Q&A with Shane Black

Ben Walters catches up with the writer/director of 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang'.

Nov 11 2005

After leaving UCLA and selling his screenplay for 'Lethal Weapon' at the age of 25, Shane Black became one of Hollywood's best-paid writers, going on to work on 'The Last Boy Scout', 'Last Action Hero' and 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' before fading from view. 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang', his directorial debut, stars Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer.

At one time or another both Robert Downey and Val Kilmer have been marked out as hard to work with. Was that a concern?

Downey did drugs, and now he does not. He knows that and, having worked with him, I know that. And Kilmer was always presented to me as potentially difficult, but on the set he was fun, he kept everybody laughing. He has this real arch, deadpan sense of humour – he’s hard to read sometimes because he's dry, but he’s funny. It was all about comebacks, in a way. People were quick to point out I hadn't worked for a while, Downey hadn't had a starring role – well, 'The Singing Detective', but that didn't exactly pack them in – and Kilmer hadn't done comedy in a while and had a reputation. So everyone came to this movie with a need to just stop entropy. We were all sliding towards what could have been the place of no return and instead we took hold and said: 'Let's reverse it so that we're back on a roll again' – which in a way is a reflection of the content of the film itself.

How did you adjust to directing?

You can't become a recluse and stay in a room and be intellectual – you've got to be out there and be social and be very invigorating to other people, as well as be demanding of yourself. It brought out sides of me that I was glad to see: the person I look at in the mirror while I'm directing is a little more acceptable and interesting than the face I see when I'm just sitting around.

Still, 'Kiss Kiss…' is very much a writer’s movie.

I was selfish. I said, 'There's going to be a lot of fucking words in this movie.' First off, for [a total budget of] $15 million you can't blow up a helicopter, you've got to have them talk. And it should be good talk. But second, it's about narrative, it's a movie about loving stories, believing in nonsense and literally loving it so much that it's pure and beautiful to you even when the creator said it's crap.

Is there some personal experience in there, as someone who's made stories that are popular, but have also been criticised?

It's not trying to redeem those stories – if anything I’d be the first one to say they're rubbish, looking back, because of all the things I would fix if I had the chance. But beyond that there's a degree of pretension that I never want to achieve – I always want to believe in nonsense and I always want to retain the childhood fascination with the things that you're supposed to mature out of. Believing in the stuff that we as adults call nonsense was more enjoyable than becoming an adult and believing in the stuff we call practical.

Kilmer's character, Perry, is quite unusual as an openly gay tough guy.

I think 'Will & Grace' softened us up for gay characters. But then they're funny, which is different. The guy who kicks down the door and shoots them and drags you out of danger – the heroic lead being gay I don't think I have seen. ['Kiss Kiss…'] is all about standing certain clichés on their heads anyway – our 'tough guy' protagonist isn't tough, reality keeps beating him down every time he acts tough, he can't even do the tough guy narration you expect without flubbing it – so it seemed only appropriate that the guy who's actually proficient with violence is gay. I think that even the gunfire in these action movies is about ejaculation anyway, so in this movie we make it overt – we have a guy get shot with someone's penis basically at one point.

Could you have a gay hero who actually kisses someone?

It would be interesting to me – what if you did a detective movie where the character's love interest was a man? It's still an adventure, it's still a mystery, but instead of going home with the girl he goes home with the guy… I don't know if I'm the one to write that movie, but I'd see it.

'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' is released today.

• 
•