After years of Hollywood not taking comic books seriously, superhero films
finally made a big turn around with X-Men in 2000, and Spider-Man in 2001. Their
respective directors, Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi, were inspired choices who
brought a fresh vision and healthy respect to two of the most anticipated comic
adaptations in memory. Yet Spider-Man also had a secret weapon in his corner,
someone who brought empathy and experience to the job. He's not a young kid who
won the screenwriting lottery, but a respected veteran who's been around the
Hollywood block.

Alvin Sargent wasn't the first name you'd think of when it came to superhero
films. Before Spider-Man, he was best known for writing Ordinary People (adapted
from Judith Guest's novel), for which he won an Academy Award. He also wrote
Paper Moon, Straight Time (with Jeffrey Boam, and legend has it an uncredited
Michael Mann), as well as Julia (for which he also won an Academy Award), among
others.

Sargent's forte is emotion and giving characters humanity, which many would have
initially dismissed for a superhero film. But what separates Spider-Man from his
super brethren is he's vulnerable, not invulnerable. As Stan Lee told Creative
Screenwriting Magazine, "He was the first, if not the only superhero who was a
regular guy. He's just a regular teenage kid who happened to accidentally get a
superpower, but it didn't bring him fulfillment and victory in every other area.
He still had money troubles, he still had family problems, he still had problems
with girls, he still had to worry about making a living. So I think he was
perhaps the most realistic of all of the superheroes."

This is also what appealed to Sargent. As he told Newsweek, "I don't write
comic-book stories. But Peter Parker is the guy down the block. He feels guilty
about the death of his uncle. He worries about his aunt May. He lives in a
crappy one-room rental with a bathroom down the hall. He's a lonely boy who
wants nothing more than to be with this girl who loves him. And he can't tell
her. That's a great story. That's mythic."

Being a screenwriter in Hollywood can be awful. If you're on the A-list, you can
make a ton of money, but your vision can be mangled beyond recognition, or never
reach the screen, and since you're getting well paid, you're supposed to shut up
about it. And even the best in the business aren't invulnerable. There was a
time when William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess
Bride) couldn't get a gig for five years. Joe Eszterhas became the hottest
screenwriter in Hollywood with the success of Basic Instinct. Three years later,
his name became a punch line with the failure of Showgirls. Robert Towne wrote
what many consider to be one of the greatest screenplays ever written, Chinatown,
but also wrote the scripts for Days of Thunder and Mission: Impossible because
he admittedly needed the money.

One Hollywood cliché is certainly true: A career is a marathon, not a sprint.
Having "heat" can burn out quick. More important is having a career. As Sargent
approaches his 80th birthday, with his name on what will certainly be a monster
summer hit, and a track record any screenwriter would be proud of, he's proven
you can have both.