At one point, in the early 1990s, he lived a nomadic lifestyle, shuttling
from one location to another.
Johnston first met cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld while working
on Raising Arizona. When Sonnenfeld got the chance to direct his first
feature, The Addams Family, he hired Johnston as script supervisor. Shortly
after production began, Johnston sought out the film's editor and intro-
duced himself. "I told [Dede Allen] how I got into script supervising . . .
She took a liking to me and took me under her wing. She really, really
taught me a lot about filmmaking, editing, and about my job as a script
supervisor. It was like a dream experience, because she was somebody I
really respected. I learned a tremendous amount about filmmaking . . .
Dede allowed me to come into the editing room and watch her cut. She
would explain to me why certain things worked and why she preferred
certain angles; how to make things go together, not only in technical
terms, but in story terms."
Johnston's admittance into
the union while working on
The Addams Family opened
additional doors, brought more
choice of projects, and enabled
him to pursue work with other
filmmakers he admired. He
came to know producer Patrick
Markey while working on The
Tie That Binds and Bogus, and
shared his desire to work with Robert Redford. A couple of years later,
when Markey was producing The Horse Whisperer, he arranged for
Johnston to meet Redford. Johnston was hired for the project and also
script supervised Redford's next picture, The Legend of Bagger Vance.
"Once you have a good relationship with a director, usually you'll end
up working with that same person over and over again."
From the time he first entered film school, Johnston's goal was to
eventually make his own movies. Together with David Elton and Eric
Tignini, friends since high school and film school days, the three
managed to carve out time between their individual projects to write,
produce, and direct an independent film called Jerome. Several years in
the making, the film successfully toured film festivals and aired on the
Sundance Channel and Showtime.
Although always busy, Johnston managed to squeeze in four days off
after wrapping Analyze That, before reuniting with the Coen brothers to
script supervise Intolerable Cruelty.
"Be willing
to jump in and do
whatever needs to
be done."
--Thomas Johnston
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