Story Conference Transcript January 23, 1978 thru January 27, 1978 George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Larry Kasdan Back in 1978, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg got together with Larry Kasdan to hash out the story for Raiders of the Lost Ark. The meeting was recorded and transcribed. (I guess that’s what you do when you’ve got…
Category: Early Versions
Day of the Dead
Fans of George A. Romero’s dead films know that the third entry was a compromised vision. Romero’s early draft of Day of the Dead would have cost more money than he could raise, so he cut back. Wonder what could have been? Check it out: Download screenplay
Watchmen
by Sam Hamm It hasn’t been easy adapting Alan Moore’s epic comic into a satisfying screenplay. Terry Gilliam wanted to do it for awhile. Later there were rumors of a script by David Hayter to be shot in Prague with Darren Aronofsky at the helm, but he left the project. Next up was Bourne Supremacy…
I Am Legend
Everyone who has read Richard Matheson’s book wanted this movie done right. Previous versions featured Vincent Price (Last Man on Earth) and Chuck Heston (The Omega Man). This adaptation was in and out of development for awhile — Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached back before Will Smith took the role of John Neville. When Akiva Goldsman…
Avatar
scriptment by James Cameron Cameron was planning on doing this story of genetically altered life forms immediately after Titanic. He actually had 200 page scriptment written at that point, but it was put aside for a while. Years later, Cameron’s mysterious Project 880 turned out to be Avatar after all. (This wasn’t surprising, since Lightstorm…
They
by Brendan Hood Rewrites, test screenings, and reshoots turned a promising spec script into a movie that no one wanted to see. Read the whole sad story at the Creature Corner. Script hosted by Joblo.com.
Star Wars
Scripts by George Lucas George wanted to do Flash Gordon. He couldn’t get the rights, so he created his own space mythology. These drafts fascinate me. In some ways, they’re very amateurish. But it amazes me to see how he formed the Star Wars galaxy through the course of rewriting. The first three scripts are…
The Stand
by Rospo Pallenberg, novel by Stephen King George Romero has worked with Stephen King many times over the years. They planned on doing a theatrical version of The Stand, but it didn’t happen. Romero’s producing partner, Richard P. Rubenstein, ended up doing the mini-series after they parted ways. Read the Pallenberg script and an in-depth…
Spider-Man
Scriptment by James Cameron Remember the huge legal battle over Spider-man? By the time Marvel and Sony had it figured out, Cameron was out of the picture. The final movie did use some of Cameron’s ideas, however. The genetically altered (rather than radioactive) spider and the organic web-shooters had their origins here. One fan of…
Resident Evil
by George Romero Romero got the shaft on this one. A German production company bought the rights to the video game and hired the zombie master to write and direct the adaptation. (Romero had already done some Japanese TV ads for the Resident Evil 2 video game.) According to Romero, the producers didn’t really have…