Screenwriter JOHN HAMBURG: Tricks of the Trade

A sure-thing comedy closer, New York City native John Hamburg built hilarious set pieces and character work into Meet the Parents, Zoolander, and Meet the Fockers that not only helped lift them to huge box office but also pushed a few new catchphrases into the American lexicon. A veteran of the uncredited production rewrite, Hamburg also wrote and directed the romantic comedy Along Came Polly in 2004. In this amusing interview, Hamburg discusses how he developed his talent for writing actor-hooking dialogue in the humorous monologues he performed in college, why he'd do a thousand test screenings if he could, and what it's like to hand a new scene to Robert De Niro and stand there waiting to see if he likes it.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• the
• Hamburg
• meet
• parents
• comedy
• zoolander
• fockers

[yourdairyman]

interviewer chill out

[PCloud76]

The only reason the interviewer is interrupting him is to establish communication between the audience and the screenwriter. Maybe someone doesn't understand the writing lingo, so the interviewer would interrupt him and ask a question about it and he gives a quick explanation, and they move on.

[rolybaby]

Hollywood need to look at new movies more and look at sequels which can make more money, and yes too many movies are very W.A.S.P its a fact accept it.

[slbiggs36]

Wanna improve race relations? Stop calling people W.A.S.P.s and Shicksas. I can only imagine the backlash if a writer talked about dating a Kike.

[deeznaps]

Ummm That's MIKE DE LUCA. YOU WISH YOU WERE MIKE DE LUCA!!!

[TheObnubilators]

yeah I like the interview

[TheObnubilators]

it's most likely edited dude

[DrMBA28]

lol I don't understand why you guys hate the interviewer so much. I HATE being interrupted and even I don't feel like he cuts people off unnecessarily

[tfustudios]

Man, let the guy answer the questions, for goodness sakes!!!

[Z0mbieGenocide]

You do realize that this is a 90 min interview that has been cut up. That's why there are abrupt interruptions. They only put the best question and best parts of them.