With a side of briefs:
Ron Nyswaner
American screenwriter, producer and film director
Ron Nyswaner
(b. 1956 in Pennsylvania) has often worked on film projects having to
do with homosexuality, homophobia and AIDS. Openly gay himself, Nyswaner
has long been an activist for gay rights. His first produced screenplay
dates to 1982, but he scored a mega-hit ten years later with his
screenplay for
Philadelphia (1993).
Philadelphia
was Hollywood’s first big-budget film on the subject of AIDS, and
mainstream big-name cast members included Tom Hanks and Denzel
Washington. Nyswaner was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and Hanks won the
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for this film. Bruce
Springsteen also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song (
Streets of Philadelphia).
Antonio Banderas was cast in the role of Miguel, the live-in lover of
lawyer Andrew (Tom Hanks). Says Nyswaner, “The part of Miguel was
written as a Hispanic for one reason – that’s my sexual fantasy.”
Well, there you have it.
Nyswaner also wrote the script for the television movie
A Soldier's Girl (2003
Peabody Award winner), based on the true story of U. S. Army Pfc. Barry
Winchell, who was beaten to death in 1999 after his fellow soldiers
learned of his involvement with a transgendered nightclub performer.
Three years later Nyswaner wrote the screenplay for the much-lauded period film
The Painted Veil (2006),
based on the 1925 novel by Somerset Maugham. The film, which tells the
story of a dysfunctional marriage, starred Edward Norton, Naomi Watts
and Liev Schreiber. Ron’s screenplay was the third film adaptation of
Maugham’s book.
At present Nyswaner is working on a screenplay for
Freeheld,
a movie that will tell the true story of Stacie Andree, an auto
mechanic living with her female partner of five years, Laurel. A crisis
ensues when the medical benefits provided to her as a police office are
blocked by a state law against same-sex couples. With the help of
Laurel’s fellow officer, she begins a crusade for protection that soon
garners national attention. Ellen Page will star in the leading role as
Stacie, and Peter Sollett will direct. The short documentary film on
which Freeheld is based won the Oscar for Best Short Documentary in
2009.
Blue Days, Black Nights is the title of Nyswaner’s memoir, published in 2004 (
called
"hilarious and uncompromising" by The New York Times). He has written extensively for television and stage and has also directed two films,
The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) and
Why Stop Now (2012). Nyswaner also wrote the screenplays for both films.
