"'Lynda, if this is a joke, I'll kill you!'-Laurie Strode, Halloween"
Dan Waters: 'Heathers' 20th Anniversary interview with screenwriter
Submitted by Superheidi on 06/30/2008
It’s the 20th anniversary of the morbidly funny black comedy Heathers; a film that put Shannon Doherty, Winona Ryder, and Christian Slater on the map as teen stars and illuminated how catty and evil women really can be, even when they aren’t old enough to drive yet. Now out on revamped DVD, it was also the stand-out film in a world of Pretty In Pinks, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Offs, and Weird Sciences that actually captured how depressingly hopeless the American teenage high school experience was, and still is. Dan Waters, the writer of Heathers, joins us for a Q & A about this amazing movie where Christian Slater and Winona Ryder find each other in a suicide-themed love affair as they exact revenge on their high-school oppressors, their parents and finally, each other all while making witty pop-culture quips that had ne’er been uttered by teenagers on film ever before. It’s not hard to see why Heathers was so fun – Waters himself is a dapper wit who would likely tear Oscar Wilde a new one at a tea party.
This is Daniel Waters.
Who would have imagined that Ford Farlane went on to be a huge success in France? It's like Jerry Lewis - they love what we hate just to spite us!
Despite his denials, rumors persist that Dan actually wrote, and is responsible for, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
It’s the 20th anniversary of the morbidly funny black comedy Heathers; a film that put Shannon Doherty, Winona Ryder, and Christian Slater on the map as teen stars and illuminated how catty and evil women really can be, even when they aren’t old enough to drive yet. Now out on revamped DVD, it was also the stand-out film in a world of Pretty In Pinks, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Offs, and Weird Sciences that actually captured how depressingly hopeless the American teenage high school experience was, and still is. Dan Waters, the writer of Heathers, joins us for a Q & A about this amazing movie where Christian Slater and Winona Ryder find each other in a suicide-themed love affair as they exact revenge on their high-school oppressors, their parents and finally, each other all while making witty pop-culture quips that had ne’er been uttered by teenagers on film ever before. It’s not hard to see why Heathers was so fun – Waters himself is a dapper wit who would likely tear Oscar Wilde a new one at a tea party."We need so many more articulate, fucked-up females in cinema…”- Dan Waters
Waters would go on write Hudson Hawk and Ford Fairlane and Demolition Man and Batman Returns for genre audiences before throwing his hands up in despair at how much Hollywood bites and making his own movies.
You were a late twenties-er when Heathers was made into a film. What possessed you to write Heathers, and why from the point of view of a girl facing an evil clique instead of the point of view of a guy?
Heathers was written purely out of my own consumer need to see a film about teenagers that had the comical sting of real high school. No offense to John Hughes, but your “heart dies” way before you become an adult. As far as a female protagonist is concerned, adult white men may rule the world, but in high school, they're a bunch of clueless goofballs. The high school power center is female-at that age, boys are checkers and girls are chess. Anybody can do “nerd trying to get laid”. The politics and psychology of a teenage female-now that's an exhilarating challenge!
Heathers was written purely out of my own consumer need to see a film about teenagers that had the comical sting of real high school. No offense to John Hughes, but your “heart dies” way before you become an adult. As far as a female protagonist is concerned, adult white men may rule the world, but in high school, they're a bunch of clueless goofballs. The high school power center is female-at that age, boys are checkers and girls are chess. Anybody can do “nerd trying to get laid”. The politics and psychology of a teenage female-now that's an exhilarating challenge!
This is Daniel Waters.
Why the name "Heather"?
For a certain period in the 80's, let's face it, Heathers was THE name. I got outraged at one critic who gave the movie a negative review because he said it should have been called “Tiffanies.” Blasphemy. I love that actual Heathers started off hating the movie, but now wear it as a badge of honor.
When Winona and I idly chat about a sequel, we talk about her coming to a school as a teacher in a Dangerous Minds kind of way and confronting a new group of minxes…but we're not fans of the new names out there…. Ashleys, Brittneys-just not feeling it. When the perfect name comes, maybe then I'll crank a sequel.
How best to cover up your best friend's death? make it look like suicide!
What is it about Heathers that SO many people love?
It's mind-boggling to think the movie came out in theaters 20 years ago (Did I mention I wrote it when I was 12?). It didn't make its reputation right away, but I'm glad it was discovered on video (I'm hoping for the same delayed magic with Sex and Death 101). The last couple generations have never really gone to war so the closest thing we have to a grueling, traumatic, complex common experience is high school. Heathers was one of the first films to treat high school, not as some irrelevant time of ignorance and innocence, but as a full-blooded, Shakespearean battlefield that means everything.
Unfortunately, I think the pendulum has swung the other way where now pop-culture is TOO high-school oriented. Even stuff taking place in an adult milieu feels like re-transplanted high school politics. I mean, really people, it's just high school.
Barbie may have the right idea.
Movies like Jawbreaker, Mean Girls, and especially Juno, borrow from Heathers in subject matter and even ripping of the quirky pop-culture dialogue. Do you relish in pointing this out to people? Do you feel that the Heathers legacy has been properly acknowledged?
It's much better to have others point it for me. I guess I should feel bitter that my so-called disciples are making a hell of a lot more money and getting more Oscars than I do, but there's something fun about being the too-hardcore-for-prime-time Big Daddy. My brother directed Mean Girls and we like to say I'm Joy Division and he's New Order.
I'll never turn down a compliment, but it's sad that Juno gets compared so much to Heathers as if the idea of a rebellious teenage female with an original mind and a creative vocabulary is this rare bird that can only exist once. We need so many more articulate, fucked-up females in cinema…
Is it true what "they" say about Shannon Doherty, do you know?
When I worked with her, there was no “they” yet. When little Shannon came to the Heathers set, she was going for America’s Sweetheart status as Wilfred Brimley's daughter on a family show called Our House. Who knew she would turn out to be terrifying? Well, I guess everybody did…she was incredibly intense during shooting and I was in the lobby when she came out of the cast and crew screening seething “No one told me it was a comedy.”
When I worked with her, there was no “they” yet. When little Shannon came to the Heathers set, she was going for America’s Sweetheart status as Wilfred Brimley's daughter on a family show called Our House. Who knew she would turn out to be terrifying? Well, I guess everybody did…she was incredibly intense during shooting and I was in the lobby when she came out of the cast and crew screening seething “No one told me it was a comedy.”
Actual still of Bruce Willis and Andy McDowell at the first test screening of Hudson Hawk. Andy McDowell is the worst actress in the world.
It was rumored that Hudson Hawk was Willis' pet project for a while before it got made.
Bruce Willis had the name Hudson Hawk, the notion of being a cat burglar, and a subplot of a pet monkey that had been assassinated (which we shot, but was cut out of the movie. I'm not kidding). Any other writer getting this assignment would have churned out a mediocre, instantly forgettable action movie; it took my participation to make it “the worst movie ever made.”
Bruce Willis had the name Hudson Hawk, the notion of being a cat burglar, and a subplot of a pet monkey that had been assassinated (which we shot, but was cut out of the movie. I'm not kidding). Any other writer getting this assignment would have churned out a mediocre, instantly forgettable action movie; it took my participation to make it “the worst movie ever made.”
I think there's about 40 different tonal shifts in the movie, which, as I'm made increasingly aware of, Americans don't like. The movie is adored in Europe (always a scary sign), because they don't mind 20 different movies in one. I still have an awesome answering machine message from Bruce that I like to play for my guests from when I turned in my first draft: 'You did it, man. This script is amazing, dude. We are going to make a lot of money….' Life is cruel.
Why did Batman Return the way he did in your movie? And how did you feel about Michael Keaton as Batman and Prince's video for Batdance??? It's strange to think back to Batman Returns- we were crucified in many corners for being dark, nasty, and Burger-King-tie-in-unfriendly. Now the infinitely bleaker Dark Knight is coming and the entire planet is salivating. What a difference a decade and a half makes!
My joy in writing the film was definitely Catwoman. I really thought I brought something to the party there, while with Batman, there's always going to be too many cooks in the kitchen telling you what the mythos of Batman should be…
I thought Keaton was a mighty fine Bruce Wayne. He disappeared into the role and unfortunately, has never quite come back out. The kids today don't remember, but this guy used to be hilarious! Come back, Michael.
My joy in writing the film was definitely Catwoman. I really thought I brought something to the party there, while with Batman, there's always going to be too many cooks in the kitchen telling you what the mythos of Batman should be…
Regarding Prince, thanks for reminding me how much better the second one is than the first one…
Yes, this is an actual still from Demolition Man.
Who would have imagined that Ford Farlane went on to be a huge success in France? It's like Jerry Lewis - they love what we hate just to spite us!
Demolition Man launched the career of Sandra Bullock. Let's face it - Love Potion Number Nine was terrible. But then you didn't write any films that were made until your directorial debut Happy Campers. Why?
If Ford Fairlane and Hudson Hawk taught me anything, it's that not getting your made is not the worst thing in the world. Believe me, I wish my IMDB page was shorter, not longer. When you're doing re-writes on action movies already on the pre-production runway, your made-movie ratio is going to be high…but working on big-budget studio movies is like having sex with 50 condoms on. There comes a time when you have to choose quality over quantity…
I've taken part in a lot of great projects over the years, including an adaptation of the sci-fi classic, Stranger in a Strange Land with Tom Hanks, but the projects didn't have the requisite lameness to get greenlit.
Despite his denials, rumors persist that Dan actually wrote, and is responsible for, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Brad Renfro starred in Dan’s directorial debut – a slick black comedy called Happy Campers in 2001. Renfro's recent death must have been a difficult thing for you, having worked so closely with him.
Brad Renfro was a sweet, soulful little dude, who would have found his true calling as an old, irascible character actor
Winona Ryder as "Death Nell" in Sex & Death 101
Sex & Death 101... When we interviewed Winona about A Scanner Darkly, she mentioned she may be working with you again on Sex & Death 101. That was two years ago. Since then, the film has been made and come out! Can you tell us about this journey? ("Journey" is a pretentious word to use, isn't it?)
Winona is the last connection with a certain glamorous and eccentric ideal of a movie star. She actually used to hang with Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Katherine Hepburn before they died-most of today's actresses, like Lindsay Lohan, would have probably just thrown up on their laps.
Despite being surrounded by doubters, I knew I could channel Winona's natural oddness and mysterious charisma into the lead female role of Sex and Death 101- a character named Death Nell who had a similar mixture of the sweet and the psychotic. Say what you will about my bizarrely plotted and multi-toned film, but you can't deny Winona delivered big-time….
What Now?
Well, I thought Sex and Death 101 was a perfectly realized satirical vision of America's warped obsession with sexuality, so what do I know…Nobody cared. I guess critics can relate to the horrors of high school more than the complexities of sex.
The reception to Sex and Death has made me feel like an inhabitant of the Island of the Misfit Toys. I always liked those toys, especially the squirt gun that shot peanut butter. When it comes to cinema, I feel we live in a world where originality is only appreciated when it's an originality that is completely familiar and comfortable.
Hopefully, the equivalent of a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer will swoop down to save me from my self-pity.
A suggestive still from Sex & Death 101
Finish this sentence: "If I could only watch one movie every day for the rest of my life, it would be ____________"
a) "Dallas: Christmas Reunion on CBS"
b) Yahoo Serious in "Reckless Kelly"
c) "Beastmaster II: Through the Portal of Time" with Wings Hauser. Wings Hauser!!!!
How bizarre you bring up Beastmaster 2! Before any of my posse made it big (and you'd be surprised how well my fellow Hoosiers have done), we had one pal who bragged about his one scene as an extra in the back of the astonishing Mr. Hauser in one moment of Beastmaster 2. If I can't have Godfather 2 or Sasha Grey, than I guess I got to go with B-2 for nostalgia's sake.
Heathers is out on Double Disc 20th Anniversary DVD edition today! Buy it!
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Re: 'Heathers' 20th Anniversary interview with writer Dan Waters
Amazing interview! HAPPY CAMPERS and SEX AND DEATH 101 are both hilarious...as great as HEATHERS is, people ought to check those out as well and realize that this guy is still making brilliant films.
Re: 'Heathers' 20th Anniversary interview with writer Dan Waters