Brockley briefs earn Oscar nomination for local screenwriter

Brockley-based screenwriter Matt Charman has been Oscar nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category for his work on Bridge of Spies, developing the script with the legendary Coen Brothers.

The cold war drama, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, collected a total of six nominations. Charman pitched the story to Spielberg in his pants while at home in Brockley. Charman told the Evening Standard:

“I went up to the little office I had at home. For some reason I cleared everything off the desk, don’t know why, like a reverse nesting sort of thing. I stripped down to my boxer shorts and a T-shirt because I was really hot and I just stood up and paced around and waited. Then suddenly the phone is ringing and it’s: ‘Hey Matt, it’s Steven. I hear you’ve got a story to tell me’.”

“When Steven came back and said ‘I’m going to make your film with Tom Hanks’ ... that still feels impossible, that sentence, that he would say that.”

Last year, Honor Oak-based production team received an Oscar nomination for their documentary Virunga.

Thanks to Margaret for the story.