Guillermo Arriaga

A trailer home burns in the middle of an isolated desert. Something has happened inside...something that will haunt many over the coming years. From acclaimed writer Guillermo Arriaga comes a multilayered drama in which six people separated by time and space discover that the past and the present have a curious way of affecting them: Mariana and Santiago, teenagers in a small New Mexico town, attempt to understand through forbidden love the mystery of the tragic end of Mariana's mother and...Read Full Story

The official screenplay book to the directorial debut by independent film favorite Guillermo Arriaga (screenwriter of Babel and 21 Grams), starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. In this multilayered drama from screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, a mother (Kim Basinger) and daughter (Charlize Theron) try to connect during the young woman’s difficult childhood, with devastating effects for all of their loved ones.The past and the present have a curious way of affecting each other as several...Read Full Story

Screenwriter Guillearmo Arriaga has distinguished himself with two movies in particular 21 Grams (2003) and Babel (2006), Grams because of its non-linear plot and Babel because of how it interlocks stories involving four different families. We featured Arriaga's approach to screenwriting here. An excerpt:"I never outline the story, never. I once went to a seminar of one of these gurus of the screen and this person said you must know everything about your character. I thought, Fuck, there's no...Read Full Story

"I never outline the story, never. I once went to a seminar by one of these gurus of the screen, and this person said, 'You must know everything about your characters.' I thought, 'Fuck, there's no way!' I want to have dark parts of my characters' history so they can surprise me. Also, I can't have an ending already, because when I don't know the characters they can show me the ending as I get to know them. That's why I don't like to do research of any kind. I like for the characters to grow...Read Full Story

The official screenplay book tie-in to the directorial debut by independent film favorite Guillermo Arriaga (screenwriter of Babel, 21 Grams, and Amores Perros), starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. From acclaimed screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga comes a multi-layered drama involving a mother (Kim Basinger) and daughter (Charlize Theron) who try to connect during the young woman's difficult childhood, with devastating effects for all of their loved ones. The past and the present have a...Read Full Story