Favorite Hollywood Writer Stereotype?

Well...I hate people, and I live in pyjamas. Unkempt? No. But I am rather more fond of the people in my head than the ones in real life.

(Real life = them's the fleshpeoples outside my house, right)?

We all seem to need glasses.

And of course I am wearing mine right now.

I'm not sure if this is a stereotype, but the opening monologue to Adaptation made me laugh out loud because it reminded me of the endless yammering that goes on in my own brain. A snippet:

Do I have an original thought in my head, my bald head? Maybe if I were happier, my hair wouldn’t be falling out. Life is short; I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I’m a walking cliché. I really need to go to the doctor and have my leg checked. There's something wrong. Oh well. The dentist called again, I'm way overdue. If I stopped putting things off, I would be happier. All I do is sit on my fat ass, if my ass wasn’t fat, I would be happier. I wouldn’t have to wear these shirts with the tails out all the time; like that’s fooling anyone. Fat ass. I should start jogging again. Five miles a day; really do it this time. Maybe rock climbing; I need to turn my life around.

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http://www.whysanity.net/monos/adapt.html

I wear contacts most of the time but I guess I'd look more intelligent in specs.

I like the character of Alex [Luke Wilson] in Alex and Emma.

Well, it makes me laugh.

For the record, any resemblance between myself and Grady Tripp -- the profligate, unkempt, surly, dope-smoking, promiscuous writer character in Wonder Boys -- is entirely coincidental.

I like how they were brilliant playwrights in New York, but were tempted away to Hollywood Babylon by the promise of riches. Instead they end up in a seedy room with peeling wallpaper. John Goodman lives in the next room over, but he's actually the devil.

Joan Wilder and the fact that once she found love she could no longer write romances. At least that is what it was in the Jewel of the Nile.

gothicangel said:

I like the character of Alex [Luke Wilson] in Alex and Emma.

Well, it makes me laugh.

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I think it's the way that fiction merges with real life.

The ones I identify with are probably wearing scarves and drinking coffee. I forget exactly where I saw those, but they definitely fit me.

I don't think I've seen one that reflects my life.

I don't think there's much of a market for a character who works ten hour shifts six days a week, studying for a degree and squeezing in writing whenever she manages to stay awake.

Phaeal said:

I like how they were brilliant playwrights in New York, but were tempted away to Hollywood Babylon by the promise of riches. Instead they end up in a seedy room with peeling wallpaper. John Goodman lives in the next room over, but he's actually the devil.

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Yes, and then the dad from Clueless, Adrian Monkand Det. Crosetti telling you how bad is whatever you write, it happens to all.


I kinda identify to the lewd stereotype of living more inside my head and in my writing than outside.

... the only reference to one I can think of was from the movie Sunset Blvd c. 1950. I'm supposing the role (played by William Holden?) wasn't at all stereotypical. Really an intense character study! But perhaps there were some stereotypes in the depiction. A general instability of character, perhaps? Gosh forbid they should feature a writer in a movie who's stable and well-adjusted.

cllorentson said:

Do any of you have a favorite Hollywood Writer Stereotype that you secretly identify with?

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I usually identify with one or two elements of the writer stereotypes I come across in films, so much so that I carry it over into real life. Just for a little while. For fun.

Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane - Was so in love with that film, I went back to handwriting with a fountain pen and had to get a long antique cotton nightie.

Winona Ryder in Heathers - Inspired by her furious uninhibited scrawling in journal. Tried the same (without the monocle). It didn't last long. Being uninhibited I mean.

Johnny Depp in Secret Window - This is me during NaNoWriMo, as much as I can get away with. Hair on end, pjs, sleeping on the couch in the daytime and so on.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City - Don't they show her 'thinking' about writing more than actually writing? Except for one sentence per episode. Sounds familiar.

Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia - Classic tortured soul. Clutches head whilst trying to write to background of grizzling young children incarcerated in their pack 'n' play. Been there tried that, couldn't write.

...And my favourite, Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give. I really do laugh and cry and bounce around in my chair if the writing is going well. Wouldn't say no to the beach house in The Hamptons either.

I have to groan whenever one of these "tortured artist" characters opens the fridge and we see they subsist on Chinese food and alcohol. Hello? None of these geniuses figured out how to buy fruit at the corner store, which is way cheaper than delivery slop? It's like the detective who is always widowed, always butting heads with their agent oops, their boss no, no their sergeant, and always always drinking every waking minute. Give me a break.
The one that got it right was Adaptation. I love that. Barton Fink was what Phaeal the Pisces was referring to, more old school and interesting for the dark surrealism the Coen Brothers create but good anyway.
Personally, I wish it was more like Californication where the writer is a player who's constantly getting laid despite his crabby misanthropy. But that's pretty much bullshit. Just FYI.

Ken said:

Gosh forbid they should feature a writer in a movie who's stable and well-adjusted.

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I don't think anyone could suspend their disbelief that far.

I identify with a lot of the Hollywood writer stereotypes. I hate people, look strange (but not unkempt), have no social life . . . yeah, I'm a walking cliche. Except for the fact I keep spiders instead of cats. But they're big and fuzzy and hiss when they're mad, so it's not that different.

mario_c said:

Personally, I wish it was more like Californication where the writer is a player who's constantly getting laid despite his crabby misanthropy. But that's pretty much bullshit. Just FYI.

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Well...

Actually, I most identify with Hank Moody....

In related news, this thread has encouraged me to buy a bathrobe.


Or I can just keep walking around in my underwear.

Votes?

kuwisdelu said:

In related news, this thread has encouraged me to buy a bathrobe.


Or I can just keep walking around in my underwear.

Votes?

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Hmm. Perhaps you should make a poll, with pictures so we know exactly what we're voting for.

Bubastes said:

I'm not sure if this is a stereotype, but the opening monologue to Adaptation made me laugh out loud because it reminded me of the endless yammering that goes on in my own brain. A snippet:



http://www.whysanity.net/monos/adapt.html

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Hilarious and 100% true! Thanks for sharing.

Joan Wilder.

We're all apparently slightly crazy, a bit neurotic, have at least one nervous tick and a drink problem. We are apparently lacking in any sense of personal hygience and always have glasses that are slightly too big. We are tortured souls who can't bring ourselves to get out of our PJ's (seriously, wearing them all day is just disgusting) or brush our hair. When we are forced by necessity to go out in public we must always wear slightly too tight black turtle necks and dark glasses and pout alot while sulking moodily in a corner table at Starbucks and complaining, loudly, that the muse is absent.


Seriously, writers sterotypes make me feel well adjusted.