# Have two movies ever been made from the exact same script? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103 "2013-04-19T04:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/42 "2013-04-20T21:49:33Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A few minor differences in staging, but the plot and dialog are nearly identical. Originally a novel, then a stage play. I think the movie script follows the stage script fairly closely. I believe the same is true of _ **A Man for All Seasons** _: the 1966 version with Paul Scofield and the 1988 made-for-TV version with Charlton Heston. I must confess that until I saw the TV version, I had no idea the first movie was adapted from a play. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/43 "2013-04-20T22:15:22Z")
_Never Say Never Again_ is an acknowledged remake of _Thunderball_ - same plot, same characters, but a few minor differences here and there. Interestingly, it _legally_ had to be pretty much the same film because Kevin McClory only had the rights to remake Thunderball and not come up with a new James Bond adventure of his own, as I understand it. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/44 "2013-04-20T22:56:20Z")
The Hal Hartley movie [Flirt](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113080/), starring Parker Posey, is made of three sections (set in New York, Berlin and Tokyo), each section using the exact same dialogue, but with very different meaning. (It also features a fantastic line my best friend and I have been quoting at each other ever since we saw it: “Your problems are trivial”.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/45 "2013-04-20T23:08:52Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I believe the same is true of _ **A Man for All Seasons** _: the 1966 version with Paul Scofield and the 1988 made-for-TV version with Charlton Heston. > > I must confess that until I saw the TV version, I had no idea the first movie was adapted from a play. In Heston’s autobiography it is apparent he wanted the movie role so badly he could taste it, but when it went to Scofield he graciously accepted it, as he respected the guy. He also noted how Scofield actually bore a close resemblance to the Holbein portrait of More. Heston acted the play more than once on stage as well, and once his wife Lydia played opposite him as Lady Alice. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/46 "2013-04-20T23:41:42Z")
See Post #4 Do screen adaptations of plays count? Like all the Shakespeare stuff over the years? Or will we not count those because of the “adaptation” part? Just wondering… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/47 "2013-04-20T23:42:18Z")
“Titanic” seemed somewhat deja vu to me, one of the previous movies about the Titanic seemed to have been a big influence on the Leo/Kate version. Minus the shipboard romance, of course. Or maybe I’m all wet here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103/48 "2013-04-23T17:54:50Z")
**Nick Knight** was originally filmed as a vehicle for Rick Springfield, but it went nowhere. Then I happened to catch a show called **Forever Knight** with the same plot and dialogue but with different actors (except for one who made the second cut). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-two-movies-ever-been-made-from-the-exact-same-script/656103.md?page=2)