Bobby Farrelly (writer/director: There’s Something About Mary, director: Kingpin, Fever Pitch):
“All of our characters are underdogs. They’re underdogs to the world, and that’s sort of the nature of comedy in that you have to have flaws, and you have to be kind of swimming upstream. Otherwise, it’s just, things are too easy for you, and, and again, it’s a relateability. The audience can relate to someone, they’re willing to laugh at it, too, and it’s all about flaws. So, for us, it was natural that our stories, whether they’re sports or not, would feature underdogs. I think all screenwriters are underdogs in a way. There’s so many people trying their luck, and they’re making less and less movies. So the odds are stacked against you, maybe at home your parents or someone else will say, “What are you doing?” It’s such a longshot, you know, but that’s what makes a great movie, it’s a long shot, right. And you’re doing it because
there must be something inside your head saying, “I want to do this, this is what I want to do,” so you keep doing it, and hopefully, one day you’ll be Rocky instead of Rocky Balboa at the beginning. You’ll be a champion, but just keep doing it. Just keep going, you are an underdog, or most screenwriters are. Just keep, keep fighting.”
Aaron Covington (co-writer, Creed)
“Creed was more telling a new story about self-identity and, of a father-son relationship. So, in terms of Adonis, it was more, just making things difficult for him, it’s an underdog in a sense that he was entering a new world. So, I mean, that goes back to, Campbell, and just making the world tough for him, and entering the new abyss. People want to see giants fall and the little guy rise. So, that’s always in the back of your mind, coming up with a story.”
Angelo Pizzo (writer, Hoosiers, Rudy)
“We want to create a sense of satisfaction, that they have connected to the characters, that we’ve developed a strong rooting interest for our characters, and that there is a payoff, there is an emotional payoff at the end. And so, where it’s tough is when is it too much, when is it too little? Oftentimes that happens with the score, and where everybody draws the line between what is sentimental, what is sentiment and sentimentality, is different. So no one place, no one line is gonna please everybody. You could be too restrained, or you can go too far. But those are judgment calls you make all along the way, while you’re making the film, and then in post-production as well.”
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