David Joyner at 2012-03-24 07:48:02:

You asked for interviews. Here is a short one in the Seattle Times which talks specifically about Michael Clayton: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2003929950_gilroy08.html I like this story On Tony Gilroy in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/16/090316fa_fact_max?currentPage=all It covered Michael Clayton towards the end.

David Joyner at 2012-03-24 12:13:09:

Also, there is this scholarly article by Prof Kamir (who teaches law at the Univ Michigan), "Michael Clayton, Hollywood's Contemporary Hero-Lawyer: Beyond Outsider Within and Insider Without". You can get the pdf here: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/Orit_Kamir/files/MichaelClayton.pdf I learned a lot from it.

The Bark Bites Back at 2012-03-24 12:48:50:

I started reading the attached article and can appreciate what the author is doing, but he's on a different page altogether with his definition of protagonist: Michael Clayton is not the protagonist of this story. I'll be sure to chime in next week, but the notion of protagonist is often misconstrued and as being "the good guy" with little regards to dramatic function of for a story goal or being against it. I'm sure it will make for an interesting discussion :).

Scott at 2012-03-24 13:27:12:

Thanks for the links, David. With the help of several GITS readers and my own research, I've got a ton of articles, interviews and essays on "Michael Clayton" and Tony Gilroy with our series next week.

Scott at 2012-03-24 13:32:27:

Bingo! If a Protagonist is simply a "good guy," then what's Scarface? American Psycho? Or any lead character who is morally ambiguous? There is a whole series of questions one can ask to zero in on a story's Protagonist character. We can discuss those next week, depending upon how the conversation goes, either Monday [General Discussion] or Wednesday [Characters].