Eric Roth's Best Screenplay To Date

With screenwriter Eric Roth "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" has one of Hollywood's finest doing the honors of laying the story out on the page. I found this article about the screenplay of "Benjamin Button", and if you are like me and want to experience the film in-full on its cinematic release date, and if you want to stay spoiler free, then the link may be not for you ... or to be read very carefully.

After years of investigating Eric Roth's craft, Kristopher Tapley of Incontention.com sat down to read "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" and comment on the screenplay. And what he ends with to me is truly mouth-watering: "Brad Pitt will have the role of a lifetime, enjoying the potential for, far and away, his greatest performance to date", Tapley writes. And he adds, about the script: "It’s the kind of thing aspiring screenwriters should study."

If you make yourself aware of the fact that we are talking about the screenwriting genius behind "Ali", "Munich", "The Insider", and mostly "Forrest Gump", Tapley's praise for "Benjamin Button" sounds too good to be true:

This is probably Eric Roth’s
best work to date.

The reason I am posting this article is that to me it's a lot better indication of what the film will be like than some not very well digested or thought out responses to the Telluride preview -- let alone the hearsay and rumoring making the rounds because of Fincher's "having to trim down" the running lenth of the film.

As I have pointed out with my last post, yes, Paramount does have a lot (of money) on the line with this film. And it's not only logical but essential that the final cut of this film must be brought to the length that perfectly suits the story and the emotional journey of the audience! I am a huge fan of "Zodiac", and -- after a lot of fuzz about cutting it down from its original director's cut -- watching the theatrical version I didn't feel that there were scenes missing at all. The emotional development played out perfectly to me.

To make long stories short (get it?) I believe that it's very hard for any director to screw up a good script. And if that director is one of the standing and genius of David Fincher I have all the good faith I need, to know that Fincher's work and the performances and all the processing from script to screen will only add to the story!

Again, watch out for spoilers. And I you have already read a version of the screenplay, feel free to share you opinion with all of us -- as spoiler free as possible! Thanks, and enjoy the read:

Page To Screen: "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button"

As a bonus, here's another article on Roth, from NYTimes.com:
Eric Roth's Screenplays Get Made, Except the Ones That Don’t