Screenwriter Larry Karaszewski

I Love That You Have to Crack Los Angeles

Larry Karaszewski and his writing partner, Scott Alexander, have written the screenplays for the movies Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon, and most recently, Big Eyes, a biopic of the painter Margaret Keane directed by Tim Burton. Before a screening and discussion of Big Eyes, Karaszewski talked about the movie he’s most likely to quote (Cooley High), getting out of the mopping-up-blood business and into the entertainment business, and why he’s kind of like Thousand Island salad dressing in the Zócalo green room.

Screenwriter Scott Alexander

A Fan of Oatmeal, Jazz, Movie Popcorn, and Killing Snails

Scott Alexander and his writing partner, Larry Karaszewski, have written the screenplays for the movies Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon, and most recently, Big …

Eric Garcetti Gets Goofy with Airplane!

At the Zócalo/KCRW ‘My Favorite Movie’ Series, L.A.’s Mayor Discusses the 1980 Comedy Classic with the Filmmakers and KCRW’s Madeleine Brand

Ever wondered what makes L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti laugh? June Cleaver speaking jive, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a pilot, and a bowl of Jell-O on a turbulent plane. When asked to …

The Funniest Part of California’s 1978 Tax Revolt

How Conservative Crusader Howard Jarvis Got His Cameo in the Cult Comedy Airplane!

My guess is that few people in the audience at the Zócalo/KCRW screening of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s favorite movie Airplane! will recognize the man who hails a taxi at LAX …

Hollywood UFD statues

Why Can’t Hollywood Tell America’s Stories?

Our Onscreen Heroes Are White Men. But Most of Us Aren’t.

The 2015 Oscars broadcast will reflect the demographics of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters—who are overwhelmingly older Anglo men—but it won’t reflect the demographics of the …

Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson

Has California’s Greatest Filmmaker Lost His Focus?

Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights Were Golden State Masterpieces, But Inherent Vice Is Just Incoherent

Has Hollywood’s foremost interpreter of California lost his touch?

That may seem a strange question to ask now that said interpreter—the writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson—is up for a screenwriting Oscar at …