"Name’s Charly, by the way. You’re gonna love me."

When New Line Cinema bought Shane Black’s spec script “The Long Kiss Goodnight” in 1994 for $4 million, it created a new record for the selling price of spec scripts for more than 10 years until 2005 when Terry Rossio’s and Bill Marsilii’s script “Déjà Vu” sold for $5 million. While Black walked away with a hefty paycheck, he had no idea that this sale and the subsequent underwhelming performance of the resulting movie would have a hand in the end of the halcyon days of spec script sales. The way that studios saw screenwriters changed. The way they approached projects changed. Some say the industry has changed for the better, some say for the worse. Whichever side you fall on the issue, Black found himself struggling to get work afterward. 

Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Shane Black series with Renny Harlin’s 1996 film “The Long Kiss Goodnight.” We talk about how much fun this movie is, particularly after our struggles with the last two in the series. We chat about Black and why the level of over-the-top fun in this script helps to elevate it in ways that didn’t quite work before. We chat about Harlin and what he brings to the table, not just here but in action and horror films through the late 80s and early 90s. We discuss Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Craig Bierko, Yvonne Zima, Brian Cox, David Morse and more, looking at how well they fit in this universe. And we look at how this film affected Black’s career, pushing him to step out of the industry for a decade. 

It’s a joyously ridiculous romp that’s nothing but fun and we have a great time talking about it on this week’s show. Definitely check out this movie then tune in to the show.

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  Trailers of the Week
• Andy's Trailer: The Magnificent Seven — "’The Seven Samurai’ is such a great story, it’s been retold many times in many different ways. And I really enjoy the ones I’ve seen. With Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming remake of a remake, I’m just banking on the story I love to carry it through. Okay, I generally like Fuqua, and his cast looks pretty solid. I’m just not sold yet by this trailer. Or ‘teaser,’ I should say. I guess I’ll have to wait for the ‘full trailer’ to get a better sense of it."
• Pete's Trailer: The Founder — "Outside of MBA circles, I’m not sure how many people give the mechanics of McDonald’s much thought. But unravelling the sordid history of much lauded Ray Croc and the real estate empire he built is a story worth telling, and Keaton looks terrific in the part. Like last week though, what really gets me in this trailer is the song: Barns Courtney’s Glitter & Gold."

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