Johnny Simmons

The last ten years in film have been good. Let’s look at the Actors who helped. It’s more or less the usual suspects. I think I need to single out the following who did not make the list – Paul Giamati (Sideways/Cinderella Man), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight), Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Dark Knight, The Prestige), Jack Nicholson (The Departed, About Schmidt) and Ralph Fiennes (The Reader, The Constant Gardener). Brad Pitt was the runner up (Babel, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Oceans’ Eleven, The Assassination of Jesse James) and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, 21 Grams) and Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom, Michael Clayton) barely missed it. Sorry, but it's only nine...


Jude Law - #9
Jude Law is my favourite living male British actor. He gave great performances in AI: Artificial Intelligence, and The Road to Perdition. He then gave a poignant performance as Inman in 2003’s Cold Mountain (Lead Actor nomination – Oscar) followed by an undervalued performance in Closer the next year. That same year he was also rewarded as an ensemble(SAG nod) for being a member of my favourite cast that year The Aviator. I heard that he may be coming to Broadway soon with his acclaimed portrayal of Hamlet, so maybe he could conquer the stage before returning to the screen to win his Oscar – sometime. He’s going to win eventually… right?

Russell Crow - #8
Crow won his first Oscar for his performance in Gladiator at the turn of the millennium then and was nominated the next year for A Beautiful Mind, which I still believe to be the best performance of that year, even though I was not a fan of the movie. His performance in Master & Commander and Cinderella Man were both Oscar worthy and he also gave a solid performance in American Gangster. I wonder if he will ever get that second Oscar. I don’t think it’s going to be for Nottingham – but who knows?

Ed Harris - # 7
Is this nepotism? Of course it is. It’s my list after all. In 2000 he directed and starred in Pollock earning a Best Actor nod – the second best of the year as far as I was concerned. Then he gave the best supporting performance in The Hours (Oscar nomination), but he was snubbed. He also gave solid performances in A Beautiful Mind and particularly in A History of Violence. He needs to get back to work and get that damned Oscar. It’s about time!

Johnny Depp - #6
He has become a star. From Chocolat, to The Pirates of the Caribbean (Oscar nomination) and its sequels, Finding Neverland (Oscar nomination) and Sweeney Todd (Oscar nomination) he has done well for himself. Some even call him the most due actor for an Oscar. I won’t go that far. But he is a cool guy. I don’t think Public Enemies is going to win him that Oscar – but it’s forthcoming. I think.

Philip Seymour Hoffman - #5
After years of being a character actor I gained respect for him in Cold Mountain where he managed to do some scene stealing opposite Jude Law. No awards buzz came until 2005 when he won the Oscar for Capote. He was nominated in 2007 for Charlie Wilson’s War, a year filled with great performances from him – Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and his terribly comedic work as the best thing in The Savages. Last year he got nominated for his work in Doubt. Hoffman is also a stalwart on the Broadway stage. He deserves all the respect he gets. I wonder when he’ll get Oscar number two…

Sean Penn - #4
Which was the better performance? Mystic River or 21 Grams. Penn won the Oscar for the former and countless awards for the latter. 2003 was a good year for him. And last year he joined the elite club of actors with two lead Oscars for his turn in Milk. Along with Kate Winslet he has managed to gain awards’ nods after All the Kings Men. I’m waiting for Jude Law, Patricia Clarkson and Anthony Hopkins.

Daniel Day Lewis - #3
This was a tough one to have him so low. Is he the best working actor right now? Maybe. He was robbed of the Oscar for his astounding performance in Gangs of New York which earned him an Oscar nod. He then gave another riveting performance that earned him his second Oscar in 2007 in There Will Be Blood. He’s set to star in Nine this year, and I’m looking forward to that. After playing so many terrorising characters it will be nice to see him play nice!

Javier Bardem - # 2
He gave the best performance of 2000 in Before Night Falls (Oscar nomination), gave another spellbinding performance in The Sea Inside and then won his Oscar for No Country For Old Men. His commendable performance in Love in the Time of Cholera went unnoticed, but his performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona earned a Golden Globe nod. I love this guy. I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Leonardo DiCaprio - #1
There wasn’t really any contemplation as to who would get this spot. He started his love affair with Martin Scorsese in Gangs of New York in a very undervalued performance. That year he also gave a good performance in Catch Me If You Can. He earned his second Oscar nomination for the best of the year performance he gave in The Aviator. Then his astounding performance in The Departed went unnoticed by the Oscars – despite SAG and Golden Globe nod. He was nominated for Blood Diamond – another good performance. He then gave his career best in Revolutionary Road – the best of the year I believe. He failed to even garner a Oscar nod – but that’s all blood under the bridge. It’s time to look ahead to his next date with Scorsese. Is it finally time for Oscar to come a knocking? F*** Yeah! Excuse my French.

These are what I think to be the best screenplays of the last 9-10 years. I think I need to put a qualifier here. I mean, these may not be the best screenplay of the past ten years. But I just think they’re some of – nine of – the most prolific. Although, those words may be too big. I don’t know… there may be what some may call obvious omissions – Almost Famous, In the Bedroom, The Pianist, Mystic River, Sideways and about a hundred more. These are just nine of the screenplays that I think about most when I think about the last few years in writing. Special mention goes to Pedro Alvodomar’s Talk to Her.
You're probably wondering... why nine? Well being a hopeless addict to Nicole Kidman, a devout follower of Judi Dench and a big fan of Daniel Day Lewis I probably don't need to explain further. So Nine is my favourite number this year...for the while at least.

9. Little Miss Sunshine
This Oscar winning screenplay was one of the freshest screenplays of recent years. There is only one screenplay that I think is more creative (see number 1). What makes it so good is that reading it you think you could have done that. It’s real dialogue, it’s funny but it’s not over the top – even though the directors would have us think so. It veers towards situational comedy, but right before it comes in for the big laugh it goes towards some intense level of poignancy. Genius.

Favourite Lines

Frank - Oh my God, I'm getting pulled over. Everyone, just... pretend to be normal.

Grandpa Are you kidding me? It was a fucking paradise. They got pool... They got golf... Now I'm stuck with Mr. Happy here, sleeping on a fucking sofa. Look, I know you are a homo and all, but maybe you can appreciate this. You go to one of those places, there's four women for every guy. Can you imagine what that's like?


8. The Departed
I guess most people would say this is ineligible, since for the most part it’s just a translation. But this was one of my favourite scripts of 2006. William Monahan did a great job of combining the three original films and adding an… an American flair to it. The script reads like a novel, there isn’t too much description – but it’s not just dialogue either. It’s just right… and this is only number eight.
Favourite Line – Mr. French “That’s not quite a guy you can’t hit, but it’s almost a guy you can’t hit, so I’m fucking ruling on it right now that you don’t hit him, understand.”

Costello “Tell Bruce Lee and the karate kids none of us are carrying automatic weapons because here, in this country, it don’t add inches to your dick. You get a life sentence for it.

7. Chicago
In some ways this was actually an original screenplay. Bill Condon’s (now legendary) idea of having the songs of the musical done through Roxie’s imagination was a smart idea and was a large part of the reason why Chicago worked so well as a film. From those flashes where she imagines herself singing All that Jazz to her imagining the death of the Hunyak. Condon shows us that he’s a hundred times better as a writer than a director – and he’s actually a really good director, so imagine that.


6. Babel
Most peoples hate this film, and its screenplays. In retrospect I suppose that the comparisons to Crash are permissible, but I think this film is way better and way more profound than Crash. It’s hard to talk about this screenplay without turning to the spiritual or the moralistic, but what’s really so good about this screenplay, is how the idea of fate and chance are so tied in with it. It really is not the most pleasant film (or screenplay), but that doesn’t make it any worse. It’s excellent.

Favourite Line –Yussef - I killed the American, I was the only one who shot at you. They did nothing... nothing. Kill me, but save my brother, he did nothing... nothing. Save my brother... he did nothing.

It doesn’t have a lot of quotable quotes to be honest…

5. Brokeback Mountain
I think short stories are great source materials for films. You can stick to the original, but still make way for your ideas. Brokeback Mountain is the epitome of this. It gained a deserving win for best screenplay. This is actually another sombre tale.

Favourite Line – Jack can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you sonofawhoreson bitch! I wish I knew how to quit you.

4. Gosford Park
Julian Fellowes did a great job with this screenplay. Any film that deals with murder and secrets needs to have a good screenplay. Almost every

Favourite Line – Aunt Constance “I don’t have a snobbish bone in my body.”

Mrs. Wilson “I’m the perfect servant. I have no life.”

3. Atonement
I am in love with every Christopher Hampton screenplay (I still think Dangerous Liaisons is one of the best screenplays ever). Most people thought that Atonement was one of the most inadaptable novels, but he showed that it was not.

Favourite Line – Robbie - Dearest Cecilia, the story can resume. The one I had been planning on that evening walk. I can become again the man who once crossed the surrey park at dusk, in my best suit, swaggering on the promise of life. The man who, with the clarity of passion, made love to you in the library. The story can resume. I will return. Find you, love you, marry you and live without shame.

2. The Hours
This is another inadaptable novel that was a great screenplay. I really liked this movie and one of the real reasons it worked was because of the screenplay.

Favourite Lines
Virginia - If I were thinking clearly, Leonard, I would tell you that I wrestle alone in the dark, in the deep dark, and that only I can know. Only I can understand my condition. You live with the threat, you tell me you live with the threat of my extinction. Leonard, I live with it too.

Richard - But I still have to face the hours, don't I? I mean, the hours after the party, and the hours after that...

Laura - It would be wonderful to say you regretted it. It would be easy. But what does it mean? What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It's what you can bear. There it is. No one's going to forgive me. It was death. I chose life.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Yes, this is my favourite screenplay of the last ten years. It was actually a bit of a no-brainer. There was no competition that year at the Oscars, I wonder if any one even voted against this. It’s a love story, but it’s not particularly romantic – it’s witty, it’s funny, it’s realistic but it’s also fantastical. It’s just really great.

Favourite Lines – Joel - Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

Joel - Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?

PS I couldn't think about any one line for Chicago... forgive me.

I feel a bit literary today. I’m reading Wuthering Heights (for the umpteenth time) and Mansfield Park in unison. Here’s a poem to think about.

On Death
Then Almitra spoke, saying, “We should ask now of death”
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night bound eyes are blind unto the day
Cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,
Open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and sea are one.
In the depths of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands
Before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling,
That he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free from its restless tides…
That it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.


My next post title - My Nine Favourite Screenplays (2000 to present)