Teaching—and Learning

For the past five years, I’ve taught a course at USC in the Cinema-Television Department.  It has a terrible title—Theatrical Film Symposium—but that’s not my fault.  The course was founded more than forty years ago by the late critic and author Arthur Knight, who taught it for twenty-five years before retiring and passing the baton to longtime Los Angeles Times critic Charles Champlin.  Around campus it’s simply known by its course number, 466. Scores of people who now work in the movie industry have taken this class, including George Lucas.

I am the current custodian of this now-famous weekly session, which convenes in Norris Hall and attracts 360 students from all areas of the university, not just the film department.  Every Thursday we screen a movie that’s about to be released, and have a q&a

Billy Bob Thornton came to class with Monster's Ball and wouldn't leave until he'd spent a moment with every student who wanted to meet him.

We’ve had great evenings with Annette Bening, David Lynch, composer Hans Zimmer, Edward Norton, Robert Benton, Alfre Woodard, Curtis Hanson,  cinematographer John Bailey, Pixar’s John Lasseter, Billy Bob Thornton, John Frankenheimer, Guillermo del Toro, Alexander Payne, Steven Zaillian, Lynn Redgrave, and Bryan Singer, to drop just a few names.  Most of them are genuinely interested in meeting students, and even stay afterwards to shake hands and answer questions. 

Last semester, Ray Liotta enjoyed playing to the crowd while discussing his movie Narc, but also offered valuable, plain-talking advice about surviving as an actor.  The night we screened Adaptation we were lucky enough to have director Spike Jonze, writer Charlie Kaufman, and the film’s star Nicolas Cage.

Every night, I begin the class by asking the students what they thought of our most recent film, and encourage them to articulate their feelings.  One of the first things they learn is that their opinion may not coincide with the people around them—and that everyone is entitled to an honest opinion.  Another is that movies are made by people, not by machines, and every film is the result of collaboration and compromise.

Our first sessions this year have emphasized something else, however:  the most important ingredient for a really good film is passion.

Latest case in point: Daredevil.  I’m not the biggest fan of comic-book movies, but I really like this one, and now that I’ve met the man who wrote and directed it, I’m all the more impressed. 

Mark Steven Johnson has written a number of comedies over the past decade, including Grumpy Old Men and its sequel.  He made his directing debut with the sentimental but

Mark Steven Johnson at work on Daredevil

heartfelt Simon Birch.  Nothing in his resume would indicate that he was the right guy to make a movie about a Marvel Comics character named Daredevil.

But this was his all-consuming dream, having grown up reading the comic, and he spent the last six years making that dream come true, with the help of his producing partner Gary Foster and the folks at Marvel Entertainment.  Foster and Marvel’s Kevin Feighe (both USC Cinema grads, by the way) joined Johnson for a lively and candid session in my class.

 Johnson was so determined to make this film, and bring his ideas to life, that he apparently impressed everyone he met along the way.  And, says Foster, “He never gave anyone the chance to say no.”  When he finally got a green light to write the script, he spent $7,000 of his own money to hire a talented artist to make conceptual drawings and storyboards, so when he turned in the screenplay he could also show the studio how he planned to realize his ideas on film.

When it proved difficult to get to Ben Affleck, Johnson introduced himself to filmmaker and “fellow comic book geek” Kevin Smith.  Smith had written the Daredevil comic for a while, and Affleck had written a foreword, declaring his fondness for the character.  Smith paved the way for Johnson to meet the actor, whose schedule was supposedly too full to enable him to play the leading role.  But he agreed to meet Johnson to discuss the possibility of playing Bullseye, a supporting character that wouldn’t require as much of his time.  After a few minutes, the two hit it off, Johnson pulled out his drawings, spilled his ideas, and Affleck became determined to adjust his schedule to he could play Daredevil himself.

It’s difficult not to be impressed by that kind of determination, and I think it shows in the finished product.  Our first class of the new semester featured the extraordinary Brazilian film City of God, and its writer-director Fernando Mereilles, impressed us all with

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the way he spent four years of his life preparing to make this film.  He spent two years working on a script, and during that time he made a low-budget feature as a kind of proving ground for his ideas.  He hired key collaborators who knew the area where he wanted to film, and worked with local kids on acting lessons, to bring them up to speed.  An award-winning director of TV commercials, Mereilles used all his savvy to create the best film he possibly could. 

Of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but when a filmmaker conquers all the many obstacles on that road and emerges with a really good film, one can only applaud.    

I can’t speak for the kids in my class, but I love hearing filmmakers speak about their experiences, even if the movie in question isn’t great.  That’s one of the reasons I love teaching this class.  It broadens my knowledge, and keeps me on my toes.  I feel lucky to have this opportunity.