'Right Choice-ing' at the fork in the road

 

“The films of which I'm most proudI've written are the ones that pivot on forgiveness.” – PeterMorgan

 

Born in England on this date in1963, Morgan is best known for his historical films and plays The Queen and Frost/Nixon, andfor creating Netflix’s wildly successful series The Crown.   Healso co-wrote the screenplay for the award-winning movie The Last Kingof Scotland.  

 

The son of immigrants who fled toGreat Britain to escape the Nazis (his father) and Soviet repression (hismother), he started writing while at the University of Leeds. His bigbreakthrough came with The Queen, for which he won a Golden Globeand the lead actor Helen Mirren an Academy Award.   Since then,everything he’s written has been successful and influential, for which he was honored with the Commander of the Order of theBritish Empire (CBE) for services to drama.

 

 “As a dramatist, you have 200 choices at everyfork in the road,” he said.   “But the audience will reject it if you makethe wrong choice, if they feel you are trying to shape the character in a waythat suits you.  It rings false immediately.  People can sense whenyou're being cynical or schematic.”