|
Screenplay by the Noted AuthorSeptember, 2017 William Faulkner's typewriter in his Oxford, Mississippi home "Hollywood money isn't money. It's congealed snow, melts in your hand, and there you are." - Dorothy Parker Many writers have had a love/hate relationship with Hollywood. They hate the work, which some considered demeaning, the town, the unproduced or altered scripts...but they have loved the money. Numerous authors have tried their hand at writing for the screen, sometimes in genres far removed from their fiction work. This month's The Screening Room features the work of well known authors and their screen credits.
|
Free Movies at the Library Beatriz at Dinner Rated R Sunday, September 17 at 2:00 p.m. Nichols Library Hidden Gems of the 21st Century The Hours Rated PG-13 Tuesday, September 19 at 6:00 p.m. 95th Street Library Star Wars Day Saturday, September 30 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. 95th Street Library Visit https://www.naperville-lib.org/programs/star-wars-day for a complete schedule of the day's events. The Clapper Board Events Around Town Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival September 21-28 This festival features international films, features, documentaries and shorts. For more information and a full schedule visit http://reelingfilmfestival.org/2017/
|
|
|
Beat the DevilThis comedy, about a a group of misfits trying to acquire a plot of land rich with uranium, was co-written by Truman Capote. The young author was brought in to write the screenplay just as filming was about to begin. Associate producer Jack Clayton bought Capote as much writing time as he could by telling the cast that director John Huston did not want them to read their lines until the last minute. Starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones. Unrated.
|
|
|
Jane EyreFive years after publishing the dystopian classic Brave New World in 1932, English author Aldous Huxley arrived in Hollywood. Like so many others, he was lured by the money he could earn as a screenwriter. In 1943, he worked on the screenplay for Orson Welles' adaption of Jane Eyre, which also stars Joan Fontaine. In the film, a plain, independent-minded governess finds romance and a terrifying secret working at the home of the mysterious Mr. Rochester. Unrated.
|
|
|
The Panic in Needle Park
A young man (Al Pacino) and woman (Kitty Winn) try to maintain their relationship as their heroin addiction threatens to destroy them both. The screenplay for this film was written by award winning author Joan Didion and her then husband John Gregory Dunne. It was the first of five screenplays the author of The Year of Magical Thinking has written. Rated PG.
|
|
|
The name Ray Bradbury is synonymous with science fiction. However, in 1956, he co-wrote this screenplay with John Huston. While the process did not go smoothly, it did provide Bradbury with writing material. In 1992 Bradbury published Green Shadows, White Whale, a fictionalized account of his collaboration with Huston. Gregory Peck stars in the film as Captain Ahab, a man obsessed with the whale who disfigured him.
Unrated.
|
|
|
A Star is BornDorothy Parker did not remember her years in Hollywood with fondness. “It’s a horror to look back on... When I got away from it, I couldn’t even refer to the place by name," she said in a 1956 The Paris Review interview. However, the author and founding member of the Algonquin Round Table did achieve success and recognition for her work on A Star is Born. She and her then husband Alan Campbell received Academy Award® nominations for their script about a young actress who climbs the ladder of Hollywood success and marries a leading actor, whose popularity is fading. It stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. Unrated.
|
|
|
Superman: The MovieJor-El sends his child from the dying planet Krypton to distant Earth. There he is brought up by human parents and poses as a newspaper reporter, becoming Superman when necessary to use his special powers to save others. Christopher Reeve stars in this adaption of the DC Comics hero. The film was co-written by a man whose work would be adapted into Academy Award® winning classics - Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather. Rated PG.
|
|
|
Author Graham Greene took a very different approach when writing the screenplay for this film. Rather than work from an outline or notes, he decided to write the story as a novella then adapt it as a screenplay. The result is a film considered one of the best in the history of cinema. Set in post-war Vienna, an American western-adventure writer (Joseph Cotten) searches for a friend (Orson Welles) who turns out to be the king-pin of the Austrian black market. Unrated.
|
|
|
Three ComradesDesperation drove F. Scott Fitzgerald to Hollywood in 1937. The author of The Great Gatsby was broke. However, he was not able to master the craft of writing for the screen. His sole screenwriting credit is Three Comrades. The film, which tells the story of three men returning from World War I, stars Robert Taylor and Margaret Sullivan. Unrated.
|
|
|
To Have and Have Not The Nobel prize winning author William Faulkner worked on over a dozen movie scripts. As a struggling author, he welcomed the $500 a week salary. However, he didn't enjoy Hollywood. While working on the script for The Big Sleep he asked if he could work from home rather than at the studio. The studio approved and then was stunned to learn that he was working at his home- in Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner adapted To Have and Have Not from the novel by Ernest Hemingway. In the film, an American fisherman takes a job transporting a member of the French Resistance on the run from the Nazis to Martinique. It stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Not Rated.
|
|
|
When American and Soviet spaceships are hijacked, James Bond must travel to Japan and face his rival Blofeld, who is deliberately aggravating both superpowers in order to start a world war. The fifth film in the Bond series, its screenplay was the first movie writing credit for Roald Dahl. Known for children's classics such as James and the Giant Peach, Dahl, a friend of Bond creator Ian Fleming, was disappointed in the finished film as the director had made changes to his screenplay. Starring Sean Connery. Rated PG.
|
|
|
|
|
|