There are many arrogant people in Hollywood who can barely string a sentence together so I didn’t find his attitude off putting. He’s confident not arrogant.

Reread the article once more maybe, because doesn’t Gilroy’s friends say he’s a bit arrogant? That that’s just who he is. Now, I’m not using the arrogance as such some disgusting quality that must be nuked until there’s nothing left, its just not for me. Some people dig it in their friends and don’t mind much. But it wasn’t just that writer’s slant. You can tell that the writer was filtering that slant from the friends and their interaction with Gilroy, understanding that that was simply his nature.

Of course we gotta have room for mistaken body language, or vocal inflections… but I dunno. It “feels” accurate.

Will I be as good as you or Gilroy? Who knows?

But I’ll take my shot at it. :)

I was also struck by the writer’s slant, including the example you mentioned. I had to read Gilroy’s quote twice before I realized that it was just the writer trying to be edgy, or something. Very annoying.

I don’t think anyone that’s serious about their work has much of an ego. The process is humbling. Trying to make a great film is as obsessive and exhausting an endeavor as one can embark upon.

On some basic level someone has to control the world, to filter each decision and hold the film’s vision for the duration of the process and play God to some extent — perhaps that professionalism is mistaken for ego-tripping?

I’ve worked with a lot of headcases, but the good writer-directors are always decent guys.

I strive to be one because I want to make an adequate living doing what I would want to be doing even if I weren’t making a living. Being better than Tony Gilroy – or you, for that matter – is something about which I permit myself a modicum of doubt, from time to time. :-)

And yet, if you’re not working with the goal of be as good as (or better than) Gilroy, should you be a screenwriter?