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You know, one of the smartest things anyone ever said to me in this business came from Michael Mann, a brilliant writer, a brilliant director. I was hired to do a rewrite on what was already a really good script. It was the early days, and I’m saying to him, “O.K., so what’s the message? Thematically, what are we doing?” All that film-school bullshit. But I honestly wanted to know. I wanted to pick his brain and ask him, “What are we trying to say here?”
He listened very patiently. I forget exactly the words he used—I wish I could quote him verbatim. But essentially what he said was “It’s your job to write an entertaining story. It’s your job to come up with a script that inspires the actors and director. And then, hopefully, this work will be viewed by moviegoers, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, wow, that was interesting. I didn’t see where that was going. I like the twists and turns. I like the characters.’ ” He said, “That’s the job, period. The froufrou thematic stuff is for other people to figure out. The college professors. All you have to do is tell an engaging story.” And he was right.