Screenwriter Interview: Chris Sparling, Writer of ”Buried”

The thriller Buried comes out this Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. It features Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal) as a contractor in Iraq that wakes up in a coffin with a cell phone, a lighter, and 90 minutes of air. The script, a tight, contained thriller, was one of the most highly regarded in its genre these past few years. I am very excited to share an interview with its screenwriter, Chris Sparling.

GLA: Without giving away too much, tell the audience a bit of what Buried is about.

CS: Ryan Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a civilian truck driver working in Iraq who is taken hostage, buried alive, and forced to coordinate his own ransom. The entire 94 minutes of the film takes place within the confines of coffin-size box he's buried in.

GLA: A few years ago, Buried ended up on The Black List. [The Black List is a list chosen by Hollywood readers of the best scripts they’ve read all year that are making the rounds.] How were you notified you were on the list? Did this generate buzz and help a production company decide to move forward with the deal? Or was there some major buzz even before you made the list?

CS: It was actually last year that the script was selected for The Black List, which was quite an honor. The funny thing was, by the time the list was published, the film was already shot. Still, a lot of executives learned about the script for the first time after seeing it on the black list, and it certainly helped generate some additional buzz, in addition to landing me some really great meetings.

GLA: Where did you come up with the idea for Buried? Did it evolve simply from your original desire to “make an inexpensive movie”? Or were you struck by a news story about Iraq? Something else?

CS: Buried was born out of financial necessity, really. My intent was to make a feature film to direct, produce, and self-finance, so that made it paramount that my locations, props, and actors were kept to an absolute minimum. In other words, it had to be on the cheap. After I settled on the concept (of a man buried alive, talking to the outside world through a cell phone), I then had to come up with a compelling enough reason for why he'd be buried in the first place. I didn't want to go the horror film route, so I started searching for what would be an engaging premise for a dramatic thriller. In the course of doing so, I learned how frequently civilian contractors are being taken hostage in Iraq. Thankfully, none of them have ever been buried alive, but they are often held in small rooms and in squalid conditions as their hostage-takers are attempting to get paid ransom. My goal was to write something that seemed socially relevant, and telling the story of these contractors—a story that is seldom told in the mainstream media answered that call.

GLA: What was the first scene of Buried that you wrote out, and did it make the final cut?

CS: It was a vastly different screenplay than any I'd ever written before (or since). Because there aren't any cutaways, flashbacks, or anything other than seeing Paul Conroy for the duration of the film, the story had to play out almost in real time and in a very linear fashion. Because of this, the first "scene" I wrote was the first scene in the movie—and then that "scene" stretched out for about 20 pages. Again, this is because the story takes place in close to real time. And, yes, this scene did make it into the final film. I was very fortunate in that 99.9% of what I wrote ended up on screen.

GLA: Buried is a claustrophobic thriller. Your other spec script that’s gained some popularity is called ATM, which is about, I believe, people trapped in an ATM booth/enclosure who can’t easily leave. Now you’re working with M. Night Shyamalan on writing a script that’s connected in some way to the recent movie Devil, which incidentally enough, is a claustrophobic thriller. In Hollywood, it’s important to have a niche—like “the guy who writes raunchy comedies really well.” You seem to have carved out a niche as a high-concept, low-budget thriller writer.

CS: ATM is another contained thriller, and Reincarnate—the project I wrote for M. Night—is also on the contained side. Having this niche has helped me quite a bit career-wise, especially because these particular projects—including Buried—are affordable to make.

Screenwriter
Chris Sparling

GLA: Are you getting offered rewriting assignments all over the place for thrillers just like these? If so, what makes you say yes vs. no to any one project?

CS: I am extremely fortunate right now in that many producers and studios are interested in working with me, and not just on such contained ideas. It's truly both an honor and a privilege to be speaking with some of the people and companies that have made the films I grew up loving. As for what I say no or yes to, it really depends on the material and the people involved. Plus, I have a really great team of representatives who know this business extremely well, and they are always actively involved in these types of decisions.

GLA: This M. Night movie—Reincarnate—is it in a similar vein as these other projects? A contained thriller?

CS: For the most part, the movie takes place in a jury room as a group of jurors deliberate a case involving the supernatural. It's actually more of a drama than what would typically be considered a thriller, but it certainly has some thriller moments.

GLA: What draws you to this type of writing style? You obviously do it very well. Have these “tight, tense” thriller stories always fascinated you?

CS: I think the narrative and technical challenges involved with writing contained thrillers forces a writer and/or director to find creative solutions, rather than always relying on special F/X or large-scale set pieces. Coming from the indie film world, I appreciate this problem-solving approach to filmmaking.

GLA: Who were you more nervous to meet? Ryan Reynolds or M. Night? Any interesting anecdotes about hanging out with them?

CS: I think the only reason I was nervous about meeting Ryan was that, by the time I had flown over to Barcelona for the shoot, he had already been in that damn box for about ten days straight. I wasn't sure if he was going to shake my hand or take a swing at me for putting him in it! Thankfully, he was more than happy to be a part of the project, and I didn't have to throw down with the Green Lantern. As for M. Night, I was somewhat nervous about meeting him at first because I was such a huge fan of his work. Quite honestly, I learned how to write thrillers—to build tension, to draw in an audience, etc.—by watching his films. But, like Ryan, he turned out to be such a warm, kind, and genuine human being, which immediately put me at ease. We still talk on the phone every once and a while, and my wife and I were recently invited to his house to attend his 40th birthday party.

Ryan Reynolds in Buried

GLA: On a similar note, it seems like anyone who makes it in Hollywood on any level has a moment, where when talking with Jack Nicholson at a party or something, thinks to themselves “I can’t believe this is really happening.” Did you have such a moment?

CS: Buried had its official red carpet premiere at the Toronto Film Festival two weeks ago. You see that type of thing on TV all the time, but to actually be the person walking on the red carpet was utterly surreal.

GLA: I see you were involved with writing and directing some smaller, under-the-radar films before Buried. It seems to me like every story is different in terms of how a writer breaks out and how they secure an agent/manager who takes them to the next level. How did you make this jump?

CS: I wrote, produced, directed and starred in a pretty horrible, no-budget feature film that served its purpose—and that was to get the attention of some Hollywood reps. From there, I fostered those relationships for many years, sending them scripts and short films that I continued to write and direct. Ultimately, it was sending the person who is now my manager the screenplay for Buried that started my career going. Days after he read the script, he signed me. A week or two after that, we started talking to agents with whom he had working relationships, and we ultimately decided that United Talent Agency was the right fit. After that, he connected me with a great entertainment attorney, and we've all been working together since. It truly took years of trying to get representation before I finally did, and it was Buried that finally opened that door—and so many others—for me.

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