Write On: 'The Toxic Avenger' Writer/Director Macon Blair

Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

Content provided by Yan Vinterfeld and Final Draft. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Yan Vinterfeld and Final Draft or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

2M ago 40:59

MP3•Episode home

“The thing that started it all off was me saying [the character Toxie] should be a guy in a suit. In other words, let’s not do a computer-generated creature, let’s have a person in a suit and have that handmade, hand-stitched kind of quality to it where you can sort of see the seams a little bit and have that be part of the fun. I also said let’s have it be rated R. Hopefully y’all are not interested in a family-friendly PG-13 version of this movie, because that’s not what the fans of the original are going to want, so let’s keep it in the R-zone. And let’s make sure it stays very silly. That silliness is what was so appealing to me about the original, and I just wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to try and do something that was too self-serious,” says The Toxic Avenger writer/director Macon Blair about pitching Legendary Studios his version of how he would reimagine the classic black comedy splatter film for a modern audience while staying loyal to the fans of the 1984 version.

On today’s episode, we chat with writer/director/actor Macon Blair about his previous films like Blue Ruin and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, which won the Sundance Grand Jury award in 2017. His latest film is a reboot of The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage and Kevin Bacon, and is a whole lot of gory, gross-out fun. Blair talks about the need to dig into the over-the-top absurdity of the franchise while still making the modern version of the story feel authentic.

“I’m always looking for something that I can connect to on a personal level. I don’t mean autobiographical. I mean to be able to have that electrical current with what I’m typing out,” he says.

Blair tells us about his on-going journey to finding his voice as a writer and what it was like waiting two years to get distribution for The Toxic Avenger. He also explains why he skewers a famous screenwriting trope in the film that involves a cat named Mr. Treats who was apparently quite the menace.

To hear more insight, listen to the podcast.

146 episodes

#Tech #Filmmaking #Television #Writing #Cinema #Yan Vinterfeld #Final Draft #Screenwriting #Storytelling #Books and Writing