The brain behind The Hurtlocker + Zero Dark Thirty talks taking inspiration from real stories + how to write the perfect actor's screenplay.
Mark Boal (born January 23, 1973) is an American journalist, screenwriter and film producer. Before he became a prominent figure of cinema, Boal worked as a journalist for such publications as Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Salon and Playboy.
In 2009, he wrote and produced The Hurt Locker, for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2012, he wrote and produced Zero Dark Thirty, teaming again with director Kathryn Bigelow, about the tracking and capture of Osama bin Laden. The film earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. The pair collaborated a third time for 2017's Detroit.