Gore Vidal: Literary juggernaut ... and screenwriter
When Gore Vidal passed away in 2012, the LA Times described him as a 'literary juggernaut' - I liked that, hence the title. He was incredibly prolific and yes, he wrote screenplays, too.
I wasn’t planning on writing about Gore Vidal. I knew about his life, bits and pieces, had read Creation and Myra Breckinridge, knew about his sharp wit, his political engagement, his famed feuds with the likes of Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley Jr. and Truman Capote - his has been a very, very storied life. But why bring him up now? Well, serendipity. I like it when YouTube surprises me with films I’ve never even heard of, or classics I haven’t seen in ages.
This morning I’ve come across The Scapegoat, a curious 1959 mystery starring Alec Guiness and based on a Daphne du Maurier novel - and was surprised to see that Gore Vidal had adapted this obscure (and quite good) picture. Well, that was all it took - enough of a reason for me to write about Gore Vidal, the screenwriter.
On a sidenote: Cary Grant had been proposed to play the lead in ‘The Scapegoat.’ But Daphne du Maurier insisted on Alec Guinness because he reminded her of her father. When the film proved a box-office failure, she blamed Guinness. Frankly, I like Guinness in the role - but yes, I can see that Cary Grant in that same role, with those exact same scenes and that exact same dialogue, would have made this into quite a different film. Can’t blame in on Guinness, the force was always with him. Blame it on the author … as ever so often, the creators of the source material are best kept out of adaptations. Anyways - here’s the film (colored, and not well, but still) - enjoy!
Now then, Gore Vidal … how I would have liked to meet the man. His work, his essays, his novels, his articles, his interviews - there’s a wealth of it available online, and all of it is filled with insight and wit - the man was smart, probably, occasionally, too smart for his own good. What a life he’s lived, what stories he could tell. Yes, I would have liked to meet the man.
“Writing is writing. Writing is order in sentences and order in sentences is always the same in that it is always different, which is why it is so interesting to do it. I never get bored with writing sentences, and you never master it and it is always a surprise—you never know what’s going to come next.”
Well, we still have everything he’s left us. Check Wikipedia for a brief look at his life - or go deep on any number of clips on YouTube. Here’s the Dick Cavett Show spat between him and Norman Mailer.
Watch it, seriously - Gore’s wit is on full display, but Mailer’s sharp, too. One offers a sense of clarity, philosophical distance and wit, the other’s in-your-face personal and crudely abrasive. It’s twenty minutes well spent. According to Wikipedia, after the show, Mailer headbutted Gore. When asked why Mailer had resulted to knocking heads, Gore quipped, “Once again, words failed Norman Mailer.” (On a sidenote - Dick Cavett sits back and let’s it all rip - but eventually chimes in, too, with some very acerbic commentary.)
“That famous writer’s block is a myth as far as I’m concerned. I think bad writers must have a great difficulty writing. They don’t want to do it. They have become writers out of reasons of ambition. It must be a great strain to them to make marks on a page when they really have nothing much to say, and don’t enjoy doing it. I’m not so sure what I have to say but I certainly enjoy making sentences.”
As a screenwriter, he famously contributed to Ben-Hur (but didn’t get a credit), and wrote Suddenly, Last Summer, I Accuse, Caligula, the above mentioned The Scapegoat, and more. He was also highly prolific with his television writing. I guess you could say that he very much enjoyed the focus on adaptations. Same as with Daphne du Maurier’s novel, he also adapted his own plays and novels (such as Myra Breckinridge) and Suddenly, Last Summer was, of course, based on the Tennessee Williams play.
Write what you know will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect!
I’ve seen Gore Vidal compared to many greats of the past, among them Oscar Wilde (he would have liked that) and Mark Twain. I’ve researched a great deal about Mark Twain for my last novel and can only say that I completely see the comparison. Mark Twain (Sam Clemens) was a storyteller, a fabulist, a man who, with his wit and insight, entertained audiences on stage and with his writings. Gore Vidal was all of that to an equal and, perhaps, even greater degree.
