Considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre, Black made his mark with his _Lethal Weapon script.
The $1.75 million he received for his screenplay for The Last Boy Scout was the highest to date in 1990. He then topped it when he sold the script to The Long Kiss Goodnight for $4 million a few years later. Both were box-office disappointments that later found cult audiences on home video.
Brother of Terry Black
After being the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, he disappeared as a writer in the late 90s. He recently admitted he withdrew due to pressure and a growing contempt for his own commercial, action-packed material.
Shared a house with future successful screenwriters like Fred Dekker ( The Monster Squad , Night of the Creeps , RoboCop 3 ) and Ed Solomon ( Men in Black , Charlies Angels , Levity ). They called their place the "Pad O Guys" and considered themselves a fraternity for the ultimate movie buffs by staging and dissecting John Woo fight scenes in the front yard at three in the morning.
Was 22 when he sold the Lethal Weapon screenplay.
After a young Joe Carnahan sent him some writing samples, Black wrote a very inspiring letter back, complimenting his writing and encouraging him to move forward with it. Carnahan later went on to write and direct Narc .
Blacks two favorite screenwriters are Walter Hill and William Goldman. The sparse side of Blacks writing style is inspired by Hill, the commentary bits on the world hes created inspired by Goldman, and his mysterious tone is borrowed from Raymond Chandler.
Was an avid reader of Evan Hunter s "87th Precinct", "The Hardy Boys" and "Doc Savage" novels as a child.
At UCLA, classmates were Tim Robbins , Paul Townsend , Delia Frankel.
Adopted an american staffordshire terrier mix, named Adonis, in January 2013 from a rescue, The Little Red Dog, Inc, after a photo of Adonis holding a food bowl in his mouth in the city kill shelter went viral online.
Best known as Hawkins who was the first victim killed by the Predator in Predator .
Walked off Lethal Weapon 2 , because he wanted the film to end with Martin Riggs dying from his wounds. Warner Bros. wanted to continue the series and had him survive. As a result, his script was re-written.
Let his father read the first draft of Lethal Weapon before turning it in to Warner Bros.
One of his favorite films is Ju-on .
The feeling of finishing the script, the first draft, was the high.
To this day I have a profound mistrust of the word processor. I have to,type it or write it first, screen it and only then enter it for,posterity onto the word processor.
Books were my hiding place. The library was more comforting many times,than going home after school. I would just go to the library instead.
I read The Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators, the suspense fiction,intended for kids, but my childhood heroes tended to be in the adult,section of the library.
[When asked how did start reading so much] It was just in our family.
