By For this week’s Scene Report, I talked with writer and director Mark Steven Johnson, a proud Cal State Long Beach alumnus, class of ’89, and the man behind movies like “Grumpy Old Men,” “Simon Birch” and “Daredevil.” His newest creation “Ghost Rider” has been the No. 1 movie in the United States for two weeks in a row, and with it opening in the U.K. and Japan this weekend, it’s only going to get bigger.
Q: So how did you get started in the film industry?
A: Well, I always knew I wanted to do screen writing. So, I finished at Cal State Long Beach and I went and got a job and just started writing and learning on my own. I was working at Orion as a secretary at the time. I was a year or two out of school and I wrote “Grumpy Old Men” just at my desk. Orion was going through bankruptcy at the time, but nobody was getting fired. We were kind of in this weird holding pattern, so I took advantage of all the down time. I just started writing at work and using their computers and copy machine and messenger service, and it was one of those really bizarre things where a friend of a friend knew somebody who knew somebody who got my script. Warner Brothers bought it and I took off running from there.
Q: As a writer, do you still have some control over the script once it goes to set?
A: Yes and no. It really depends on the situation and the director and the studio. A lot of times they buy the script and say, “Thanks very much,” and go away. I was very lucky because what I wrote about was so specific to me growing up: small-town Minnesota, ice fishing, the way they talk. Everything was so specific to me that they wanted me there.
Q: What made you decide to do “Ghost Rider?”
A: I’m just a comic book nut. I grew up learning to read from comic books. I was obsessed with both Daredevil and Ghost Rider as a kid. I kind of just fell into it. I love making these movies, but they take forever because I write them too. Between writing it and shooting it and posting it and all of the visual effects, that’s three years of your life. It’s a long time.
Q: A lot of the movie was computer effects and green screen. Was that hard to direct?
A: It was. The actors really have to show up with their game on. It’s really like you’re a kid playing make-believe. It’s all about your imagination. For Eva [Mendes] having to run around pretending that there’s flying ghosts everywhere, we were blowing her with air guns and she’s looking at tennis balls on sticks and things that aren’t there. It’s really hard on the actors. It makes for long days. Even the color of that green gets to you after a while.
Q: Tell me about your time at CSULB.
A: I transferred there and spent about a year and a half at CSULB. I got my degree there and finished up there. It was great for me because I was coming from Minnesota and I spent a year hopping around. I did two years back at Winona State, a small college in Minnesota, and then I did a year at Arizona State and finished up at Long Beach. I truly dug Cal State because it was just so laid-back. It felt like you could get a good education, but you were free to do your own thing.
Q: Why CSULB and not USC or UCLA or someone with a bigger film program?
A: I was too late for UCLA and I did apply to USC. I actually got [a scholarship]. So I went to USC and was registering and everything else, and to be honest, I just got intimidated by it. It was all these kids walking around with their cell phones and their agents and they were already hooked up. You’re supposed to go to school to learn things, figure out who you are and what you’re doing and try things and experiment. It wasn’t for me.
Q: What was your favorite thing and least favorite thing about the school?
A: The worst thing was parking. My favorite thing was just the professors and the students. [Both] were really cool and really supportive and laid-back. I really liked that. Parking was a bitch!
Q: Yeah, that hasn’t changed. (Both laugh). Thanks for the time and good luck this weekend.
A: Thank you.
“Ghost Rider” is in theatres everywhere. For more info, go to www.ghostrider-movie.com.
