H. G. Wells has 141 credits on IMDb, all from adaptations of his work. But he apparently actually worked on one, with a dialogue credit. The Man Who Could Work Miracles, a light fantasy of the sort not usually attributed to him.
Actually, I think that The Man Who Could Work Miracles is the best overall Wells adaptation of all , and for years I attributed this in part to his NOT having anything to do with it. I knew that someone else wrote the screenplay, but this is the first I heard that he added some dialogue. I still think it’s the best because his input wasn’t large,.
Wells DID write the screenplay for Things to Come, and it’s rather dismal. The movie is visually striking and imaginative, but wells’ hand is pretty heavy in allegory (“Everytown” my foot – why not just come out and call it London? It’s got St. Paul’s right there in the background.) Too many characters “stand for” something, but aren’t really people.
He wrote another screenplay – The King Who Was A King – but it was never produced. It’s apparently on the internet, and I should read it. But from all accounts it’s as allegorically heavy as Things to Come
Ironically, wells was right at the forefront of things. He was trying to team up with some inventors who wanted to turn The Time Machine into a sort of early Virtual Reality ride – a box with a movie screen in the front that depicted scenes from different historical eras. If they had done it, they probably would’ve scooped Hale’s Tours, which is credited with starting lots of movie careers.
Amanda Peet created and wrote three episodes of The Chair on Netflix. I haven’t really noticed her in anything since The Whole Nine Yards* but she’s worked steadily since then.
*Such an odd expression. I’d like to know the straight dope on its origins.
Clifford Odets was famous as a playwright from the mid-thirties (“Waiting for Lefty”; “Golden Boy”). From IMDB: “Clifford Odets’ original script for Wild in the Country (1961) had Elvis Presley’s character committing suicide at the end of the film. This was screened for a preview audience, who were horrified, and the ending was changed. According to Odets friend, Oscar Levant, in Memoirs of an Amnesiac, “… only Odets would write a story for Elvis in which he committed suicide. Actually, it was humiliating that Odets had to write that kind of picture at all, but he needed the money. Everything he was against, in the beginning of his career, he wound up doing himself.”
William Burroughs got two writing credits on Taking Tiger Mountain (1983), including one for “additional material from Bladerunner by.” He only got one credit when the film was later reedited and released as Taking Tiger Mountain: Revisited (2019). For the story of this film’s convoluted production, see: Taking Tiger Mountain (film) - Wikipedia
Among Truman Capote’s few screenwriting credits is an obscure and (deservedly?) forgotten 1968 TV remake of Laura starring Lee Radziwill - Jackie Kennedy’s younger sister - in the title role.
Bob Dylan has both. He also has a Grammy
Al Gore has a Nobel Prize and Grammy, and his documentary won an Oscar, though the producer received the statuette.
Sorry, just a little joke. However, Cecil (R.I.P.) never managed to track down the origins of the expression. A better explanation can be found here.
Not unknown now, but the first time I heard that Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) was one of the most sought after script doctors in Hollywood, it surprised me. She doctored Hook, Sister Act, The Wedding Singer, a couple of the Star Wars movies, and many others. She also wrote the screenplay for the movie of her memoir Postcards from the Edge.
A great book, with one of the best titles of all time, especially because it was true: he had amnesia from his electroshock therapy.
Three eighth-grade girls wrote an episode of “Tiny Toon Adventures.”
I legitimately dug that movie. It was really funny.