American Fiction with Cord Jefferson
Script Apart with Al Horner6 Helmi 2024

American Fiction with Cord Jefferson

American Fiction is two films at once – a farcical comedy take-down of white gatekeepers who only want one type of Black storytelling and a beautifully tender drama that underlines the richness possible when filmmakers of colour are allowed to operate outside of the boxes they’re often put in. Written and directed by Cord Jefferson, whose past writing credits include work on Succession, The Good Place and Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen TV adaptation, the film tells the tale of Monk, a frustrated academic played by Jeffrey Wright, who becomes an accidental literary sensation when a manuscript he writes as a joke, perpetuating Black stereotypes, becomes a best-seller. There’s sensitivity beneath the scathing satire of that premise, however: American Fiction is a movie that reels you in with its funny premise, then moves you to tears with its elegant portrait of a family as they search for meaning in grief and growing older.

In this spoiler conversation, Cord tells Al what struck him about Erasure, the 2001 novel by Percival Everett that American Fiction is an adaptation of. We get into the personal experiences that helped him relate powerfully to Percival’s story – and what inspired the changes from page to screen, such as the omission of a storyline involving a murder by an abortion protestor. Listen out, also, for what Cord has to say about the film’s meta ending and the symbolism behind the enigmatic image that closes the film.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Magic Mind, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

To get ad-free episodes and exclusive content, join us on Patreon.

Support the show

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(178)

Project Hail Mary with Drew Goddard, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Project Hail Mary with Drew Goddard, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Ground control to Script Apart listeners – today on the show, we’re blasting off into the cosmos with three formidable sci-fi storytelling talents. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the writer-director-p...

26 Maalis 1h 36min

Bugonia with Will Tracy

Bugonia with Will Tracy

Today on the show – a conversation about Bugonia, with the film’s writer, Will Tracy. Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the upcoming Academy Awards, the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed film is an bla...

15 Maalis 58min

Avatar: Fire and Ash with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver

Avatar: Fire and Ash with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver

Pandora beckons once more, guys. Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa are back on the show today, spilling secrets from their screenplay for the recent third film in the Avatar franchise, Fire & Ash. The husb...

14 Maalis 46min

Train Dreams with Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Train Dreams with Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Today on the show, our short run of episodes about Oscar 2026 awards contenders continues with a story about grief and growth amid the final flickers of the old West. Train Dreams – adapted from a nov...

12 Maalis 59min

Weapons with Zach Cregger

Weapons with Zach Cregger

It’s officially that time of year again: Oscar season! We’re now just a few weeks away from the 98th Academy Awards and to celebrate, over the coming days and weeks we’ll be posting conversations abo...

24 Helmi 56min

The Plague with Charlie Polinger

The Plague with Charlie Polinger

The Plague is writer-director Charlie Pollinger’s unflinching portrait of childhood bullying in which the titular contagion is a skin rash that may or may not be real. Set in 2003, at an all-boys summ...

18 Helmi 46min

Rental Family with Hikari

Rental Family with Hikari

In Rental Family, the new Tokyo-set drama starring Brendan Fraser, writer-director Hikari poses the question: “Can fantasies and fictions ever fill the gaps left in our lives by the people we miss; th...

14 Helmi 52min

Hamnet with Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell

Hamnet with Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell

To record an episode about Hamnet, the new film from Chloe Zhao, or not to record an episode about Hamnet? That was the question – and a question I answered in a heartbeat when Chloe’s team reached ou...

2 Helmi 48min