There are only a few names in Hollywood that are as legendary as the place itself, and one of them is Billy Wilder. Wilder is an incredible writer and director who seems to master every genre.
Wilder has the kind of career you can’t even dream of emulating. But that’s because it’s so crazy how many important movies he made. He made one of the greatest film noirs of all time, Double Indemnity, one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, with The Apartment, and many other all-time-great movies, like Sabrina, Ace in the Hole, Sunset Blvd, and The Seven Year Itch, to name a few. Wilder is a certified legend, to say the least.
But, don’t let his talent and success intimidate you—allow watching and reading about Wilder to lead you to some incredible lessons in filmmaking. Whether it’s his rich characters or expert use of irony, Wilder was a master storyteller and legendary filmmaker.
Let’s dive into how you can learn from the legend himself.
Thinking Like Billy Wilder
Look, before we dive in, it’s so much fun to have Every Frame a Painting back. In this new video, they tackle Billy Wilder and break down his career as a writer and a director.
Wilder was insanely collaborative, frequently co-writing all of his scripts and always giving credit to the people who inspired him. This collaboration helped him craft stories on the page.
But what made those stories so great?
The first thing is clarity. We always knew what the characters want at every given moment. So we have a clear foresight of the goals and obstacles in their way. We’re rooting for these people and invested in their journeys.
Alongside that, you have his humor. No matter what the subject of the movie, be it murder, be it a POW camp, or just two people falling in love, Wilder always threw humor into the mix to make things feel more like real life.
Going along with all of this, Wilder was not afraid to make a character face the repercussions of their choices. There’s an age-old anecdote no one wants to watch a movie about the village of the happy people—Wilder understood that. He let people be desperate. And when desperation led to different choices, he let him fall on their faces, go to jail, and even die.
That made for great drama and comedy.
How Billy Wilder Uses Irony
One of the thing I appreciated about the video was how it highlighted Billy Wilder’s use of irony to tell all his stories across genres. There are three main types of irony:
- Verbal irony is when a speaker says something that is the opposite of what they mean. It’s often used to create humor, sarcasm, or emphasis.
- Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader knows something important that the characters in a story do not. This creates suspense or adds a different layer of meaning to the characters’ actions or words.
- Situational irony happens when the outcome of a situation is very different from what was expected or intended. It often involves a surprising or unexpected twist.
Wilder used all three of these in tandem to round out his scenes. They worked with every genre. And they achieve the main goals we talked about about. He wanted the audience to connect with characters, always know their desires, understand the stakes, and then to surprise them with the consequences of their choices.
That’s great writing and then great direction is executing it on screen.
Billy Wilder is an all-time great Hollywood persona whose work carries so many lessons for every filmmaker out there.
Study him. Learn from him. And go off and find your own courage to use the lessons to create your best work.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
