Menno Meyjes

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q2420333: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as writer, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they wrote, which the two lists below run through too: The Color Purple (1985); Empire of the Sun (1987).

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

David Lean: 1 line

  1. lineage (origin of project) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: David Lean ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him.
    “He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Gone with the Wind (1939): 1 line

  1. unmapped (scene reference) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Gone with the Wind ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Jim stands before the Gone with the Wind poster, echoing Spielberg's remark to Alice Walker that it is one of his favorites.
    “I mean, you have that moment where he's standing in front of the giant gone with the wind poster, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:31:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

J.G. Ballard: 1 line

  1. lineage (source) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: J.G. Ballard ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). The novel is darker than the film, which sanitized it and condensed characters.
    “There is definitely a lot of sanitizing happening and a lot of kind of condensing of characters and turning them into more of a more of a Hollywoody plot element.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:01:53 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75 sure it was them)

Jaws (1975): 1 line

  1. craft (shot design) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Jaws ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Spielberg reveals Malkovich in pieces like Jaws and Indiana Jones, withholding the hero shot.
    “he introduces him both like he's Jaws and like he's Indiana Jones”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): 1 line

  1. craft (shot design) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Same slow reveal as Indiana Jones in pieces before the hero shot.
    “which similarly has the like Spielberg taking 5 minutes to show you Indiana Jones in pieces before you really get the hero shot”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Schindler's List (1993): 2 lines

  1. contrast (method contrast) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). On Schindler Spielberg refused to storyboard, almost as a reaction to criticism of the puppet-show control in Empire.
    “Schindler, the infamous thing, is that he was like, I won't storyboard this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:31:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (dry run) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). Schindler's List is the more successful grown-up film that erased Empire of the Sun from memory; it was seen as the dry run.
    “Look back as this was the dry run before he totally cracked it on Shell.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:30:35 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Tropic Thunder (2008): 1 line

  1. lineage (inspiration) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they wrote: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Tropic Thunder (the host's read). Ben Stiller, on the Empire set as a young actor, was inspired by actors playing at suffering to make Tropic Thunder two decades later.
    “Which, of course, this is one of this movie's greatest, like, lasting legacies is that this, this is what inspires Tropic Thunder.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:49:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Writing (2) everyone in writing

What was said about them, by kind

No claims join them to a film or another person.

Fun items about them

None.