"Lucky Number Slevin," starring Bruce Willis, Lucy Lui, and Josh Hartnett opens today in theatres all accross America. I had a chance to sit down with the film's screenwriter, Jason Smilovic.
Smilovic let the world know that he meant business when he brought us the short-lived television show "Karen Sisco." Being a favorite show of mine, I had to ask about any Karen-related news as well as what it was like writing the script for "Lucky Number Slevin."
The Web Devil (WD): Is Karen Sisco ever coming back?
Jason Smilovic (JS): It's never coming back but it will be coming to DVD. The world was just not ready for a woman that was all that. She was hot, carried a gun, had a great relationship with her father, and had casual sex. People would call me up and ask me when she going to get a boyfriend. They wouldn't be asking that if it was George Clooney. It's funny because if it's a romantic lead with a man, the first thing the people want is to happen is to get rid of the girl friend because it kills an entire universe of potential because then the male lead can have all of these different women come up. If it's a women in the romantic lead, than they don't want women sleeping around. I loved the relationship between Karen and her father, Marshall because that was the central core of the show. It was an updated version of To Kill A Mocking Bird relationship between Atticus Finch and his daughter Ren. Here was a guy and his wife had died, and he raised his daughter how the mother would have but it turned out that the daughter was like the dad.
WD: Did the actors in "Lucky Number Slevin" improvise much or did they stay true to your script?
JS: We didn't improvise. We stuck to the script. The way I look at it is, the screenwriter's job is to lay out the foundation, the template, and the actor's job is to find the meaning in those words and find the rhythms, the nuances, and the idiosyncrasies. 95% of what was written was said. Every once in a while someone will come up with a great adlib. One of my favorites in the movie was Slevin (Josh Hartnett), says to Good Cat, "How did you know" and Good Cat responds by saying, "I'm a world class assassin fuck head." I just wrote, "I'm a world class assassin." It was great. 5% of it was adlibbed.
WD: Why did you choose the mafia rivalry to be between African Americans and Jews?
JS: They are both a big part of the NY landscape, and they have a lot in common. They are both minorities, strong cultures, and I fell in love with that. I didn't care that the two were African Americans and Jews per say, but I wanted there to be a dichotomy represented.
WD: "Is Lucky Number Slevin" autobiographical?
JS: The Slevin part certainly is. In terms of Slevin, the filter between my brain and my mouth was broken early on and I'm somebody that's an eternal optimistic and Slevin is always optimistic no matter what's happening to him.
WD: So you would play Slevin if you had the chance?
JS: No, there would be 10,000 actors before I picked myself. That would be a big mistake.
WD: How did you get people to your screenplay noticed?
JS: I didn't know anyone and was introduced to a young producer from a mutual friend. He knocked down many doors and then a snowball effect happened. You want to get as many people on board as you can. It's about knocking on many doors and when they don't answer, you try to kick them in. The industry of Hollywood is in an interesting place because they've gone from a point of telling great stories to a place where they are deconstructing the formula of great movies and jamming them in. For example, instead of having a story with great ethos, plot, characters, and a story, they just want to pair up money making filmmakers with money making actors. If people like graphic novels, the film companies will buy every graphic novel, and before you know it, every movie is a spin off, prequel, or sequel to a graphic novel. It's not as competitive as people see it. If you are a good screenwriter, you wrote a good story, and told it well, it will work. That is the truth.
Reach the reporter at monis.rose@asu.edu.
