Telling the story of Hollywood one movie at a time. Behind-the-scenes stories sourced direct from cast/crew or 3+ verified sources. Podcast + daily posts. 🎬
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In 1994, writer Robert Rodat received a gift from his wife: Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. He was interested in writing a script and, visiting Tonawanda cemetery in New York, came across a monument that inspired him further.
In 1992, student filmmaker Christopher Nolan and girlfriend Emma Thomas took a trip across the English Channel – a recreation of the Dunkirk evacuation route. Nolan said it took 19 hours, freezing cold, and very tough, but it did give him an idea…
In 2005, American Prometheus was published. Written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, it told the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist who was director of the Manhattan Project, and known as “The father of the atomic bomb.”
After the success of The Dark Knight in 2008, Warner Bros wanted Christopher Nolan to complete the trilogy. Nolan hadn’t planned a third film and said "How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?” He said he would do it, but only if he could get a good story.
After the success of Batman Begins, Warner Bros were keen on Christopher Nolan directing a sequel. Two factors convinced Nolan to return:
With the success of Alien, 20th Century Fox were keen on a sequel but it was delayed until 1983. At that time, James Cameron was sending his script for The Terminator to studios to find writing work. Fox read it and liked it.
Nolan first pitched the idea of Inception to Warner Bros after his third movie, Insomnia, in 2002. He had an 80 page treatment about ‘dream-stealers’, and WB loved it. To keep creative control, Nolan said he’d show them a finished script in a couple of months.
In 1979, police officer-turned-author Roderick Thorp wrote Nothing Lasts Forever, inspired by a dream he had of armed assailants chasing a man through a building. Inspired by The Towering Inferno, 20th Century Fox bought the rights to adapt it for the big screen.
Student filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez met at the University of Central Florida in 1993 and bonded over a love of horror. Together they came up with an idea: a group stumble upon a terrifying house in the woods and aren’t able to resist going inside.
After the Watergate scandal broke in 1976 and made global headlines, young filmmaker John Carpenter was inspired to write a script that reflected the public’s lack of faith in the government. Influenced by Death Wish, he penned a screenplay he called Escape From New York.
In the mid-1980s, filmmaker Rick King was lounging on a beach and read an L.A. Weekly article stating that Los Angeles was the bank robbery capital of the USA. Taking in the waves, he imagined a movie about a gang of surfers holding up a bank.
In the early 1990s, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were keen on reinventing the pirate genre for the big screen. They came up with ideas around a swashbuckling adventure based upon the Pirates of the Caribbean Disney World ride.
In 1976, animator Steven Lisberger came across the now-classic Atari video game Pong, and couldn’t stop playing it. Fascinated by the idea of computer-generated graphics, he had the idea for a movie set entirely within a digital-based world.
The Crane Iron Pentalogy is a series of 5 novels published in the 1930s and 1940s by acclaimed wuxia novelist Wang Dulu. The 4thbook in the series was called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
In 1994, director Roland Emmerich and writer Dean Devlin were promoting their film, Stargate. In an interview, they got into a conversation with a journalist about aliens and what a visitation might look like. Later, Emmerich said to Devlin “I’ve an idea for our next film.”
The Terminator had been a huge hit in 1984, taking $78m from a $6.4mbudget. A sequel was stalled though because writer-director James Cameron had fallen out with Hemdale Film Corporation, who owned the rights to the franchise and owed Cameron profits from the first film.
In 1943, Australian Spitfire pilot Paul Brickhill was shot down over Tunisia and taken to World War II POW camp Stalag Luft III in Poland. There, he was one of 600 men who played a role in hatching and executing an escape from the camp.
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had been long time filmmaking collaborators since meeting at USC film school. By the early 1980s they had two movies under their belt but were looking for a big hit.
In the mid 1970s, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (ZAZ) were performing with the Kentucky Fried Theatre comedy group. To get inspiration for their skits they used to leave a VCR running overnight to record the late night TV commercials.
Following on from his huge success with psychological thriller Vertigo in 1958, Alfred Hitchcock said he wanted to do "something fun, light-hearted, and generally free of the symbolism permeating his other movies" for his next project.
In 1964, children’s author published what would be one of his most popular novels. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is the story of a young boy’s adventures inside a magical chocolate factory with its eccentric owner, Willy Wonka. It was an instant hit.
