Screenwriter John Gatins already has a solid resume. He wrote sports-themed essential Coach Carter (2005) and the Keanu Reeves-starring Hardball (2001). Now he can proudly add Flight to that list.
Flightstars Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker, a struggling alcoholic who pilots a plane intoxicated against his better judgment. The plane malfunctions while on its final descent, plunging to a rapid downward spiral. Whitaker manages to save most of the passengers on-board by inverting the plane and performing a crash landing. At first he's crowned a hero, but after his blood results prove his intoxication, Whitaker is in danger of receiving a life sentence.
In short, Whitaker got a Boeing jet to fly right side up while drunk Somehow, Gatins personal experience fits into all of this.
Gatins sat down for a conference call with nine college publications, including The Spectrum's Jake Knott. The participants were only allowed to ask one or two questions, but the screenwriter was able to give some interesting facts about the critically acclaimed film.
Gatins said he had worked on the script for Flight since 1999. He noted a lot has changed for him since then; he now has three kids and six writing credits under his belt (according to IMDb). Despite the changes, Gatins was still able to draw from his own experiences with alcoholism to influence the script.
"I was the greatest college student, in my opinion, that there ever was," Gatins said. "If there was a Hall of Fame for going to college, I think I would be firmly planted somewhere in the great halls of it.
"But, for me, that party never ended, so I have a personal weigh in to this story and then I got sober when I was 25. So, you know, it was a lot - when I started writing the script, I was probably 31. So, for me, you know, I was still kind of thinking about all that stuff."
This isn't the first time Gatins applied the "write what you know" adage; his love of sports can be seen in the emotional Coach Carter. His experiences add an extra sense of sympathy to the characters in Flight. This particularly pays off well when they are acted out by talented actors like Washington.
Gatins never worked or even met with Washington before making Flight, but the Academy Award-winning actor still put on an amazing performance as Whitaker.
"He was like, and this has got to be personal, on the other side of it," Gatins said. "I was, like, yes. So, we just kind of started talking ... but to watch him actually do the job, you know, he really does his homework. I mean, he really, really, really does his homework. One thing he did, which is really interesting, is in every scene, he had a scale ... it was, like, a degree of intoxication that he was in every scene that he was playing. It's fascinating."
Whitaker isn't the only character Gatins relates to. Flight's cast includes the self-assured Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle, Iron Man 2) and the overly dependent Nicole (Kelly Reilly, Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows). Both of these characters, as well as most of the cast, are given a fair sense of emotional depth.
"I've written a lot of movies and I always feel like I write myself into every movie a little bit," Gatins said. "And even inside of each character, it doesn't matter if they're male, female, kids, adults ... it's like I hear a little bit of my voice in there, because it's all I've got is my life experience that I can kind of like put in and try to find some authenticity for a character."
Washington noted Gatins did his homework, too. The plane scene wasn't based on any particular accident, but he researched plane accidents from National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) reports and a web site called Last Words - a site that compiles different plane accidents. Gatins said Flight's crash scene, which was terrifying and extremely detailed, was based off numerous incidents.
The large amount of detail in the characters, their dialogue and pacing is what makes Flight a 2012 standout.
Flight is currently playing in theaters nationwide.
Additional Reporting by Jake Knott
Email: arts@ubspectrum.com
