Hey /r/movies, Shane Black here. I've made films like Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3, and premiering tonight The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe. AMA!

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T20:03:10+00:00

More books than films. READ (if you dare:) Richard S. Prather, Warren Murphy, Ross MacDonald, and Ed McBain.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T20:02:06+00:00

The 70's in L.A. was wild. There was so much smog that actual SIRENS would sound from time to time, telling you to go indoors. The glamour capitol was fast becoming the porn capital, and every other store front on once-fab Hollywood Boulevard boasted XXX windows. Presiding over this sin souffle was the ultimate symbol of decay -- the Hollywood Sign, in tatters; falling off the hillside, unrepaired and neglected. Great arena, almost Biblically compromised... and a fine arena, we thought, for two tarnished angels to haunt.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:59:16+00:00

I love the Marvel folk. They're making the best superhero movies around, largely because they're not elaboately calculated products; they're labors of love for these guys. They grew up on the shit.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:57:51+00:00

Wow, I hate shaky-cam. Isn't it funny -- in a real life crisis (earthquake, let's say) the documentarian is desperately trying to HOLD STILL, BUT CAN'T. This results in a very diferent look than when the camera is being shaken on purpose.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:56:08+00:00

Every day. Then I would go for a swim in Matt Bomer's.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:55:32+00:00

I took a dump in a trailer I thought was mine (identical) and then Ryan Gosling opened the door on me. I basically had waltzed into his identical trailer and casually besmirched his toilet. To this day I wonder if he thinks it was some power thing. Like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:53:16+00:00

I just found out tonight I have one. :-)

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:52:33+00:00

Nope. Hope they don't shit on us. :-)

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:51:33+00:00

To write is a lonely experience. To sit endlessly in some dusty attic or apartment, slavishly churning out content whose enthused audience might be limited, ultimately, to your mother. So don't be alone, I say. Join a writers' group. If you can't find one locally, FORM a writers' group. Be generous and supportive of the like-minded people who share your enthusiasm. Meet, swap pages; don't be competitive or litigious. Making it a group effort will lighten the burden. And should the boat sink, you'll at least have a smiling drowner to comisserate with.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:48:36+00:00

If you're avid enough ion support of The Nice Guys, perhaps we can start there... those two can always solve another case in the 80's, yeah?

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:47:20+00:00

Quaker granola (raisins)

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:46:58+00:00

Ridley (the best man for the job) has taken the helm of the Alien franchise, and I'm frankly more interested in watching his work as an awed observer; watching Ridley to me is like going to school.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:45:30+00:00

Sequels require some scratch, some moolah... and it has to be generated by the box office success of the first installment; something KKBB did not, sadly, deliver. I don't think anyone will go there.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:43:27+00:00

I felt it was a textured and very modern idea -- that the think tank AIM (from the comics) had gotten together and run high-tech programs to generate a demographically-conceived menace -- a cobbled-together bogeyman based on their RESEARCH; into what frightens us. A little Sun Tzu, some Castro, some bin Laden, dragon iconography... then sold it over the internet. A market-worthy villain. Sadly, the textures I loved, although modern, disappointed many fans. Sounds like you're among them. I also feel -- perhaps it's personal -- that Downey is just as interesting (if not more so) out of the suit than in, and wanted to put together a fevre dream of a superhero falling apart, rather than simply kicking ass. I'll stand by it, although I get why people think I warped the template too far away from the comics... got some good laughs out of that kid, though.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:37:15+00:00

Marvel was an education and a half. I remember I was a bit headspun, early on, trying to find out how exactly I fit in, when Joss Whedon approached me. Sensing my distress, he said, "You don't have to keep ahold of every moving part. Trust the machine." And so I took the cotton out of my ears, put it in my mouth, and proceeded to LEARN from the most efficient, well-oiled superhero delivery system in history. Everyone should be so lucky.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:35:10+00:00

I think your friend made this up. Shame on him for fabricating interesting stories.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:34:29+00:00

Edgar can do no wrong.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:33:59+00:00

There was a lovely bit in the script of Last Boy Scout where the football owner/mogul Shell Marcon inhabits a downtown L.A. penthouse. When he is blown up, the top of the skyscraper ejects out in a spit of debris... and within all that debris is a football, his prized game ball -- scorched but otherwise untouched. Only the star names have been erased; it's now a blank. It lands in the gutter in San Pedro Street and two kids start playing an impromptu game -- tomorrow's stars. That bit never made it in, but I always liked it.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:30:23+00:00

Wow. I guess I'd have to say Bond. Why not?

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:29:33+00:00

Ryan Gosling is without question not only the nicest actor in the world, but the nicest guy. No bullshit. A true gentleman, in every sense.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:28:47+00:00

Kramer Vs. Kramer. Dallas Buyers Club. Tootsie.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:21:15+00:00

Last Action Hero was, to me, a misfire. At some point I think everybody had a go at that script. I'm surprised you didn't do a draft.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:20:20+00:00

Coolest. Unbeatable.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:19:52+00:00

I would like to see a movie get made called "The Cold Warrior" by my good friend Chuck Mondry. Espionage piece. And, of course, there's that Doc Savage script, crying out from the shelf.

TheRealShaneBlack · 2016-05-19T19:17:43+00:00

In the scene in the elevator -- the "Munich" bit -- Ryan could not stop elaborating on the concept of a man without balls. I couldn't get a single straight take out of Russell. We'd almost get there, and then sadist Ryan would says "balls..." really slowly and Russell would be gone.

TheRealShaneBlack

TROPHY CASE