Paul Attanasio writes people who need to be believed, respected or simply listened to. We rate him highly when those needs shape the story; he falters when explanation takes over.
Fi1m perspective
In Donnie Brasco (1997), Lefty takes pleasure in teaching Donnie how to fit in. Attanasio gives him time to enjoy being useful, and Pacino shows how much it means to have his experience taken seriously. We were moved by his eagerness to keep Donnie close, because Pacino makes being listened to seem like such a rare pleasure. The family scenes repeat a problem we already understand, but the criminal friendship keeps developing.
That willingness to spend time with people was already central to Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), which he created and wrote. Its Baltimore detectives cannot count on solving a case before the episode ends, and they remain interesting while answers are scarce. We value that patience, though the restless editing sometimes seems unwilling to share it. His move into feature screenplays in the mid-1990s kept that interest in complicated working relationships.
Quiz Show (1994) makes television fraud uncomfortable by allowing vanity, wit and embarrassment into the account. Robert Redford gives Attanasio's quick exchanges room, and Paul Scofield makes Mark Van Doren's dignity attractive enough to complicate judgement. We can condemn the fraud without finding everyone involved easy to dismiss. The film takes longer than it needs to make some points, but Redford and Attanasio keep its characters from simply stating opposing views.
The Good German (2006), directed by Steven Soderbergh, shows what happens when explanation takes over. Attanasio's adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel sends Jake from one room to another, where men explain what he needs to know. The hero has too little to do, and the accumulating information makes the plot harder to follow. We lost interest in who wanted which piece of paper; the dialogue was supplying facts without giving us sufficient reason to care.
His later return to television included co-creating Bull (2016). The format offers room for the patient attention to working lives that we value in Homicide: Life on the Street, though more episodes cannot by themselves make people worth following. Start with Quiz Show or Donnie Brasco for an evening; take on Homicide: Life on the Street when there is time to stay with its detectives.
Biography
Paul Attanasio is an American screenwriter and producer. Born on 14 November 1959 in New York City, he graduated from Harvard College in 1981 and Harvard Law School in 1984. He worked as a film critic for The Washington Post from 1984 to 1987 before moving into screenwriting.
Attanasio created the television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999). His screenplays include Quiz Show (1994), for which he won a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and received an Academy Award nomination; Disclosure (1994); Donnie Brasco (1997), which earned him a second Oscar nomination; Sphere (1998); The Sum of All Fears (2002); and The Good German (2006).
