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The Kovak Box’s Writer Character: Timothy Hutton

Posted on November 24, 2011 Written by Pinar Tarhan

The Writer, His First Novel and The Worst Fan Ever

The Kovak Box starring Timothy Hutton, Lucía Jiménez & David Kelly
The Kovak Box starring Timothy Hutton, Lucía Jiménez & David Kelly. Image via movieposterdb.com

David Norton (played by Timothy Hutton) is an accomplished sci-fi writer with many bestselling books under his name. He travels with his girlfriend Jane to a writing conference in Majorca where is the headlining guest. Things are pretty good, so he even takes the chance to ask Jane to marry him. Jane says yes, and the only thing that seems weird is a fan who is obsessed with David’s first book, Gloomy Sunday.

Gloomy Sunday tells the story of people who have been implemented with a trigger in their necks: as soon as they hear the melody of the song Gloomy Sunday, they kill themselves. It triggers have been placed by the government, and it is the perfect elimination method as all deaths appear to be suicides. On the night of the conference, David’s non-depressed girlfriend jumps out of the balcony after she receives a phone call. The same thing happens to a woman named Silvia, who falls out of her balcony as soon as she hears the music of Gloomy Sunday.

Apparently, that obsessed fan is a former scientist named Frank Kovak (David Kelly) who actually did something quite similar back in his day: he experimented implementing triggers in humans. But of course his studies weren’t welcome by everyone, and he was no longer funded. Then David’s Gloomy Sunday came out, and he kept experimenting with humans- making the trigger Gloomy Sunday. Now, he wants David to write the story Frank has helped create- with only one difference. Of course this time, the deaths are genuine, and what the protagonist goes through is pure reality…

 

The Kovak Box starring Timothy Hutton, Lucía Jiménez & David Kelly
Our writer David (Timothy Hutton). Image via mbc.net

While The Kovak Box is an intriguing yet not impressive movie,  the story is really interesting. I’ve always been drawn to movies centering around writer characters, hence the total category on this blog dedicated to them.

Obviously, writer and deranged fan has been written before by Stephen King. Misery, anyone? But as opposed to taking an injured writer hostage, the fan in The Kovak Box makes the writer write the story he wants, and his first victim is the writer’s girlfriend

While the director and writers didn’t make the most of the potential, The Kovak Box is still recommended to Timothy Hutton fans and writers. It might while brainstorming fiction ideas. I’d not say no to a remake, with making the story tighter, darker and a bit scarier. What do you think?

Filed Under: Fictional Writers: Writer Characters in Movies, TV Series and Books Tagged With: movies with writer characters, the kovak box, the kovak box movie, timothy hutton, writer, writer characters, writer characters from movies, writers

Writing What You Know/Live: The Movie Daydream Nation, and its Writer Character

Posted on September 10, 2011 Written by Pinar Tarhan

The Movie

daydream-nation-movie-poster
Daydream Nation starring Kat Dennings, Reece Thompson, Josh Lucas & Andie MacDowell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daydream Nation is a drama from 2010. It is a little fun, a little depressing and a tad annoying. It is also heart-warming in a weird sorof way. While it is not a must-see movie in any way, it is also not a waste of time for those who like its actors (Kat Dennings, Josh Lucas, Reece Thompson, Andie MacDowell) or writers who, like me, enjoy seeing movies with writer characters. You can read more about the movie on my movie blog. But here, let’s get to our writer character:

 

The Writer Character

josh-lucas-daydream-nation
Josh Lucas as Barry. Photo from the movie Daydream Nation. Image via daemonstv.com

Barry Anderson (Josh Lucas) is the English teacher of a depressing industrial town’s high school.  There isn’t much excitement going on in his life, and it is hardly a surprise when he jumps at the opportunity to fool around with his new student Caroline (Kat Dennings). While any teacher sleeping with his under-aged student is sure to ring loser bells, you can hardly blame Barry. He lives in a town where everyone seems to be going through a drug addiction, some level of depression or both.

Barry is happy in this relationship, and informs Caroline that she has inspired his writing and he is working on his novel. He even has an agent.

 

The Writer’s Story

Then one day Caroline gets to read his book, and it is just too much like a memoir. Unfortunately, Barry’s past has been even more pathetic than his present, and Caroline doesn’t like how she is represented in his novel. She decides to break things off, but when you are your boyfriend’s only muse & hobby, it can get tricky to get rid of him.

 

The issue here is that Barry didn’t even attempt to add a slice of fiction to his characters. Along with Caroline, we learn that his return to town as a teacher was an obligatory move when he failed in the city, both professionally and romantically. We learn that this 30-something guy is not really all that wiser or more mature than his druggie students. We finally see how much of a loser he really is, and that he makes no effort to change things.

Writers always debate whether you should write what you know or not. It actually depends on one thing: You! I always believe in writing what you love, because writing something you don’t care about is bound to be a disaster. So it doesn’t matter if you know the subject, because you can always educate yourself along the way. You just need to be passionate about what you are writing.

But usually, what you know (or you come to know through research) works best when combined with the depths of your imagination.

Barry doesn’t have much of one, and “what he knows” isn’t what he loves. It is what he despises. You could argue that a memoir, how depressing it might be, can serve as a therapy for the writer, at the very least.  Unfortunately, Barry ends with 0 self-development, minus a girlfriend.

 

The Writer behind “The Writer”

All in all, as depressing and weird Daydream Nation is as a story, it is more entertaining and interesting than Barry’s “fiction”. I just hope that it wasn’t a memoir of the writer/director Michael Goldbach , as the movie also features a serial killer on the loose…

*

Me, The Writer

I once read that readers want sexy, engaging characters through journeys that entice them. And I agree. There was nothing enticing or engaging about Barry’s loser story.  If he detested living it himself, what are the odds of anyone enjoying it?

I am in the midst of writing a novel that is a mixture of what I know. And I’ll confess that there is a part of me in some characters. But what happens to my characters in the novel didn’t happen to me. And for me, that is the exciting part!

You, The Writer

How about you? What do you think about writing what you know/live? How do you feel about writing stories based (solely) on your experiences? Please let me know in the comments!

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Filed Under: Fictional Writers: Writer Characters in Movies, TV Series and Books Tagged With: daydream nation, daydream nation movie, fictional writers, josh lucas, kat denning, movies about writers, movies with writer characters, writing, writing what you know

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