Almost 10 years ago, Jason Smilovic did what any newly minted graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in political theory and philosophy would do. No, not law school or an entry-level position sorting some congressman's mail. He decided to become a screenwriter.
"I found out that I was born of the strictest aversion to work," says Smilovic, now 32, with his decade-old screenplay hitting theaters as "Lucky Number Slevin" this past weekend in the No. 5 spot. His twisty, verbally dexterous thriller (the film received mixed reviews, with some saying the movie tries to be too clever for its own good) stars Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley. "I wanted to be a writer because that was something I really and truly enjoyed, and that never felt like work to me."
Wait a minute. Writing isn't work?
"No, no, no, no, no," he says, correcting himself. "That was a 23-year-old talking. Now, as a working writer, I know that writing is torture. Writing is work. Writing is hell. I hate those writers who say that writing isn't work and that it comes easy and that they think that everything that they write is great. Let me be very clear: Writing is very much work for me. And I hate everything I write."
Harsh self-criticism from someone who at 28 was a Hollywood wunderkind. Despite that unproduced screenplay (which Smilovic kept "putting back in the drawer and taking out" while shopping it around), he did manage to finish something. In 2003, he was the creator and co-executive producer of the TV series "Karen Sisco," based on a character from the Elmore Leonard novel and Steven Soderbergh film "Out of Sight." And shooting has recently wrapped on the pilot of "Kidnapped," another dramatic series written by Smilovic and starring Delroy Lindo, Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany. He hopes it will debut on NBC in late summer or early fall.
So when does the self-loathing stop?
"When you get paid," Smilovic says with a laugh. "When you're a kid and you're working on a script, you're focused on someday being a professional screenwriter, so there's no pressure. It's a hobby.... You're not at the point yet where you can even begin to feel the pressures of trying to maintain artistic integrity or trying to make a deadline."
