I thought about asking this in GQ, but it doesn’t seem to me there’s a factual answer to this one. Anyway.
A few years ago, Michael Cricton was sued by the author of a screenplay about tornado chasers–the guy said Chrichton had lifted his screenplay for Twister. Ultimately, the court decided that Crichton was innocent. However, people I’ve met, including my mother, with whom I recently had a conversation about this, are convinced that not only did Crichton steal Twister, but that whole passages were lifted word for word from this other screenplay. My mother also believes he steals everything he writes. This is largely, I think, because she (and the other people I’ve met who hold this opinion) doesn’t like him. I don’t, either, but I don’t buy this.
I tried to Google the Twister thing, and only found general articles. The points listed in those articles as proof of theft seemed incredibly general to me–competing teams of stormchasers–uh, that seems pretty obvious to me, you’ve got to get your conflict somewhere. Character obsessed with the death of a loved one–well, if you list movies that don’t have such a character, you’ll have a pretty short list. (I’m exaggerating, but still). And the Wizard of Oz reference seems like a no-brainer, too. How could you possibly do a tornado movie without referencing the Wizard of Oz?
So anyway, my question is, does anyone here know just how close the two screenplays were? Were there whole passages plagarized, and somehow the judge was bought out or asleep or something? Because it’s driving me crazy when my mom gives me the “whole passages lifted” business, and if I tell her the court says otherwise, she just says it was a fix. I’d like to have some information from someone who actually knows something about the case.
Thanks!