipen to discuss David’s upcoming book from Melville House. In it, he proposes his "Schrieber Theory" as an alternative to the more prevalent auteur chatter one finds in film discussion. Instead of tracking movies by directors, he argues, it is better to track them by screenwriter. It was an engaging talk between two obvious film fans. I do suggest you give it a listen.
Now, I find this piece on Slate positing Owen Wilson as the better half of the Wilson/Anderson duo.
The premise being that Wes Anderson’s movies have generally declined, most recently with the ship-wreck A Life Aquatic, which is also the first time Owen Wilson did not share in the writing. I, too, take the crotchety old-man stance of "the movies aren’t as good as before", with Bottlerocket being one of my favorites, and was barely able to make it through A Life Aquatic.
And the Wilson-Anderson writing collaboration didn’t always sound easy. Wes Anderson once described the producer James L. Brooks’ role during the writing and revising of the Bottle Rocket script as partly "refereeing our head-butting matches, Owen’s and mine." Brooks put it this way, "Wes is very opinionated and very stubborn. And Owen, who does not think the same way as Wes, is also stubborn." Just as you can’t blame Lennon and McCartney for going their own ways, neither can you begrudge Wilson and Anderson. But for those for whom watching USS Anderson’s first three movies was like, for another generation, hearing Sgt. Pepper’s for the first time, Owen Wilson’s shore leave can only dishearten.
Perhaps Kipen is onto something… I look forward to reading his book when it comes out.
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