Steven Priggé
April 04, 2008
When the movie Heathers came out in 1989, it was a eureka moment for many teen fans—finally, a dark comedy about high school! Because, let’s face it, high school is dark. Heathers catapulted Winona Ryder’s acting career, and Daniel Waters became one of the most sought-after screenwriters in Hollywood. He went on to write many big budget studio movies like Batman Returns, Demolition Man, and the “loved in Denmark and Spain” Hudson Hawk. Waters’ refers to this chapter in his career as the “failing-upwards-montage.” “I got involved in doing rewrites for big action movies,” said Waters. “I was creating movies that didn’t appeal to the people who liked Heathers and didn’t appeal to action movie fans either. I felt like it was more of a job than actual writing. I said to myself that I had to stop and get back to that warm place of naiveté where I wrote Heathers.” The result: the devilishly dark and wickedly funny Sex and Death 101.
