Alan Trustman is the 79-year-old writer behind such classic films as Steve McQueen’s “Bullitt” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.” Here’s currently teaching a screenwriting seminar at Hunter College and on December 2, he’s giving a talk about his experiences in Hollywood at Lang Recital Hall, 695 Park Avenue. The event is free, but those attending must first RSVP by calling 212-650-3850.
I recently chatted with Trustman about his career, and he was ready with some entertaining — and honest — anecdotes. Here are a few highlights:
– Trustman was once the highest-paid scribe in Hollywood, earning more than $1 million for “Bullitt” back in 1968.
– He wrote that particular screenplay in a single day, starting at 4pm one Saturday afternoon and finishing before 1pm the following day.
– He eventually left Hollywood because he found himself changing. “Part of my problem was my own arrogance,” he says. “I was a celebrity, and they were paying me a fortune.”
– He knew the town had completely corrupted him when he stormed off a film set because he missed his dog. “It’s very, very seductive. It’s an amount of money and flattery that can destroy most people.”
– When he first met Sidney Poitier, who was set to star in Trustman’s “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” the actor said, “You know, when I walk down the sidewalk in New York, people turn and smile. And do you know why they smile?” Trustman asked why. “Because I radiate all that f—ing goodness. You make me radiate all that f—ing goodness, and I’ll make you a great movie.”
– When Trustman was 15 years old, he had a low-level job at a bank. He used to sit and wonder how someone would go about robbing it. He later used this knowledge to craft the heist scene in “The Thomas Crown Affair.” The scene was evidently so accurate that the bank where Trustman once worked refused to let the production film there for fear of a copycat crime.
– Trustman has always been critical of Hollywood executives. “The number of people in the industry who can read a script and picture the movie is very, very small,” he says. “I’ve not met more than ten of them in all my years.”
– While filming 1973’s “Lady Ice,” Trustman says Donald Sutherland would come to the set and do “anything he damn well pleased.” “They kept having to rewrite the script, because they’d lose what was happening because of Donald’s improvisations. There’s a lot of that that goes on in the movies.”
– Trustman thinks movies are worse today because producers generally employ a string of scribes to keep rewriting a script.
– When it comes to screenwriting, Trustman tells his students that the most important thing is to make your characters likeable. “If you can’t do that in the first ten pages, you’re wasting your time,” he says.
Check out Trustman’s December 2 appearance for more.
