Steven Zaillian

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q291141: 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: Schindler's List (1993); Mission: Impossible (1996); Moneyball (2011); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011); Ripley.

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.

Empire of the Sun (1987): 2 lines

  1. contrast (method contrast) · through Schindler's List (1993), 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 Schindler's List (1993), 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)

Blue Velvet (1986): 1 line

  1. unmapped (quoted line) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: Blue Velvet ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck shirt is believed to originate from Dennis Hopper's line in Blue Velvet.
    “Hopper says that in blue velvet.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 1:24:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Friday Night Lights (2004 film) (2004): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Moneyball (2011), which they wrote: Friday Night Lights (2004 film) ⇒ Moneyball (the host's read). The film points toward the next wave of dramas that happen to be about sports.
    “And Friday Night Lights is moving us toward this kind of next iteration of whatever that was, and it's leading to stuff like money ball and win-win and like dramas that also happen to be about sports.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:16:15 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

Jules Dassin: 1 line

  1. lineage (homage source) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Jules Dassin ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). Dassin's heist classics are the model for the Langley break-in.
    “the Langley heist is an homage to the Jewel Statsen classics”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:53 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Psycho (1960): 1 line

  1. lineage (Hitchcock structural homage) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Psycho ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). Killing off Kristin Scott Thomas's star-billed character early mirrors Psycho killing Janet Leigh.
    “it's completely Hitchcocky and it's killing Janet Lee after 40 minutes.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:29:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)

Rififi (1955): 1 line

  1. lineage (heist homage) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Rififi ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). The silent Langley vault heist echoes the Rififi heist where an alarm is triggered by sound.
    “my favorite heist movies were Fifi, which has a heist uh, portion where they very similar, they drill through the roof and it's all in silence”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:24:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)

Stieg Larsson: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: Stieg Larsson ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The film is Zaillian's abridged adaptation of Larsson's novel, which loses nothing major.
    “I think this is an excellent piece of adaptation that does not really, like, skip anything major.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:49:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Sven Nykvist: 1 line

  1. craft (visual reference) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: Sven Nykvist ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the maker said so). Someone on the shoot (Fincher, or the DP by the garbled name) wanted a Sven Nykvist look: warm fires, cold rooms.
    “I wanted to do a whole Sven Nikfist thing”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 1:11:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Fast and the Furious (2001): 1 line

  1. lineage (franchise influence) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: The Fast and the Furious ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). The modern MI films combine Bourne-style hand-to-hand combat with Fast and the Furious over-the-top action.
    “the 2 biggest influences on Mission Impossible are born in the Fast and the Furious.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:18:47 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)

The Fugitive (1993): 1 line

  1. unmapped (TV-to-film precedent) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: The Fugitive ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). The Fugitive proved a classic TV property could be a big-screen box-office hit, which opened the door for Mission: Impossible.
    “the fugitive proved that there was box office potential and television IP on the big screen.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:02:32 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish, 2009) (2009): 1 line

  1. lineage (remake) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish, 2009) ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The Fincher film is the American remake of the Swedish original; its director says he was not worried.
    “Everyone who loves film will go see the original.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:54:19 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

The Lady Vanishes (1938): 1 line

  1. lineage (Hitchcock homage) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: The Lady Vanishes ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). The European mystery shades of the film recall The Lady Vanishes and Shadow of a Doubt.
    “Lady Vanishes or, or, uh, even like Shadow of a Doubt in some respects”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:06:25 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)

The Social Network (2010): 1 line

  1. people (casting led to) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: The Social Network ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). Pascal saw the dailies from The Social Network and picked Rooney Mara for Lisbeth Salander.
    “Pascal basically sees the dailies from this movie and is like, Rooney Morris, Elizabeth Salander.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:59:02 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Topkapi (1964): 1 line

  1. lineage (heist homage) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Topkapi ⇒ Mission: Impossible (the host's read). Langley heist is an homage to the Jules Dassin heist classics Topkapi and Rififi.
    “the Langley heist is an homage to the Jewel Statsen classics of uh, top copy and uh, Rafifi.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:53 · Chris Ryan (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.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018): 2 lines

  1. lineage (callback) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Mission: Impossible ⇒ Mission: Impossible – Fallout (the host's read). Every later MI film calls back to the Langley drop as a hallmark.
    “I realized that they call back to that specific moment every time”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:06:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (franchise template) · through Mission: Impossible (1996), which they wrote: Mission: Impossible ⇒ Mission: Impossible – Fallout (the host's read). Every MI film reuses the same three-set-piece structure plus a McGuffin, which is why the franchise is elastic.
    “they used the same exact structure in every single movie that came forward.”
    The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:11:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Gone Girl (2014): 1 line

  1. people (casting approach) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they wrote: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ⇒ Gone Girl (the host's read). The speaker thinks Fincher's exhaustive casting search on Dragon Tattoo informed how he cast Amy with someone new to the audience.
    “that exhaustive casting search, which I do think informs the way he approaches Amy going into this movie as well”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:55:22 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): 1 line

  1. career (career) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they wrote: Schindler's List ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the maker said so: Spielberg's statement while making Crystal Skull). After Schindler's List Spielberg refused to do cartoon Nazis in Crystal Skull.
    “I'm not going back to doing cartoon Nazis post Schindler's list.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:58:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Writing (7) everyone in writing

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

unmapped (2)

  1. unmapped (recent work): Steven Zaillian → Moneyball. Zaillian had just worked on Moneyball.
    “who had just worked on Moneyball.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:45:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (passed on): Steven Zaillian → The Silence of the Lambs. Zaillian was first choice to adapt Silence of the Lambs and regretted passing.
    “Steven Salian was the 1st choice to adapt the Silence of the Lambs, and his wife had told him, don't do it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:46:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.