Vengeance (2022)
This mystery thriller follows writer, director, and star B.J. Novak as a New York City podcaster who travels to Texas to investigate the death of a woman he hooked up with. Novak gave MovieMaker the perfect explanation as to why he believes there are so many journalists in movies, including his own.
“It’s a great structural sort of cheat because it means that the protagonist is discovering the story along with you. And the discovery of the story can be the plot. So you have this amazing head start if you have a journalist character,” Novak said. “There are so many writers in movies — it’s way overrepresented. But I think Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City is actually the best example of why. If you have a writer character who can talk and type about everything they’re experiencing and how they’re feeling, it’s perfect.”
Novak decided to apply this popular trope to Vengeance, but modernized it by making his writer-character a podcaster.
“And because it was so common, that’s what made me decide to make him a podcaster. At first, he was just a freelance journalist for The New Yorker as he still is in the movie, but when I thought of a podcaster, I thought, ‘Well, that is charmingly pathetic. Here’s a guy who is an aspiring podcaster. It makes me want to make fun of him more,'” he said.
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