It was 1979, my first year at the Yale School of Drama. A friend — the producer who had given me my first paying job as a screenwriter and paid my initiation into the Writer's Guild — was trying to get the rights to Under the Volcano. For months he had been taunting me with [...]
How losing one argument about my screenplay led to a major change in the film of Under the Volcano.
Here's a copy of the screenplay for an episode of Tales from the Darkside that I wrote back in the 80s. It is based on the John Cheever short story, The Enormous Radio. I post it for those interested in seeing how a script can be subtly altered in the process of making. The episode [...]
Twenty five years after the release of Under the Volcano and I still get a knot in my stomach when I think about some of the dynamics involved in its making, the personal and professional mis-steps and conflicts. I was very fortunate that my screenplay for Under the Volcano met with John Huston's approval; that [...]
For my first job after Under the Volcano I was hired to adapt Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Having succeeded with an adaptation that had defeated many previous writers, I was approached to manage another near impossible adaptation: bring Twain's novel to the screen with a fresh slant, avoid the pitfalls [...]
Here's an interview I did back in 1989. Interesting to read after two decades. BOMB Magazine: Guy Gallo by Betsy Sussler. Share on Facebook
