Tales From Development Hell
Page 36
CRISIS ON THE HOT ZONE
Page 165: “We had Redford, Ridley Scott...” and all other Richard Friedenberg quotes, AI. “He mentioned Ebola...” Richard Preston, quoted in ‘Crisis in the Plot Zone’ by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 24 March 1995. Page 166: “I want people to know...” and all other Arnold Kopelson quotes are ibid. Page 167: “Fox and I had won...” and all other Lynda Obst quotes are from Hello, He Lied by Lynda Obst, New York: Little Brown, 1996. Page 168: “I had just finished Contact...” and all other James V. Hart quotes, AI. Page 172: “I got the scripts on my desk the same day...” Wolfgang Petersen, quoted in ‘Crisis in the Plot Zone’ by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 24 March 1995. Page 173: “an eleventh-hour, page-one...” and all other Tom Topor quotes, AI. Page 180: “It was like a train wreck...”; “When the Fox project exploded...” Preston, quoted in ‘Film Clipped’ by Richard Corliss, TIME, 5 September 1994. Page 182: “extreme creative conflicts...”; “an old poker buddy”; “every draft by every writer”; “Ted Tally contributed...” Robert Roy Pool, quoted in ‘Crisis in the Plot Zone’ by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 24 March 1995. “I’m just sitting there laughing...” Preston, ibid. Page 183: “ripped off” and all other Pool quotes are from a letter printed as part of ‘Inside Outbreak Fever’, uncredited, Entertainment Weekly, 21 April 1995. Page 184: “It’s a great script...” Scott McGehee, quoted in Variety, 2 July 2002. Page 185: “watching people break and enter...” Preston, quoted in “Crisis in the Plot Zone” by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 24 March 1995. Page 186: “I would have loved to work with Jodie...” Ridley Scott, quoted in Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon, London: Orion, 1999. “It’s not like Alien...” Preston, quoted in ‘Film Clipped’ by Richard Corliss, TIME, 5 September 1994.
FALL AND RISE OF THE DARK KNIGHT
Page 187: “I told them I’d cast...” and all other Darren Aronofsky quotes, AI. “I remember when I was...”; “Batman and Robin were always punning...” Bob Kane, quoted in ‘Bob Kane, 83, Cartoonist Who Created Batman’, The New York Times, 7 November 1998. Page 188: “a definitive Batman movie...” Michael E. Uslan, quoted in ‘Batman’ by Alan Jones, Cinefantastique, November 1989. “The first treatment...” Tim Burton, quoted in Burton on Burton edited by Mark Salisbury, revised edition, London: Faber and Faber, 2000. Page 189: “The success of the graphic novel...” Burton, quoted in ‘Batman’ by Alan Jones, Cinefantastique, November 1989. “I tried to take the premise...” Sam Hamm, quoted in ‘Batman’ by Taylor H. White, Cinefantastique, June 1989. “In my mind I kept...” Burton, quoted in Burton on Burton edited by Mark Salisbury, revised edition, London: Faber and Faber, 2000. Page 190: “I see what they’re doing...” Hamm, quoted in ‘Batman’ by Taylor H. White, Cinefantastique, June 1989. Page 190: “When I was hired...” and all other Wesley Strick quotes, AI. Page 192: “The Joker is coming...” Jack Nicholson, quoted in various sources from As Good As It Gets press conference, circa 1997. “He’s not Batman...” Jon Peters, quoted in interview with Beth Laski, Cinescape Online, 9 October 1998. “If there is another, I’d do it...” George Clooney, quoted in interview with E! News Daily, 19 September 1997. “I felt I had disappointed...” Joel Schumacher, quoted in Variety, 9 January 1998. Page 193: “If your only memory...” is from the introduction to Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, New York: DC Comics, 1990. Page 197: “It’ll have to be dark...” Keanu Reeves, quoted in interview with TV Times and reported on Empire Online, 1 October 1999. “pure fiction...” Ben Affleck, quoted in Comics 2 Film (www.comics2film.com ), 29 December 1999. Page 197: “I know that it’s one of the possible options...” Paul Dini, quoted in interview with Cinescape Online (www.cinescape.com) by Patrick Sauriol, 5 November 1999. “Boaz is co-writing the script...” Dini, quoted in interview with Comics Continuum (www.comicscontinuum.com), circa 2000. Page 198: “You do the movie cheap...” Clooney, quoted on the Internet Movie Database, 8 September 2000. “unless we put Batman and Superman...” Peters, quoted in interview with Beth Laski, Cinescape Online, 9 October 1998. Page 199: “I very much liked Walker’s original...” ‘Jett’, quoted on Batman on Film (www.batman-on-film.com), reported on Coming Attractions (www.corona.bc.ca), 26 January 2003. “It is the clash of the titans...” Wolfgang Petersen, quoted in ‘WB Finds Helmer for Batman vs Superman’ by Dana Harris, Daily Variety, 8 July 2002. Page 200: “We have a script...” Petersen, quoted on MTV.com circa 2002. “No, that’s Bateman...” Christian Bale, quoted in an interview with Movie Hole (www.moviehole.net), 15 August 2002. “I did, and it was amazing...” Peters, quoted in ‘In This Superman Story, the Executives Do the Fighting’ by Laura M. Holson, The New York Times, 15 September 2002. Page 201: “In reintroducing...”; “I wanted some objectivity...” Alan Horn, ibid. “a Batman origins movie...” Horn, quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, circa December 2002. “He told me that his original idea...” Christopher Reeve, quoted on Comicon.com, 20 January 2003. “I swear I heard the flapping...” Peters, quoted in ‘In This Superman Story, the Executives Do the Fighting’ by Laura M Holson, New York Times, 15 September 2002. Page 202: “My own movie agent...” quoted in Supergods by Grant Morrison, London: Jonathan Cape, 2011. “All I can say is that...” Christopher Nolan, quoted in ‘Batman Captures Director Nolan’ by Michael Fleming, Variety, 27 January 2003. “I said, ‘If I do this...’” David Goyer, quoted in ‘Batman – The Journey Begins,’ a documentary for the Batman Begins DVD, circa 2005.
TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES
Page 205: “We should have made a better movie...” Lloyd Levin, quoted in ‘Angelina Jolie is One Tough Mother’ by Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly, 18 July 2003. Page 207: “Mr Lawrence Gordon and Mr Lloyd Levin...” is from a press release announcing the Tomb Raider film, circa 1998. “We are thrilled by the possibilities...” John Goldwyn, ibid. Page 209: “I’m sorry to report that the content...”; “it seems like a mix of Predator-style chase set-pieces...” are from ‘Tomb Raider Script Review’ by ‘Agent 4125’, Ain’t It Cool News (www.aintitcool.com), 1 October 1998. Page 211: “I’d love to give you the whole story...” Brent V. Friedman, quoted in ‘Tomb with a View’ by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. “I was hired in September 1998...” and all other Steven de Souza quotes, AI. Page 212: “Several scribes took a shot...” is from ‘Herek Digs Par’s Tomb’, uncredited, Variety, 11 April 1999. “Thankfully, de Souza’s Tomb Raider...”; “Overall, this is an excellent script...” ‘Necros,’ quoted on Coming Attractions (www.corona.bc.ca). “We hadn’t gotte...” Levin, quoted in ‘Tomb with a View’ by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. Page 213: “[The producers] said, ‘The situation is this...” John Zinman, quoted in ‘Tomb Raider’ by David Goldsmith, Creative Screenwriting, July/August 2001. “Scene for scene, beat for beat...”; Page 214: “a lot of puzzle solving...” Patrick Massett, ibid. “The challenge is to create a story...” Zinman, ibid. “hailed as heroes” Zinman, quoted in “Tomb with a View” by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. “The script opens in Macedonia...”; “a wonderful contradiction...”; “You’re not asking much...” Darwin Mayflower, quoted on Screenwriters Utopia (www.screenwritersutopia.com). Page 216: “The old drafts had a lot of Mary Poppins...”; “Every time it came up I thought...” Simon West, quoted in ‘Tomb with a View’ by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. Page 217: “[One of them] had scenes with people visiting the Queen...” West, quoted in Dreamwatch, circa 2001. “The plot, briefly, involves adventuress/magazine editor...” is from a report on Coming Attractions (www.corona.bc.ca) Page 218: “From a creative point of view...” Levin, quoted in ‘Tomb with a View’ by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. “When we met with Simon his idea was...” Zinman, quoted in ‘Tomb Raider’ by David Goldsmith, Creative Screenwriting, July/August 2001. Page 219: “James Bond of archaeology...” West, quoted in Entertainment Weekly, 2 March 2000. “It was always Angelina...” West, quoted in ‘Not Just a Pretty Face... Balls of Brass Too’ by Mark Di
nning Empire, August 2001. Page 220: “At first I thought Tomb Raider was a really bad idea...”; “It’s taken us a long time to figure out...” Angelina Jolie, ibid. “It was always our intention for Lara...” Massett, quoted in ‘Tomb Raider’ by David Goldsmith, Creative Screenwriting, July/August 2001. “This script is first and foremost about Lara...”; “nimble wit...”; “I was surprised by how much...”; “The choices faced...” ‘Moriarty’, quoted on Ain’t It Cool News (www.aintitcool.com). Page 221: “Originally, I wrote the idea to be in China...” West, quoted in interview for Paramount press materials for Lara Croft Tomb Raider. Page 222: “We wrote a script that was just huge...” Zinman, quoted in ‘Tomb Raider’ by David Goldsmith, Creative Screenwriting, July/August 2001. “Long, long ago, a meteor crashed to Earth...”; “The High Priest knew that this power...” is dialogue cut from Lara Croft Tomb Raider. Page 223: “Burglars escaped with a rucksack...” is from a report in The Sunday Express, 8 October 2000. “I was in bed at home...” West, quoted ibid. Page 224: “psychologist specialising in stress management” reported in ‘Tomb with a View’ by Christine Spines, Premiere, July 2001. “I’ve learned that” West, quoted in ibid. “The only way I could write so much music...” Graeme Revell, quoted in Dreamwatch, June 2001. Page 225: “The first one did not have a strong story...” Levin, quoted in ‘Angelina Jolie is One Tough Mother’ by Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly, 18 July 2003. Page 227: “The only thing that we can attribute it to...” Wayne Lewellen, quoted in ‘Lara Plays the Blame Game’, uncredited, Dreamwatch. October 2003. “If Paramount had spent a few bucks...” is from ‘Summer Winners and Losers’ by various, Entertainment Weekly, circa September 2003. “Mark and Hawk’s sensibilities...” Graham King, quoted in a press release dated 5 May 2011. “We are thrilled...” Fergus and Ostby, ibid.
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING FILM
Page 229: “Jim called me up...” Roland Emmerich, quoted in ‘Emmerich On Fantastic Voyage’, uncredited, EmpireOnline.com, 25 September 2007. Page 230: “I followed the plot line...” quoted in I, Asimov by Isaac Asimov, New York: Doubleday, 1994. “involved two vessels”; Page 231: “wrote a novel” ibid. “A motion picture may...” quoted in the introduction to Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain by Isaac Asimov, New York: Doubleday, 1987. “When I was a kid...” and all other Dean Devlin quotes, AI. Page 232: “Dean Devlin asked us...” and all other Glen Morgan quotes, AI. Page 233: “The molecular construction...” is from the Fantastic Voyage screenplay dated 12 June 1997. Page 235: “My draft was well received...” and all other Tab Murphy quotes, AI. Page 236: “I remembered the film...” and all other Kevin J. Anderson quotes, AI. “I was attached to this project...”; Page 237: “I said, ‘Why have you...’” Emmerich, quoted in ‘Emmerich On Fantastic Voyage’, uncredited, EmpireOnline.com, 25 September 2007. “We’ve been working on a script...” James Cameron, quoted in ‘James Cameron on Avatar Sequels, Fantastic Voyage and Battle Angel’ by Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub, Collider.com, 11 December 2009.
TALES FROM THE SCRIPT
Page 245: “Paul’s version was very cerebral...” Jim Robinson, quoted in ‘Exorcise Plan’ by Missy Schwartz, Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Double ’05. All other quotes recalled from bitter, bitter experience.
INDEX OF PEOPLE & PROJECTS
* * *
A | B | C | D | E
F | G | H | I | J
K | L | M | N | O
P | R | S | T | U
V | W | Y | Z
A
Abrams, J.J. 200-201
Ackerman, Forrest J. 50-52
Adams, Douglas 9
Affleck, Ben 197
After the Gods 242
Airborne 239, 248-250, 252-253
Alexander, Scott 142
Allen, Karen 103
Anderson, Kevin J. 236
Angelou, Maya 180
Aronofsky, Darren 187, 193-196, 198, 240, 248
Asimov, Isaac 230-231, 233, 236
Attanasio, Paul 177-179, 218
Avary, Roger 150-154, 159-160, 162
Aviator, The 11, 135, 144, 145
B
Babyak, Beth 244, 247
Baird, Stuart 224
Baker, Rick 36, 44, 127
Bakshi, Ralph 57-59
Bale, Christian 200
Balk, Fairuza 160
Basile, Pier Luigi 65
Basinger, Kim 126, 190
Batchler, Janet Scott 15-29
Batchler, Lee 15-29
Batman 11, 187-190, 199, 203
Batman & Robin 191-192, 203
Batman Begins 202 (footnote)
Batman Beyond, aka Batman of the Future 197-198
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker 197
Batman 5 191-192
Batman Forever 191
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 197
Batman Returns 190-191
Batman: The Animated Series 197
Batman vs Superman 198-202
Batman: Year One 193, 198, 200-202
Batman: Year Zero 202
Baumgarten, Craig 35-37
Bay, Michael 42
Beagle, Peter S. 58
Beatty, Warren 137, 142
Belushi, James 126
Berdinka, Jesse 77, 81, 84
Beresford, Bruce 66-67, 71
Berman, Bruce 19, 21
Bernal, Bill 52
Bigel, Daniel 242, 244
Bixby, Jerome aka Jay Lewis Bixby 230
Boam, Jeffrey 90-91, 94, 96-97
Bonham Carter, Helena 46
Boorman, John 49, 54-57, 60
Boulle, Pierre 31-34, 41
Braga, Brannon 218
Brassel, Bob 200
Brodie, Kevin 25-26
Brolin, James 32
Broyles Jr., William 42-44, 46
Bruckheimer, Jerry 118
Bullock, Sandra 89-90
Burnett, Alan 197
Burton, Tim 11, 31, 35, 43-46, 188-190, 196, 198, 203
C
Cage, Nicolas 138-140, 142
Cameron, James 41-42, 229, 236-238
Capshaw, Kate 101, 103, 105 (footnote)
Carrey, Jim 144
Catwoman 201-202
Chambers, John 32-33
Channing-Williams, Simon 206
Charno, Sara B. See Sara B. Cooper
Chernin, Peter 40, 182
Cirulnick, Matt 76-77, 81-85
Climan, Sandy 143
Clooney, George 191-192, 198
Cobb, Ron 50
Colleary, Michael 214-215, 218, 22 3
Columbus, Chris 41, 93-94
Conkling, Chris 58
Connelly, Jennifer 116
Connery, Sean 20-21, 101, 103
Contagion, 186
Coolis, Orin 149
Cooper, Sara B. 211, 223
Costner, Kevin 93
Creber, William 33
Crisis in the Hot Zone, See The Hot Zone
Cronenberg, David 61, 63-66
Crowley, Nathan 203
Cruise, Tom 75
Crusade 11, 74, 107-120
Cunningham, Jere 123
D
Dante, Joe 188
Darabont, Frank 96, 102-106
Dark Knight, The 203
Dark Knight Rises, The 203
Davis, John 123
Day-Lewis, Daniel 160
Dead Reckoning See ISOBAR
de Bont, Jan 74-75, 225
Deitch, Gene 52-53
De Laurentiis, Dino 63, 65-67
De Luca, Michael 141
De Palma, Brian 135, 138-140
Depp, Johnny 137, 140, 143, 145
de Souza, Steven 121, 124-131, 211-214, 216-220, 223-226
Devlin, Dean 124, 130-133, 231-236
di Bonaventura, Lorenzo 149-150, 153, 196, 200-202
DiCaprio, Leonardo 140-145
Dick, Philip K. 61-64, 66, 69-74, 86
Dini, Paul 197
Dixon, Leslie 27-28
Douglas, Joel, 25-27
Dougla
s, Kirk 25
Douglas, Michael 25-29
Downey Jr., Robert 239, 242-243
Dreyfuss, Richard 64
Duncan, David 230
Dworet, Laurence 166-167, 180, 182-184