Dalton Trumbo, the most famous of the Hollywood Ten, was a screenwriter with such amazing films as Roman Holiday, The Brave One, and his most famous script, Spartacus.Trumbo also had three children, one of whom, Christopher, followed his famous father’s example to become a writer and filmmaker himself.
Dalton Trumbo is back in the spotlight these days thanks to the recent release of Trumbo, a new documentary about the life of Dalton Trumbo as told through Trumbo’s personal correspondences.One of the correspondences read in the documentary was from Trumbo to his son Christopher, who was kind enough to answer a few questions for us at DVD Snapshot.
- Matt Orlando
Staff Writer
MO: How was your father's working relationship with Stanley Kubrick during Spartacus?
CT: His working relationship with Stanley Kubrick during Spartacus was not a happy one. They had different ideas of what the movie should be.
MO: Was your father one to visit the set and check on his scripts, so to speak?
CT: Trumbo only appeared on a set when an invited to do so by the director or the producer. Hangingaround a set is fairly boring unless you have something to do there.
MO: With his "uncredited" scripts being some of his best, do you think your father had a heightened sense of urgency to write after being blacklisted or was it simply writing as usual?
CT: Trumbo's only heightened urgency to write after the blacklist was to make up for the income thathe was denied while blacklisted.
MO: Being a writer yourself, could you describe your father's influence, if any, on your work?
CT: It's difficult for me to describe my father's influence on my work. A close friend of mine would probably be better able to do that. I think it undeniable that our parents have a powerful influence on our lives, it's just difficult to single out specific instances -- and sometimes we are blind to that influence. I'll give you an example. Gordon MacDonald, who played the part of yours truly on stage in New York, remarked in an interview that it was a play about, among other things, fathers and sons. I had not thought of that, nor did I have any inkling that was what I was doing or that others would come to that conclusion. After he brought it up I came to recognize his insight had merit.
MO: What are you presently working on?
CT: I'm not sure. I tend to work on several things at once. But I have a book and a play in the works.
