Caroline Thompson

Last updated

Caroline Thompson
Born (1956-04-23) April 23, 1956 (age 67)
Alma mater Radcliffe College
Amherst College
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • Screenwriter
  • Director
  • Producer
Spouses

Caroline Thompson (born April 23, 1956) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer. She wrote the screenplays for the Tim Burton-directed films Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride and the Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas . She co-wrote the story for Edward Scissorhands and co-adapted a new stage version of the film with director and choreographer Matthew Bourne. Thompson also adapted the screenplay for the film version of Wicked Lovely , a bestselling fantasy series, in 2011, but the production was put into turnaround. She directed Black Beauty (1994); Buddy (1997), which she also wrote; and the television film Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001), also as producer and co-writer.

Contents

Personal life

Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Bettie Marshall (née Warner), a teacher, and Thomas Carlton Thompson, Jr., a lawyer. [1] She received her early education in Washington. She later moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Radcliffe College, and eventually graduated from Amherst College in 1978 with a degree in English and classic literature. [2] Her first marriage was to Henry Bromell, a fellow novelist and screenwriter. She later married Steve Nicolaides, a film and TV producer. [3] [4]

Career

Thompson moved to Los Angeles, supporting herself as a freelance book reviewer and writer. In 1983, she published a novel First Born which director Penelope Spheeris chose to adapt into a film, and from whom she started learning scriptwriting while writing the drafts of the film's screenplay. [5] Though the movie was never made, the project inspired her to pursue a career as a screenwriter. [6] Tim Burton was impressed with the novel, which was "about a monster fetus". He felt First Born had the same psychological elements he wanted to showcase in Edward Scissorhands , and hired her to write its screenplay as a spec script. [7]

Her other works include Snow White: The Fairest of Them All , The Secret Garden , Buddy , Black Beauty, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, and The Addams Family . Though she is best known for having written the screenplays for Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, she has had more than a dozen movies made, including City of Ember and The Addams Family.

From the above, she directed Black Beauty (1994) as her directorial debut, [8] followed by Snow White in 2001 for TV [9] and Buddy. She was the producer for Snow White and the associate producer for The Secret Garden and Edward Scissorhands.

Her screenplay for Wicked Lovely , intended to be directed by Mary Harron, was in turnaround in 2011. [10]

Thompson was the first woman to be presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2011 Austin Film Festival. [11]

Filmography

As writer

As herself

Bibliography

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References

  1. "Caroline Thompson Biography (1956-)".
  2. Biography The New York Times .
  3. "Steve Nicolaides | Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles" . Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  4. Odam, Matthew. "Thompson to bring her quirky side to AFF". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  5. "Interview". Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  6. Biography Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Yahoo! Movies.
  7. Salisbury, Burton, p.84–88
  8. Black Beauty Review Entertainment Weekly .
  9. on making "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All"
  10. Stuart Kemp (Hollywood Reporter), "Screen Talk: No fairytale ending in sight", The Independent (UK), September 2, 2011
  11. Savlov, Marc (October 21, 2011). "A Slice of Weird and Wonderful". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  12. N'Duka, Amanda (April 28, 2017). "Untitled Robert Zemeckis Project Starring Steve Carell Eyes Thanksgiving 2018 Release". Deadline. Retrieved April 28, 2017.