Caroline Thompson | |
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| Born | April 23, 1956 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Alma mater | Radcliffe College Amherst College |
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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.
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]
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. [3] Though the movie was never made, the project inspired her to pursue a career as a screenwriter. [4] 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. [5]
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, [6] followed by Snow White in 2001 for TV [7] 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. [8]
Thompson was the first woman to be presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2011 Austin Film Festival. [9]
Her first marriage was to Henry Bromell, a fellow novelist and screenwriter. She later married Steve Nicolaides, a film and TV producer. [10] [11]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Edward Scissorhands | No | Yes | Associate |
| 1991 | The Addams Family | No | Yes | No |
| 1993 | Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey | No | Yes | No |
| The Secret Garden | No | Yes | Associate | |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas | No | Yes | No | |
| 1994 | Black Beauty | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1997 | Buddy | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2001 | Snow White: The Fairest of Them All | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2005 | Corpse Bride | No | Yes | No |
| 2008 | City of Ember | No | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Welcome to Marwen | No | Yes | No |
As herself
