Interview (Part 5): Chris Wu

My interview with 2021 Black List writer for his script Mr. Benihana.

Chris Wu wrote the original screenplay “Mr. Benihana” which landed on the 2021 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Chris about his creative background, his script, the craft of screenwriting, and what making the annual Black List has meant to him.

Today in Part 5 of a 6-part series to run each day through Saturday, Chris reveals why he decided to approach Mr. Benihana as a “snapshot bio” as opposed to a “cradle to grave biopic.”

Scott: “Mr. Benihana” is not only an engrossing and entertaining story, it’s what they call in Hollywood a “good read.” That’s why I’m having my MFA students read the script, an example of a “good read.”

Chris: Oh, really? [laughter] Thank you.

Scott: You may not have intended to have your script read in an academic environment.

Chris: Definitely not, but I appreciate it.

Scott: So your manager says, “There’s this DJ, maybe you want to check him out for a possible story” and that leads to Rocky. What was the process of writing this? How long did it take in terms of the research and the writing and rewriting and to the point where he was able to go out of town?

Chris: The research comes first, especially for historical pieces that are based on real people or real events. I do like to have as much research as I can gather. What I do is I read as much as I can, and then I just let it marinate and soak a bit. See what stays with me.

I’m very much an outliner. I want to know how it looks. How the whole thing, what the shape of it is, before I start jumping in. It took a while to find the exact shape.

Funny enough, I prefer biopics that are not cradle to grave. [laughs] I like to focus on a specific event and not try to tell an entire life story in one sitting.

Scott: A snapshot bio, right?

Chris: Right. Exactly. I was hoping to do that, but in all honesty, Rocky’s life was so expansive, and there was so much to it that it felt like, it did warrant a “whole life” type of biopic.

After finding what the main events of his life were, I selected what I wanted to tell. And the founding of Benihana became the first main thing. Telling that fun and wild story was important. Then figuring out, how after Benihana was a success, what happens next.

Of course, he has all these crazy things that he does. The powerboat racing, flying across the Pacific in a hot air balloon. [laughs] Having a stable of horses. Those are all interesting, but storywise, there’s not a real story. It’s just interesting thing after interesting thing.

Finding out more of the character arcs of what’s happening with Rocky, and then what’s happening with his wife and his father, and seeing what exactly the downfall looks like, those were the main things. Figuring out the shape of those big pieces, once that was in place, I was able to start writing and going to draft. Even then, there were a lot of different iterations.

At one point, I did start off having a third party character, like a journalist, trying to write a piece about Rocky’s life. She’s trying to interview Rocky and gets bits and pieces of his life as she’s on deadline to finish her piece. It might have worked, but it would have been a really different film.

What ended up happening, why I decided to scratch that was, I felt like hearing Rocky’s voice was more important than hearing this made-up journalist’s voice.

I did end up using the voiceover even though generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of that. [laughs] I make this exception when it’s my thing. No. When it’s an interesting, unique voice. Rocky definitely had one of those.

Scott: I tell my students, “If you want to use voiceover narration, you’ve got to have a reason why.” Of course, in this case, it’s great, because Rocky’s personality is so big.

Let’s turn to Monday, December 13th, 2022, the rollout of the annual Black List. Were you tracking it at all?

Chris: I was. Yes. It was very nerve-racking. [laughs]

Scott: How did you find out about it? Was it on Twitter?

Chris: Oh yeah. They announced them in batches, and I was one of the last batches that they announced. For a while, I figured it didn’t make the list, and I was settling into that. I saw my name pop up, and it was such a great feeling.

Scott: I would imagine the phone starts blowing up and the text messages and emails and stuff.

Chris: Yeah, it was pretty wild. A lot of texts and phone calls from different folks. My manager, my agent, and other friends and people I’ve worked with.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Chris provides some tips on the screenwriting craft.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, go here.

Part 3, go here.

Part 4, go here.

Chris is repped by John Zaozirny at Bellevue Productions.

Twitter: @wu_stein.

For my interviews with dozens of other Black List writers, go here.