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Sorkin discussed his career and most recent work with THR.
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00:03Good evening, everyone. My name is Scott Feinberg. I'm a columnist with The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles, and on
00:09behalf of the Savannah Film Festival, with which we are so proud to be associated, thank you for being here
00:15tonight.
00:16Tonight, the Savannah Film Festival offers not just the early look at the great new film, Molly's Game, that you've
00:21just enjoyed, but also an in-person conversation with the once-in-a-generation talent most responsible for it.
00:28If you approach your average Joe or Jane on the street and ask him to name, ask him or her
00:34to name someone who has written a movie, TV show, or theatrical production that they love, very few will be
00:40able to come up with any name at all, because writers of all sorts are just incredibly underappreciated.
00:47If they can come up with a name, though, there's a chance that it will be the name of our
00:51special guest tonight, who over the last 25 years has written A Few Good Men, Malice, The American President, Sports
00:59Night, The West Wing, Average Joe or Jane on the street, and ask him to name Molly's Game,
01:04which I defy anyone to come up with somebody who can match that, movie, TV show, or theatrical production that
01:11they love, with writing quality and style, his style of smart and fast-paced dialogue, and because writers of all
01:19sorts are just incredibly advised as a suffix.
01:23Tonight, though, we celebrate him not just for his superlative writing, they can come up with a name, though, there's
01:29a chance that it will be the name of him with the Savannah Film Festival's Outstanding Achievement and Directing Award.
01:33I could go on gushing about him all night, who over the last 25 years has written A Few Good
01:39Men, in the great honor of walking and talking him out onto the stage.
01:42Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the great Aaron Sorkin.
01:56Oh, Molly's Game, which I defy anyone to come up with somebody who can match that.
02:02Thank you for coming to Savannah.
02:07It's an honor and a pleasure.
02:09It's my first time here.
02:10Terrific.
02:11Well, I want to begin with a question that some of the students in the audience might be wondering.
02:15And that is, how did you get into writing in the first place?
02:19I know that that actually started later than some might assume.
02:23In fact, around the age that some of these students might be right now.
02:26Yeah.
02:27Provocative moral dilemmas.
02:29That his last name has even been turned into a verb, with eyes as a suffix.
02:35Tonight, though, we celebrate him not just for his superlative writing.
02:39One night, it was a Friday night.
02:42I was living, I was sharing.
02:47And then, when I was, and she was dating my best friend, you will soon discover that
03:00as a struggling artist, that's nothing.
03:05That's a small obstacle.
03:07So, for $250 a month, I got to sleep on her, I got to pull a fut...
03:12Great honor of walking and talking him out onto the...
03:15And for some reason, nothing that needed electricity was working in the apartment.
03:21The television wasn't working, the stereo wasn't working, the home computer hadn't been invented yet.
03:42It was probably raining outside, and the only thing I could find to entertain myself was...
03:50Thanks very much.
03:51That was very nice of you.
03:53Thank you for...
03:54Sure, before.
03:55But I stayed up all night writing, and I feel like that night has never ended.
04:01That's amazing.
04:02Now, the piece that you were writing that night, begin with a question that some of the students
04:08in the audience might be wondering, and that is, how did you get into writing?
04:12The thing that I started writing that night, actually, luckily for me, it was never produced.
04:18There were two producers who got into a legal battle over who had the right to produce it,
04:23but it...
04:24Around the age that some of these students might be right now.
04:27Yeah, in the middle of all of that, my older sister, Debbie, graduated from law school,
04:32signed up with the...wrote for pleasure for the first time.
04:37Until then, writing was a...
04:40Which nobody had back then, it was not yet the world's most famous prison.
04:45And she said that some guys down there had gotten into trouble because they came close
04:53to killing in real life a platoon made of theirs in the course of a ritual hazing that
05:02they were doing.
05:02And I said, God, the York to pursue that.
05:05And one night, it was a Friday night, I was living, I was sharing a tiny studio apartment
05:14with my ex-girlfriend.
05:15I don't mean that she's my ex-girlfriend now, she's my ex-girlfriend then, when I was...
05:23And she was dating my best friend.
05:27Anything that would help me pay that $250 a month rent, anything that would help me pay
05:33the phone bill, anything that would help me buy some food.
05:36So I bussed tables, I ripped tickets, I dressed up as a moose and handed out leaflets.
05:43And, but my small obstacle.
05:46So for $250 a month, I wrote Most of a Few Good Men on cocktail napkins during the first
05:52act of La Caja Folle.
05:55And sleep on the floor during the first act.
05:59You've served the audience during the walk-in, during that half hour before curtain.
06:03And, for some reason, nothing that was stuffed full of cocktail napkins.
06:09And by that point, my roommates and I had bought the television wasn't working, the stereo
06:14wasn't working, the home computer hadn't been invented yet, and the greatest tool in the
06:19world.
06:19But anyway, that's where I wrote A Few Good Men.
06:22Which initially was a big thing on Broadway, then as a movie, and your movie career exploded
06:30with, just in a period of like three or four years, A Few Good Men, Malice, the American
06:34President.
06:35Right.
06:36And what I just want to ask you is, we're only going to be able to gloss over a few
06:41of
06:41these big moments.
06:42And he didn't want to carry it around with him, so he asked me.
06:45Put the American President, and you thought, that's the end of my association with politics.
06:50I don't think TV was a, at that time it was not the cool place to be going, all of
06:55that.
06:55How do you then end up doing the West Wing?
06:58But very much by accident.
07:01I was, you're right, I hadn't thought about doing television.
07:04Not so much because it wasn't the cool place then that it is now, I just didn't know who
07:10has been invited to a party that you haven't been invited to anything about it.
07:13Much like I didn't know anything about movies.
07:16I understood plays, because I went to them all the time, and I'd studied theater in college,
07:21but didn't know anything about movies.
07:23I still feel like I'm kind of a carpetbagger in that world.
07:29But one day my agent asked me if I would have a meeting with a man named John Wells.
07:34John Wells is a big producer of, I think, what we would all consider quality television.
07:40He had China Beach at the time, ER, which I had never done before.
07:43Like I said, I had never even written for pleasure.
07:45Right before that lunch, I happened to have some friends over for dinner.
07:51And one of them, a writer and I, we went down to a little office that I kept in my
07:57basement
07:57at home to sneak a cigarette.
07:59And I had mentioned to him that I was having this meeting, I was having this lunch with
08:03John Wells.
08:04The piece that you were writing that night did not end up getting produced.
08:10The president, he said, you know what would make a good TV series, that.
08:13If, you know, if you didn't concentrate on the romance between the widowed president and
08:18the lobbyist, if instead you kind of concentrated on...
08:21In a different way.
08:22Yeah.
08:24The thing that I started writing that night, actually getting to know you lunch, he'd brought
08:30with him several executives from Warner Brothers.
08:33And there were two producers who got into a legal battle over who had the right to produce
08:38it.
08:39But it was a pretty crummy play.
08:41It was kind of...
08:44I said I want to do a show about senior staffers at the White House.
08:48In the middle of all of that, my older sister, Debbie, graduated from law school, signed up
08:54with the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, and said, and called me one day and said, you're
08:59never going to believe where I'm going on Monday.
09:02We have a base in Guantanamo.
09:04Over the course of that show's run, which was 1999 to 2006, I think you...
09:10Which nobody had back then.
09:12Television is one of the reasons why TV now is the, you know, an equally cool, if not
09:17more so, place to...
09:19And she said that some guys down there had gotten into trouble because they came close
09:27to killing those characters.
09:29And so, therefore, when you return to a movie...
09:34In the course of...
09:36Or...
09:37In the social network, I guess, was he your first anti-hero?
09:40Yes.
09:42These guys sound terrible.
09:44Hang them from the highest yard.
09:46Perspective, because, you know, it seems like maybe your natural inclination is to go...
09:53And I said, well, you know, in that case, give me all your notes.
09:58And I wrote a few good men.
10:00And you wrote a hero.
10:01But I found that when you're writing an anti-hero, I have to write that character as if they're
10:12making...
10:13Must have been a...
10:14You know, people might picture Aaron Sorkin sitting in a hotel...
10:18Will I with?
10:20So that I can defend those things.
10:22Very interesting.
10:23And...
10:23Now, is it...
10:25No.
10:25And all that...
10:26In fact, the way you wrote that, though, Jamali's Game, all these years after Social Network,
10:30seven years or so, was potentially gonna come with Social Network.
10:34I turned in the first draft of the Social Network, and the producer, Scott Rudin, and the head
10:40of the studio at the time, Sony, Amy Pascal, they felt that I would be a good director for
10:50this.
10:51I had a whole bunch of survival jobs.
10:55Anything that would help me pay that $250.
10:57You know what?
10:58Before I...
10:59Before we commit to this idea, let's just do one thing.
11:03Let's send a bill, anything that would help me buy some food.
11:07I've never been so happy to not get a job in my life, because...
11:12I dressed up as a moose and handed out leaflets.
11:17And...
11:17But my main survival job was working as a bartender at...
11:22And you come across...
11:24I guess if you can share, how did you first yourself come across...
11:28Just...
11:28I wrote Most of a Few Good Men on cocktail napkins during the first act of La Cage Folle.
11:35Where I was stationed at the downstairs bar at the Palace Theatre.
11:39You don't have anything to do...
11:40The book a lot.
11:41And I mostly liked the writing in the book, and that's why I wanted to meet Molly.
11:45During the walk-in, during that half hour before curtain, you're gonna serve them again
11:49at intermission.
11:50During the first act, you're on your own.
11:53So I would come home with my pockets stuffed full of cocktail napkins out to be in the book.
11:59She was much more than that.
12:02She...
12:03This new thing called a Macintosh.
12:07She finished the book.
12:08She hadn't been arrested yet by the FBI.
12:11Yeah, as Idris says, the thing did not have the computing power of...
12:16It was more than that.
12:17What I saw was a remarkable woman.
12:21A real-life movie heroine.
12:25And I knew that what other people were gonna see.
12:29Because people had been approaching Molly for a year or two.
12:33Because they had known about this poker game.
12:35They wanted to buy her life rights.
12:36When she wrote the book, they wanted to buy the book.
12:38And I knew that there was gonna be this strong gravitational pull toward all the shiny objects.
12:45Toward the...
12:46Just in a period of like three or four years.
12:48A few good...
12:49And at this point, it was just extremely vague and embryonic in my mind.
12:53So I was having a hard time describing it to her.
12:56I was having a hard time describing it to my agent, to anybody else who needed to hear it.
13:01But what I saw was a more emotional and personal story than the one I suspected other people were seeing
13:09when they saw this.
13:10And as you sat down to write the screenplay, were you thinking at that point that this might be the
13:18first one I'm gonna direct?
13:19Not at all.
13:19No.
13:23I wasn't thinking about that at all.
13:25It would have been a strange choice.
13:27You know, in the first...
13:28In the opening sequence of this movie.
13:30In the first eight minutes of the movie.
13:31There's more action than in everything else I've written combined.
13:37All of that.
13:38How do you then end up doing the West Wing?
13:40At a newsstand.
13:41Hops out.
13:42Buys a copy of Sports Illustrated.
13:44Gets back in his car.
13:45And drives away.
13:46And until Molly's game, that had been my big action sequence.
13:51Thought about doing television.
13:53Not so much because it wasn't the cool place then that it is now.
13:57I just didn't know Gordon, who I turned in the first draft.
14:00We met at a restaurant.
14:01We had a piece of paper with a list of about 20 directors in front of us.
14:06We went through each one, pros and cons.
14:08And when we got to the end, the two of them said,
14:10But we think you should direct it.
14:15And movies.
14:16I understood plays.
14:18Because I went to them.
14:19They kept coming back.
14:20And I spoke to directors I respect.
14:22Including Fincher.
14:24Writers who had become writer-directors.
14:27Who I respect.
14:27Who were very encouraging.
14:29But mostly, the reason I ended up saying yes.
14:33And the reason I'm glad I did.
14:35Was because of what I just.
14:37But one day my agent asked me if I would have a meeting with a man named John Welch.
14:43They were questioning in their heads when they heard about the Poker Princess and all these Hollywood big shots.
14:48Who were playing in the.
14:49Of I think what we would all consider quality television.
14:52He had China Beach at the time.
14:54ER.
14:55I want to come back to the opening sequence that you referenced.
14:58Because you have said in interviews that there is nothing more important when you're sitting down to write a script.
15:04Than coming up with a great opening scene or sequence.
15:07Before that lunch, I happened to have some friends over for dinner.
15:12And one of them, a writer and I, we went down.
15:16It's incredible.
15:17I think, you know, literally took people's breath away.
15:22And then you did it again with this one where it's, it just builds and builds and builds.
15:27And I just wonder if you can talk.
15:28To him that I was having this meeting.
15:29That's having this lunch with John Welch.
15:31And then also specifically this opening.
15:34Just how you decided to start there.
15:38William Goldman, who when I was in my early 20s, he took me under with John Wells.
15:44It's just to say hello.
15:46Also wrote Misery and The Princess Bride.
15:48And he's great.
15:49All around great.
15:50He says, President.
15:52He said, you know what would make a good TV series?
15:54That most important.
15:57I know what he's talking about.
15:59That in the first 15 pages, romance between the widowed president and the lobbyist.
16:05If instead he kind of concentrated on the senior staffers.
16:08And I said, again, I'm not going to be doing a television series.
16:11Anyway, the next day I walked into the restaurant to meet John Wells.
16:15And I saw that this was anything but a good thing.
16:19Or even as close to the end of something as possible.
16:21In the case of the social network.
16:24I had several executives from Warner Brothers.
16:27And creating face mash.
16:29That silly thing where you compare women to farm animals.
16:32And he was doing it out of revenge.
16:34Because he had just had a bad date with a woman.
16:38Clearly he'd just been rejected.
16:39And so I wanted to start there with that scene.
16:43That I could only imagine.
16:46In other words, start as close to him starting Facebook as possible.
16:50In the case of Molly's Game.
16:55There was, before I started writing, there was about six months.
16:58I didn't come here to pitch anything.
16:59I have no ideas.
17:02I said I want to do a show about anything.
17:06And one day we're talking about skiing.
17:09And she mentioned this thing.
17:12It's not in the book at all.
17:14Of this time.
17:17And he said, you got there.
17:20And it pre-released her ski.
17:22And she fell.
17:23And she literally blew off the course.
17:29After tripping on a stick.
17:31And I was the happiest guy in the world.
17:34Because that is a metaphor.
17:36Gotta go write a pilot script.
17:39Believe me.
17:39The last thing I was thinking was that this show was gonna get on the air.
17:43How qualified this woman is.
17:45This young woman is.
17:47Giving you her resume.
17:48Telling you that she has her life planned out.
17:52Okay.
17:52She's going to Harvard Law School with an Olympic.
17:55Great.
17:57So everything is gonna be great.
18:00She comes a hundred yards from being able to do all that.
18:03When she trips over a stick.
18:05Flies off course.
18:07And doesn't stop for twelve years.
18:11And so that was my opening.
18:16Getting in all the information that you were gonna need.
18:18And one.
18:19I liked it.
18:20And one of the things that I liked about it was.
18:22Television.
18:22It's one of the reasons why TV now is the.
18:24You know.
18:25An equally cool.
18:26If not more so.
18:27Place to.
18:28True.
18:29So.
18:29From the direct.
18:30Once you're on set.
18:31And now you're.
18:32Directing actors for the first time.
18:34Sort of.
18:35Establish the idea that.
18:37Aaron Sorkin is.
18:39An idealistic.
18:40Idealist.
18:41At heart.
18:43You know.
18:43These are people that you.
18:45You.
18:46The best.
18:47Yeah.
18:47Listen.
18:48I.
18:48You know.
18:48Pretty much every director.
18:50Not named Spielberg.
18:52Those characters.
18:53And.
18:54So.
18:54Therefore.
18:55When.
18:55You don't have as many days.
18:56As you need.
18:57So.
18:58We.
19:00We.
19:01And.
19:03Started.
19:04Looking at characters.
19:05Like.
19:06Mark Zuckerberg.
19:08In the social network.
19:09I guess.
19:10Was he your first anti-hero?
19:11Yes.
19:13Was that.
19:14Itself.
19:15Jarring.
19:16In any way.
19:16For you.
19:16To now.
19:17Have to write.
19:17From a slightly different.
19:19Perspective.
19:20Because.
19:20You know.
19:20It seems like.
19:22Maybe.
19:22Your natural inclination.
19:24Is to.
19:25Go.
19:25Ownership of the language.
19:26It should just be like.
19:27They're.
19:28Reciting.
19:29Their phone number.
19:30Well.
19:30Because of the schedule.
19:32We had.
19:32Zero days of rehearsal.
19:34For those scenes.
19:36So.
19:36Uh.
19:37Both because of the schedule.
19:38And because.
19:40Idris.
19:41When he's not making movies.
19:43Um.
19:44The version of the social network.
19:45That was in my.
19:46Sing.
19:47Um.
19:47He's loving life.
19:49Uh.
19:49And he was doing that.
19:51Right up until.
19:52His.
19:53And Mark Zuckerberg.
19:54Was my first anti.
19:55Uh.
19:56Skype.
19:56Email.
19:57Phone calls.
19:58We would talk through.
19:59Inch by inch.
20:00Every scene.
20:01So that by the time.
20:02We got there.
20:03Uh.
20:03To the set.
20:04All I had to do.
20:05Was stage it.
20:06Um.
20:06Uh.
20:07And run it through.
20:07A couple times.
20:08And they were ready.
20:08To do it.
20:09And any.
20:11Time.
20:11That there was.
20:12You know.
20:12Anytime.
20:13You have to.
20:13I have to write that character.
20:15As if they're making their case to God.
20:17Why they should be allowed into heaven.
20:19That.
20:20You.
20:20You.
20:21Can't judge the character.
20:22That I have to find things about.
20:24Uh.
20:25The character.
20:25That.
20:26Are like me.
20:27That I can identify.
20:28Had imagined.
20:29That.
20:30Molly would watch the movie by herself.
20:32In a private screening room.
20:33Which is what.
20:34Uh.
20:34Uh.
20:34I.
20:35I.
20:37Didn't.
20:38Think in a million years.
20:39That she would want us.
20:40Also the case.
20:41That there was.
20:43Some discuss.
20:43Called me.
20:43And she said that she really would.
20:45And so would her father.
20:46That they.
20:47Uh.
20:47The world premiere.
20:48Was the Toronto Film Festival.
20:49Molly's game.
20:50All these years.
20:50After social network.
20:52Seven.
20:52Um.
20:53Sit in a movie theater.
20:54With a.
20:55With an audience.
20:56And watch it for the first time.
20:57That way.
20:58Social network.
20:59I.
20:59I.
21:00Turned in the first draft.
21:01As at the end of the movie.
21:02She's not allowed to go to Canada.
21:04Um.
21:04Because she pled guilty.
21:06To a federal crime.
21:07So I retained a lawyer.
21:08In Toronto.
21:10An immigration lawyer.
21:11Who was able to get her.
21:13In there.
21:13For 48 hours.
21:15If she robbed a bank.
21:16I was on the hook.
21:19Felt that.
21:20I would be.
21:22Federal crimes in Canada.
21:26Their reaction.
21:27Molly's reaction.
21:28Her father's reaction.
21:30Her mother.
21:31Her brothers.
21:32Uh.
21:33Was.
21:34I thought that they were playing.
21:37Intricately.
21:38Emotional.
21:38About it.
21:41Jeremy.
21:41The youngest brother.
21:42Two time.
21:44But they weren't.
21:45But we decided.
21:46Uh.
21:46You know what.
21:47Before I.
21:48Before we commit to this idea.
21:50Let's just do one thing.
21:52Let's send.
21:52Uh.
21:53Honestly.
21:54I.
21:54I half expected.
21:56That her brothers.
21:57At least.
21:57If not her father.
21:58Would punch me in the face.
22:00After they saw the movie.
22:01It was.
22:02I mean.
22:02When you think about it.
22:03It was a pretty hellacious.
22:04Invasion of privacy.
22:05Uh.
22:06That I did.
22:06But it was just the opposite.
22:09To hear them tell it.
22:09It was a.
22:10In my life.
22:11Uh.
22:12Um.
22:13I love David.
22:15Uh.
22:15He did a magnificent.
22:16Uh.
22:17Every once in a while.
22:18If.
22:18If I.
22:19You know.
22:19You know.
22:19Cut together some dailies.
22:21Into a.
22:21Little rough scene.
22:22I think that is probably.
22:24The best version of that movie.
22:25Stain calling herself.
22:27Molly Bloom.
22:28And doing these things.
22:29That Molly did.
22:30And she's got these two brothers.
22:31And she.
22:32Uh.
22:33You know.
22:34You know.
22:35More recent.
22:37Period.
22:37And you.
22:39Come across.
22:40When the judge.
22:41Let her go.
22:42With.
22:43With probation.
22:44And a fine.
22:46And she said.
22:47Hearing an audience.
22:48Do that.
22:49Just kind of.
22:50Be happy.
22:50That I didn't have to go to prison.
22:52Uh.
22:52Was a very big deal to her.
22:54She.
22:55You know.
22:55What.
22:55What I have the.
22:56The commentator say at the end.
22:58She'll be back.
22:59Uh.
22:59Got in touch with me.
23:00And said.
23:01He.
23:01He was representing the book.
23:03And.
23:03And its author.
23:04Molly.
23:05Congratulations on the movie.
23:07What we are gonna do.
23:08Don't.
23:08Don't.
23:11As they say.
23:13Don't go anywhere.
23:13We are going to actually.
23:15Step off stage for.
23:17About.
23:18A couple of minutes.
23:19Because what we're gonna have is.
23:21A very special guest.
23:22Oliver Chen.
23:23A SCAD student.
23:24Who's a senior in the film and television.
23:25Department.
23:26Is going to.
23:28Show us.
23:28The book a lot.
23:29Uh.
23:30And I mostly like the writing in the book.
23:32And that's why I wanted to meet Molly.
23:34It was meeting Molly that changed everything.
23:37I've been talking about the writing I think.
23:37Okay.
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