MONEY INTO LIGHT: BEN TREBILCOOK TALKS TO PAUL ...

Ben Trebilcook is a London-born screenwriter and producer who got very close to having his scripts turned into the third and fourth respective installments of the DIE HARD and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchises. He has a repertoire of many as yet unproduced screenplays ranging from Westerns and detective comedies to hard-core action and spy thrillers, and with production partner James Michaels (a former exec at Twentieth Century Fox) at Wonder Pug Films, is currently producing the martial-arts thriller KNOCKOUT starring Tom Sizemore. Ben is also preparing a big budget spy picture, seeking new representation and trying to get his first novel published. He is the Head Judge at The Rob Knox Film Festival (Rob was an actor in the Harry Potter series who was tragically murdered in 2008 and the festival is held in his memory, promoting and encouraging new film talent). Trebilcook often counsels young offenders and disaffected teens in South London. I talked to Ben about his experiences trying to get two separate scripts filmed as the third MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film.

How did you get involved with writing a script for the third MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film?
I had a spec screenplay entitled ?Breakneck?. I wrote it with John Cusack in mind. A CIA agent was tracking down somebody blowing up the Wonders of the World. C/W really liked this idea. I was originally asked if I could fit Tom Cruise?s character from M:I into the script, which I did speedily. I loved the first MISSION: IMPOSIBLE (1996). The team was awesome and I set my script as a prequel to the first, just because I could bring back Emilio Estevez, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Jon Voight!When did all of this happen? Did you spend a long time on the project?
This came around 2000/2001. First through a production executive on M: I -2 (2000) and then staff at Cruise/Wagner Productions. It was incredibly surreal. I received a message on the answer phone from C/W saying they?d been in touch with my agent. I?ve kept that message for over ten years! In the end, things just faded. It was extremely quick with them. It was a pleasant enough time. Other projects took over in my life. It wasn?t constant, day in day out with MISSION or DIE HARD, I had so many other scripts.

How much of a fan of the movie series were you?
I liked them all, even John Woo?s M:I-2! People slate that one, but I don?t think they get it. If you know John Woo movies, then you?ll understand it more. Doves, slow motion, two-handed gunplay, Catholicism, two guys and a girl. It?s John Woo! The fourth, GHOST PROTOCOL (2011), I really liked too.

Was your time on the project an enjoyable experience?
It was a dreamtime, very, very surreal. I did a couple of versions. I tend to think of something halfway through that would be pretty cool and thus I would scroll back to previous pages and insert, change or tweak. I tend to edit as I go along. I have a strange process. My brain tends to function like a mind-map. It spirals off, but does join up and is very contained. I have a notebook filled with random one-liners or oddball dialogue, as well as crazy action scenes and set pieces. I often refer to it and think, hmm, this could be inserted here and I drop it in. It might mess up something a character previously said or did, so I go back and alter it. I?m not saying my first draft is my last draft. I always keep a first draft. I?d say my second draft is the one that continuously evolves.

What kind of directors were interested in your script?
I heard Ang Lee was interested in my script, but he left to do HULK (2003). I was told Oliver Stone and David Fincher were interested too, too and of course, how could I not mention Joe Carnahan in all of this? He spent 15 months on this movie and at the expense of Paramount?s card! He?s an excellent writer, too. I think Joe?s take would have been very real and in your face. A true spy movie.He was dealing with them, Darabont, Ang, me and so many others. I liken a film to a Government and all these different departments, reeling in what they can to make for a better end product.

A great deal of things were occurring simultaneously. On a parallel. Missy and Gaye at Cruise/Wagner were in close contact with me for a bit, though they no doubt were with everyone associated to that project at the time.

Why didn't your script get used for the final film?
My first draft, based on ?Breakneck?, the?Wonders of the World? themed screenplay, had a scene in the script where a plane crashed into the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The world witnessed it on their TV screens. As the world mourned and nations prepared for immediate action, war, Ethan Hunt discovered the attack was smoke and mirrors and was actually carried out by rogue agents with missiles and CGI effects, with the news networks in on it and running certain imagery simultaneously. This script was sent in early 2001. A few months later, people watched a similar set of scenes play out for real with 9/11 and the Twin Towers. I was stunned. I still am. It?s not the first time art has mirrored life or vice versa and it sure won?t be the last.

Action movies were put on hold after that. Certainly MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and the blowing up of Wonders of the World! What was deemed entertainment was now deemed offensive.

A lot of things were going wrong at the time. I was young and out of my depth and it wasn?t just me, my agent was, too. He didn?t pack the punch I needed. He was nice enough, but.. I don?t know. Things happened. I was poorly treated during that time. I was mostly in London, my agent in California. There were so many statements being banded around and odd things being said to me over the phone, confusing the heck out of me, and him! "Your agent isn?t a Guild Signatory." "We?re not taking this any further. Frank Darabont is going to clean up a few drafts for us, so good luck." "You were majorly screwed out of that deal." said a producer at a party I attended to in LA around the same time. "Everybody gets fired." he said. I was bemused. I had no idea what happened or what was going on. I received a fax saying it?s not going to continue, something like that.

Did you give up on the film after your idea was shelved?
No, I had another draft, which I did off my own back. As sad as I was that New York, favourite city, had been attacked, I didn?t want any movies to be shelved or demonised. Movies are fantasy and escapism. I know the Bush Administration at the time asked a bunch of action writers to form a committee to discuss possible terrorist ideas and threats for movies that could potentially be done in real life. I was considered, too, here in the UK, but a committee of one action screenwriter seemed pointless, so the Blair camp didn?t take me up in the end.

So, I penned this new draft that had Ethan Hunt involved in organ smuggling and the private military in Africa. Some great scenes in Africa, like a speedboat chase up the Zambezi river.

Can you tell me more about this second script?
As with most franchises, there's always more than one story and idea being generated by a vast number of people, who are on many different levels. I was certainly on the bottom rung of the ladder regarding MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, and don't think I registered on anyone radar. I'm not lessening myself or my writing ability in any way, I just don't believe that my name flagged up on the 'top list' of screenplays they had at C/W at the time. I know they had more than one (more than my screenplay) which featured the destruction of wonders of the world and without a doubt there were more stories being worked which centered around organ smuggling. I was never in any kind of 'in the loop' regarding knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes. I'd be fed off-the-record information every now and then on who's getting in on the action and talking about it, but would rarely learn who was definitely penning what kind of story. Definitely not at the time anyway. I'd discover a fair bit much later and way past my involvement.

With that said, like 'Die Hard 4', I wrote two very different stories for M:I-3. The 'wonders of the world' one and an 'organ smuggling' one. There are always similar ideas knocking around. My one was very, very dark and was, once again, an original script of mine, which I tore apart and simply said 'I have another idea, if you're interested!' I wanted to grasp onto anything I could in order to keep a hold on being associated to the series and of course, Tom Cruise! Who wouldn't? This is nearing over ten years agoThe original 'organ' script I wrote was entitled 'Radical Extremes'. In an extremely bizarre turn of events, this tidbit, too, is linked to Joe Carnahan. I had learned that a comic book company called Top Cow had acquired the feature film rights for 'The A-Team' and so I wrote to them and Stephen J Cannell, who created the fantastic show, to ask if they had a writer for the movie. Stephen was a hero of mine, without a doubt. Anyway, they hadn't locked in a writer and I was speaking regularly to a head honcho at Top Cow, submitting ideas and outlines and cast suggestions for THE A-TEAM. It was one of my favorite shows of the '80s, and I longed to be part of it. There were a few scripts knocking around, but none suitable enough for the movie. I provided a sample script to show my writing, which was 'Radical Extremes'. It was about a female FBI agent who was pursuing a serial killer, bumping people off for their organs and using extreme sports as means of escape. The agent had to train in extreme sports in order to catch the killer. It was originally written for Sharon Stone. The guy at Top Cow liked it and wanted it as a side-line project of his own, so the A-TEAM stuff was pretty much laid to rest. They'd got Kevin Brodbin, who penned Seagal's THE GLIMMER MAN (1996) to do an A-TEAM draft, too. Funny, one producer said "Radical Extremes? Sounds like a Muslim movie." As much as I tried to explain it was extreme sports and 'yeah radical dude' and that it was POINT BREAK (1991) meets SEVEN (1995), they weren't having any of it, so the script split. The Federal Agent became a man who did extreme sports instead of a woman, which defeated the object of what I was setting out to achieve. A female action movie. I took what I had left, the character of a female spy, which is another big spy project of mine with a working title of 'Vauxhall Crossed', and a story about organ smuggling, that was incredibly dark in tone.

I?wrote this draft very fast and placed Cruise's Ethan Hunt into new and extremely unfamiliar and unsettling territory. I had hardcore, private militia in Africa and speedboat chases along the Zambezi River as well as of course the removal of human organs! I have no idea whether anyone like Fincher or his caliber read it. Like I said, a franchise as big as this, it's without a doubt several plots and a gazillion different writers worked on them at the same time and different times.

I had my agent send it over to my contact at C/W. Where that script ended up I don?t know. This was all during a time that was no doubt extremely stressful for Tom. He had of course divorced Nicole Kidman, was associated with a few fantastic looking female talents, endured a PR meltdown, difficulties with Carnahan's M:I-3 and then along came Katie! I think fresh eyes, going after the 'rabbit's foot' and a trustworthy-with-the-spy-genre like JJ was, in hindsight, a good move.

I do occasionally think back to that time and play out a different ending in my mind to how it panned out for me. I had no interraction with them, but I would have loved any of those talents, Ang Lee, Oliver Stone, David Fincher, to have taken hold of my whole script and have brought it to life. Even to have HELD my script. They're amazing directors.

Any interesting anecdotes from the whole experience?
There were some good parties and events. I was at a party in LA. A big producer introduced me, very loudly, to a few people. ''Benji writes action scripts. Benji done an early draft of one of the spy movies. The Mission movies. Benji done one of those, yeah.'' He started to cough as he laughed when introducing me all night. ''This is Benji done, Benji done.'' He said. There has been talk that Simon Pegg?s character, Benji Dunn, from M:I -III (2006) was named after me. He probably wasn?t, but that?d be brilliant if it was true.

What did you think of the final M: I- III?
I loved it. J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman did a great job. I like the fact Hunt got married and I love the bridge scene! Philip Seymour Hoffman was a brilliant bad guy, too. Every MISSION movie is different. I think that?s what Tom wants. The first was De Palma?s MISSION, the second was John Woo?s MISSION movie. They match the director and I like that. Who knows what the fifth will be like? Maybe Tom should do it. He?s worked with the best directors on the planet.

Ben was interviewed by email during August and September 2012. I would like to thank him for his time and the use of his memory!

My

interview with Ben on writing scripts for the fourth DIE HARD film.

Paul Rowlands is a Japan-based writer. After completing a BA Humanities course (majoring in English and Science) at the University of Chester, he moved to Japan in 1999. He writes for the James Bond magazine, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, has had articles published on Press Play and other sites, and has had an almost lifelong obsession with cinema, something the advent of DVD only increased.

Source: http://www.money-into-light.com/2012/09/ben-trebilcook-talks-to-paul-rowlands.html

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