James Vanderbilt has written more than a dozen movies. 'Nuremberg' was the hardest

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The panic usually sets in around Page 40.I’ve been writing movies for a while, and it’s always the same for me.It’s not like how we portray it in movies — it’s not a tortured writer staring at a blank page or a blinking cursor after typing FADE IN.

For me it’s reaching Page 40 and realizing that what happens there should be happening on Page 4.And that’s when the self-doubt, self-flagellation and internal recriminations begin.

On Page 40.On “Nuremberg” it happened much earlier.Screenwriters are essentially confidence men and women.We go to the producers or the studios and boldly announce, with absolute conviction, “This has to be a movie!” “I know how to write this movie!” And “I’m the only one who should write this movie!” And then, if we’re lucky enough to have them say yes, we go home and sit down and say “Now, how the hell do I write this movie?”And if there’s no studio, it’s even worse.

You have to con yourself into doing it.You have to convince yourself that not only is this a story worth telling, not only are you the one who should be telling it, but that you can make it sing.“Nuremberg” is based on a book by Jack El-Hai called “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.” It is the true story of Maj.

Douglas Kelley, a U.S.Army psychiatrist who at the end of World War II was brought in to evaluate the Nazi high command to see if they could stand trial for their war crimes, and the relationship he developed with the highest-ranking living Nazi, Hermann Göring.

It’s about the psychological battle of wills between two men.I read Jack’s book proposal in 2012, and it’s the fastest I’ve ever said yes to anything in my life.

I wanted, needed to write this movie.I knew, with absolute certainty in that moment, that I was the man for the job, and managed somehow to talk (i.e.

con) Jack into it.I used my own money to option the rig...