The account on classic and hit films. Details provided in our making of stories is direct from cast/crew or 3+ sources. Check out our podcast @ATRMPodcast 😁
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In 1967, struggling writer Mario Puzo started penning a new book – an epic crime thriller he called Mafia. Paramount literary scouts came across the manuscript when it was just a 20-page outline and took it to Paramount Vice President of Production, Peter Bart.
The idea of a filming revolving around the two DC icons at loggerheads was first discussed by Warner Bros in 2000. Andrew Kevin Walker then Akiva Goldsman wrote scripts, with Wolfgang Petersen mooted to direct. The project was cancelled by WB in 2004.
In 1996, aspiring 26-year-old filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his younger brother, Jonathan, went on a road trip across the US. Discussing ideas for projects, Christopher was struck by Jonathan’s idea about a man with anterograde amnesia hunting his wife’s killer.
The story began with Maria Von Trapp's memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers". Published in 1949 to promote her family's singing group, it told their story, fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria to America.
2/25 - E.T. 
After the success of The Wolverine in 2013, 20thCentury Fox were keen on a follow up and quickly approached director James Mangold, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, and star Hugh Jackman about returning.
Having appeared as Batman in the successful Batman vs Superman and Justice League, Ben Affleck was announced as the star, co-writer and director of a new standalone Batman film in 2016. Affleck and DC comics writer Geoff Johns wrote a script, called The Batman.
In 1986, the best-selling non-fiction book Zodiac was published. Written by Robert Graysmith – cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle – it told the story of the unsolved crimes of the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer at large in 1960s and 70s San Francisco.
In 1978, college pals-turned-comedians Christopher Guest and Michael McKean featured in a pilot for a sketch show called The TV Show. The pilot was unsuccessful but their sketch – about a parody rock band called Spinal Tap – was very well received.
In 1968, record company EMI formed a film division headed by producers Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley. Deeley purchased a spec script called "The Man Who Came to Play" for $19,000, about people who travel to Las Vegas to play Russian roulette.
One of Peele's inspirations for the film was a comedy bit by Eddie Murphy in his 1983 stand up film Delirious. Using The Amityville Horror as an example, Murphy joked that in horror movies, a haunted house is obvious, but the white family still move in.
Having had some success with Shallow Grave, producer Andrew MacDonald was looking for his next project. After reading Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting on a flight, he gave it to Shallow Grave director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge, convinced it would make a great film.
The concept originated from Andrew Bergman's 1971 treatment Tex X, purchased by Warner Bros. for $50,000. It was bought as a vehicle for blacklisted comedian Dick Gregory to lead, but plans soon changed.
In the early ‘80s, young National Lampoon writer John Hughes was making a name for himself. After writing two hits in 1983 in National Lampoon’s Vacation and Mr Mom, he became a hot property in Hollywood, earning a three-picture deal with Universal Pictures.
In 2003, Dennis Lehane’s gothic psychological horror novel Shutter Island was published, and film studios were immediately interested. Columbia optioned it but when they did nothing about it, the rights lapsed back to Lehane, who sold it to Phoenix Pictures.
In the mid-1980s, screenwriter Dana Olsen had some minor Hollywood success with comedies It Came From Hollywood, Wacko and Going Berserk. Looking for a bigger hit, he started looking inwards for inspiration…
The Warriors is based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name, which was inspired by the classic ancient Greek story Anabasis by Xenophon. Yurick drew on his experiences working in the Department of Welfare in New York City for a gritty portrayal of gang life.
After the huge success of Shaun of the Dead in 2004, production company StudioCanal gave its director/co-writer Edgar Wright and star/co-writer Simon Pegg pretty much free rein to do what they wanted for a follow-up.
7 years after the success – and film adaptation of – his 1981 novel Red Dragon, author Thomas Harris published a sequel. It followed an enigmatic character from the first – Hannibal Lecter – and was called The Silence of the Lambs.
In 1990, aspiring screenwriter Danny Rubin was looking for an idea. Reading Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire in an LA movie theatre, he began to ponder the immortality of vampires and considered what he would do with his own time if it never ran out.
By the early 2000s, Martin McDonagh had established himself as one of Ireland’s best young playwrights with The Leenane Trilogy and The Aran Islands Trilogy. Saying that he had “respect for the history of films”, McDonagh was keen to get into moviemaking.
