By TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press
For one Westside writer, the production of his new film, “Henry Poole Is Here,” is nothing short of a miracle. In fact, Albert Torres is still pinching himself during our interview. Five years ago Torres was at a point where he had given up trying to be a professional screenwriter. He spent two years working his day job — marketing for the House of Blues — and admits, “I had sunk into a dark phase of my life … part of it was due to the fact that I wasn’t writing.”
Motivated solely by creativity, Torres wrote “Stain,” [the original title of “Poole”] the story of a desperate guy, in a desperate situation trying to find hope. Prior to “Stain” Torres claims he was, “Trying to create spectacles that I thought would be well received and easy to sell.” His goal, however, with “Poole” was to write a movie he really wanted to see.
We’ve all heard the cliché “write from your heart,” but in Torres’ case remaining true to his spirit is exactly what propelled his career. “Stain” landed Torres an agent, who sent the project out, which led to meetings and opened industry doors.
By the time director Mark Pellington got on board with “Stain,” Torres was already finishing the sci-fi adaptation of “Altered Carbon” for Silver Pictures. “Carbon” is still in “development.” I ask Torres to comment on the number of films written versus those that actually get made. He reflects momentarily then answers, “It’s almost like a lottery.”
Torres is acutely aware that, “It is a blessing to work in the film industry … So many people,” he says, “want to be in this position.”
He is genuinely humble when he admits, “It is miraculous to be able to move along this business and succeed, but that said, you’re always, in the back of your mind, waiting for this party to end. At some point,” he says rather self-effac-ingly, “You think, something’s gonna go wrong and I’m gonna go flip some burgers somewhere.” Then adds, with a hint of gentle sarcasm, “And that thought keeps you on your toes.”
There’s a distinct and direct analogy between the themes in “Poole” to those of Torres’ career. Torres gave up on his life’s ambition much the way his protagonist gave up on his life. And like Henry Poole, Torres’ faith and resuscitated belief in himself and his path in life provides a happy ending. For Torres, success translates to having a great film under his belt.
On his process, Torres says he, “Reacts to themes. If you don’t know what you’re writing about the plot will be empty and you’ll feel there’s something missing.” For Torres, the human aspects of the story are most important. “You can say, ‘well [the story’s] about a guy, that’s on a train, and it’s a runaway train and he’s trying to stop it from going over a cliff’, but that’s just the action. Where is the humanity? What is it about his character that makes this different than watching or playing a video game?”
Torres is currently working the adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s “Survivor” for director (and friend), Francis Lawrence. I tell him, “Writer Clark Gregg said it took seven years to complete ‘Choke.’” Torres has been working on “Survivor” for five. “Hopefully”, I joke, “Not every day.” Torres quips, “Not even every month.”
Back before either Lawrence or Torres (who met at Loyola Marymount University film school) had “professional careers,” says Torres, “We had read this book and thought to ourselves, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great to make this into a movie?’”
Years later, Torres’ agent asked if he had any dream projects he wanted to work on. The first thing out of Torres’ mouth was, “Survivor.” He then told his agent he might be able to get Lawrence (who was filming “Constantine” at the time) on board. After talking with Lawrence, they met with producers who had access to financing and secured the rights to the book. Torres is proud of the adaptation and how it’s evolved.
Having a film produced and being on set for “Poole” has changed the way Torres writes. He’s learned that, “Visuals have a deeper impact than a whole page of dialogue … and to write in a more economical fashion … The first draft that you show anybody has to be a good read. Sometimes, it has to be overwritten.” In one instance on the set of “Poole” the crew spent two hours setting up a hallway shot, when Torres and Pellington looked at each other and had the same reaction, “Why are we shooting this?” Torres explains, “That was a scene that had always been in [the script], but at the end of the day we didn’t need it to make the story flow.” Torres is thrilled with the results of “Poole.”
Now Torres finds himself in the fortunate situation where he is offered writing assignments, nevertheless, he continues to use his heart as a job barometer asking himself “Would I go see this movie?” If the answer is, “no” or even “maybe” Torres thinks twice about accepting the assignment.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 30, 2008. Read the original PDF.