The scriptwriter of Kick-Ass and now a new film, the Debt, is clearly a considerable talent
Would one even be aware that Jane Goldman had co-scripted the new film Kick-Ass, were it not for her marriage to Jonathan Ross? First, much was made of the use of bad language in the film, with pointed reference to Ross’s own enthusiastic swearing, as if the source of all bad words might be found at the couple’s home in London. And second, much was made of Goldman’s apparel at the film’s UK premiere: a very low-cut dress revealing what Gok Wan would term “giant puppies”, that was ogled with somewhat confusing amazement by her spouse of 22 years. Surely he had noticed before?
The couple’s romantic history is well known: Goldman had a crush on Ross when she was an immensely precocious 16-year-old newspaper columnist. The legend states that sheer tenacity propelled her up the aisle at 18, up-and-coming TV presenter bagged. Yet if the leisurely life of a cosseted wife had been Goldman’s objective, she had a funny way of showing it. She carried on working, not off the back of her husband’s high profile but as a staff- writer on a computer games magazine. The quick arrival of three children was not converted into nannies-and-lunch, either; Goldman started writing books, mining what people would dismiss as kitsch culture aimed squarely at the teenage-boy market.
And while it could be argued that Goldman’s minor and decorative contribution to Kick-Ass is primarily connected to Ross and free publicity, another film, The Debt (not yet released), confirms this is most likely wishful thinking of a spiteful and negative sort. For those involved assert that, while Goldman again shares the script credit, it is largely her own creation.
The Debt is certainly a departure, about the long psychological shadow cast by a Mossad assassination conducted in 1965, and stars Helen Mirren. It is an intelligent, politically astute and complex thriller, owing much to the easily discerned fact that a lot of hard work was put in at the script- writing stage, rather than in the editing suite (as is, sadly, more common in the business at present).
The only sane conclusion is that, at 39, Goldman is a very considerable talent, with a future in the film industry a lot bigger than her breasts. Even.
