Independence Day: Resurgence screenwriter James Vanderbilt has revealed he was a tad star struck when he was approached to work on the sequel to the 1996 sci-fi classic: "I was called in by [Independence Day creators] Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin to rewrite their draft, which was pretty scary. It's such a classic. I went to see that movie three times in a row in the cinema, so to go from that to being in a room with the guys who created it was quite an experience, but they're two of the nicest people I've met in the business."
Vanderbilt was at the Dubai International Film Festival to walk the red carpet for the regional premiere of his directorial debut Truth, the Robert Redford-starring true story of the CBS News team who were sacked following revelations about George W Bush's military record, though Vanderbilt says he never planned to become a director.
Vanderbilt has previously been best known as a screenwriter, with hits such as Zodiac and The Amazing Spider-Man in his portfolio, and he says he never planned on becoming a director: "I'm just happy they let me back in the building after they saw the film. I never intended to be a director, always a screenwriter, but working around other directors made me wonder if I could do it.
“As I writer or producer the one thing you don’t get is that time with the actors and I really wanted to try that and see if I could do it. I don’t want to say it was an experiment because I spent a lot of other people’s money on an experiment, but I really wanted to try.”
Vanderbilt admits that he used all his Hollywood contacts to rise to the challenge before him: “I promised I’d keep the names private, but I literally took directors I’d worked with before out to lunch and said ‘you have two hours to teach me how to direct a film.’ It was incredibly helpful and practical. Just really simple stuff like always get on set half an hour before crew call because something will always be wrong. I figured if I was going to suck at this, I want to suck naturally, not because I’m badly prepared.”
Vanderbilt adds that his time as a writer has helped him in his latest directorial role: “I’m so happy I did this now rather than at the beginning of my career because I can’t imagine doing this without having spent a lot of time on set watching other people. It’d be like you’re sitting in seat 37A and they say ‘Sir would you like to land the plane?’ When you direct your first film you are the least experienced person on that set, and somehow you’re in charge. It’s crazy.”
The film, like the story it tells, has attracted mixed reactions from supporters and opponents of Bush, and Vanderbilt clearly hopes it will continue to provoke debate: “We seem to have lost that desire to debate stories,” he says.
“You’d think in a 24-hour news age we would have time to debate and investigate stories, but we don’t, it’s just the same five-second stories over and over again. I’ve loved watching people coming out of screenings arguing about whether they should have been fired or not. I love movies that inspire passion.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae