14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent interview, Jessica Alba practically said that screenwriters are not essential in the movie industry since all good actors improvise at will. Critically acclaimed scribe John August is now fighting back in an open letter on his blog.
Though Mr. August refrains from being catty or excessively mean, he does point out to Alba where she’s wrong, by taking apart her statement / diss, word for word.
In the end, he proves, by saying that actors don’t need writers, Alba is putting herself in a very bad light because it either means she’s too stuck-up and thinks too highly of herself, or she hasn’t had the chance to work with the right people.
Out of respect for her work and for her as a person, Mr. August chooses to believe it’s the latter that made her say those things.
Of course, there’s also the chance that Alba was misquoted, even though the excerpt was from an interview with Elle Magazine.
“Good actors, never use the script unless it’s amazing writing. All the good actors I’ve worked with, they all say whatever they want to say,” Alba reported said.
“Oh, Jessica. Where to start? Scripts aren’t just the dialogue. Screenplays reflect the entire movie in written form, including those moments when you don’t speak,” Mr. August writes on his blog, as cited by Deadline.
“Do you know the real reason we hold table readings in pre-production? So the actors will read the entire script at least once,” he further says.
“Following your logic, you’ve never been in a movie with both good actors and amazing writing. That may be true, but it might hurt the feelings of David Wain, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller,” Mr. August explains.
“You’re saying your co-stars who delivered their lines as written are not ‘good actors.’ Awkward. You’re setting dangerous expectations. So if an aspiring actor wishes to be ‘good,’ she should say whatever she wants to say? That’s pretty terrible advice. Screenwriters can be your best friends. We are pushovers for attractive people who pay attention to us,” the same letter reads.
To prove that he’s not just picking on her for the things she said but also to show her where she’s wrong, the screenwriter ends his letter with a word of advice: for Alba’s next project, she should meet with the writer before starting to shoot.
This way, she’d be more than just a pretty face on camera who only very rarely has a good movie out. “I’m calling this out just so we can all hopefully learn something,” the screenwriter concludes his letter by saying.
John August is a critically acclaimed screenwriter, famous for his work with director Tim Burton – but also a good director himself.