The account on classic and hit films. Detail in our making of stories is from cast/crew or 3+ sources. To support what we do, please subscribe 😁
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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.”
Writer George Gallo was inspired to write a buddy movie based on the dynamic of his parents. He said “my father was very emotional whereas my mother was far more calculating. She would let him talk and lead him down alleys and then strike like a cat."
After the success of The Dark Knight in 2008, Warner Bros wanted Nolan to complete the trilogy. He 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.
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.
After the success of Batman Begins, Warner Bros were keen on Christopher Nolan directing a sequel. Two factors convinced Nolan to return:
In the early 80s young screenwriter Edward Neumeier had an idea for a movie about a robot cop. He then came across student filmmaker Michael Miner who had an idea of a human cop who becomes a donor for a cyborg police officer. They felt they could combine the two ideas….
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 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.
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.
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.
In the mid-80s, Rob Reiner and producer Andy Scheinman met writer Nora Ephron at the Russian Tea Room, NYC, to discuss working together. Having been through a divorce with Penny Marshall, Reiner pitched an idea based on his dating life, piquing Ephron’s interest.
In 1963, comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby unveiled their latest creation. A superhero team based around a group of mutants born with superpowers, The X-Men #1 was published by Marvel in September and was an instant hit with readers.
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 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 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.
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.
Forrest Gump started life as a 1986 novel by author Winston Groom, and a studio bidding war started before it was even published. Producers Wendy Finerman and Steve Tisch acquired the rights, with Warner Bros optioning it to produce, and Groom wrote a script.
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 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.”
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.
