Battlefield Earth Screenwriter Apologizes

[MarianLH]

The writer of Battlefield Earth published an apology in the New York Post a couple days ago.

No one sets out to make a train wreck. Actually, comparing it to a train wreck isn't really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those.

Full text here


Marian

 

[Pingfah]

Heh, that was a very funny read. Good apology

 

[cardinal biggles]

He's about 10 years too late for this apology.

 

[Hyperspace05]

"My script was very, VERY different than what ended up on the screen. My screenplay was darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters. What my screenplay didn't have was slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs."

Some apology. He's just offloading the reason the movie sucked onto other people. His "compelling story with rich characters" was ruined by others. "Not my fault"! Right...

 

[Dick Whitman]

Who cares... one way or another...

 

[Joy]

Having just recently been to a screenwriting lecture featuring a Hollywood writer and hearing what it's like to get from an initial script to a shooting draft, I am more than willing to accept Shapiro's "excuses". I would not be surprised in the least to see extreme differences between Shapiro's initial writing and the studio-noted drafts. In fact, I'd be very interested in reading Shapiro's original script.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Nice try. I know what day it is.

 

[MarianLH]

In retrospect, maybe I should've put "apology" in quotes. There is a lot of ass-covering on page 2. On the other hand, he may be telling the truth; it's hardly unheard of in Hollywood for a director or producer to crap up a good script. Crow II had a fantastic screenplay...and an utter fuckwit of a director.

I've never seen Battlefield Earth--I was forewarned--so I don't have much invested in the matter. I just thought the train wreck comment was funny.


Marian

 

[Hyperspace05]

Of course writer's scripts get messed up by directors and producers. It happens all the time. But then he shouldn't apologize for it. But he wants its both ways... for publicity.

 

[Lindley]

Nice try. I know what day it is.

The article is actually dated March 28th. I checked.

 

[Trekker4747]

Oh sure, 10 years later he apologizes. What about the years of therapy I had to go through to forget that mess, huh?!

Thanks for the apology, I guess, but be quicker on the draw next time. (Besides, the screenwriting wasn't the worst thing about the movie. I'd dare say it was the "best" thing. But that's like picking out the best turd in a toilet boil after taking a dump made of hard lumps of poop.)

 

[Lt. Trull]

problem is.... movie wouldn't have been half bad had they added one scene.... twenty seconds of film.....
showing everybody else of earth sitting in that learning machine....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

LRH's stuff is bad enough as it is. Are you telling me the film is WORSE?

 

[Hound of UIster]

^Add a church of loons who thinks he shits rainbows and you get one of the most horrible movies of the 90s.

Having just recently been to a screenwriting lecture featuring a Hollywood writer and hearing what it's like to get from an initial script to a shooting draft, I am more than willing to accept Shapiro's "excuses". I would not be surprised in the least to see extreme differences between Shapiro's initial writing and the studio-noted drafts. In fact, I'd be very interested in reading Shapiro's original script.

That would be a passable excuse for any other movie. However Battlefield Earth was an adaptation of a very horrible preexisting novel.

 

[Icemizer]

I thought the first half of the novel was quite good, but ultimately unfilmable except as a mini series. The second half was horrible with all the intergalactic banking nonsense. I remain thankfull that there are people who donate eyes after they die as mine melted out of my skull while watching the movie.

 

[Mistral]

I sat through it. I've read the book. I had my heart and mind extracted and placed in formaldehyde years ago for safe keeping, so I was confident I could with stand the shock(s). It was still a near thing.

 

[M'Sharak]

He's about 10 years too late for this apology.

That's okay. He wasn't really apologizing.

It's a funny read, though.

 

[Sakrysta]

The only way this movie is tolerable is with the RiffTrax. I admit, I laughed the hardest I've ever laughed at a commentary when watching the riff of this movie.

 

[Admiral Shran]

He damn well should apologize! Too bad he waited a decade to do it.

 

[Navaros]

"My script was very, VERY different than what ended up on the screen. My screenplay was darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters. What my screenplay didn't have was slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs."

Some apology. He's just offloading the reason the movie sucked onto other people. His "compelling story with rich characters" was ruined by others. "Not my fault"! Right...

Actually, that happening is legitimately a very common occurrence amonst screenwriters. Most screenwriters make their living by changing, which oftentimes equals totally bastardizing, the work of other screenwriters.