David Peoples

Last updated
David Peoples
Born
David Webb Peoples

February 9, 1940 (1940-02-09) (age 84)
Middletown, Connecticut, United States
Occupation Screenwriter
Spouse Janet Beebe Peoples [1]

David Webb Peoples (born February 9, 1940) is an American screenwriter who wrote Blade Runner (1982), Unforgiven (1992), and 12 Monkeys (1995). He has been nominated for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards. He won the best screenplay awards from the L.A. Film Critics (1991) and National Society of Film Critics (1992) for Unforgiven.

Contents

Early life

Peoples was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Ruth Clara (née Levinger) and Joe Webb Peoples, a geologist. [2] [3] [4] He studied English at the University of California, Berkeley.[ citation needed ]

Career

Peoples worked as a film editor in the 1970s while writing screenplays [5] but his writing career took off after he was hired as co-writer on Blade Runner after director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Hampton Fancher parted ways.[ citation needed ] Following the success of Blade Runner, Peoples worked on Ladyhawke (1985) and Leviathan (1989). [5]

During the 1980s, Peoples wrote a script based on DC Comics' Sgt. Rock series. Arnold Schwarzenegger was picked to play the title role; the project was revived three decades later in 2010 involving Joel Silver and Easy Company, although with the expectation to set the narrative in a place other than the battlefields of World War II to distinguish the project from the earlier script. [6]

Other Peoples screenplays were purchased during the 1980s, many after studio development prior to production: Unforgiven , Soldier , and The Blood of Heroes .[ citation needed ] The Blood of Heroes was directed by Peoples, and starred Rutger Hauer. [7]

Peoples received his greatest recognition for Unforgiven (1992). He had originally written the script in 1976, then entitled The William Munny Killings. [5] Peoples' screwball comedy Hero was filmed and released in 1992, the same year as Unforgiven.

Later in 1992, Peoples worked with his wife Janet Peoples on 12 Monkeys (1995), a science fiction fable about time travel inspired by Chris Marker's experimental short film La Jetée .

In 1998, Soldier was filmed by British director Paul W. S. Anderson, although it was re-written by Anderson. [8]

Filmography

As of February 2015, Peoples has thirteen writing credits (ten for original screenplays, two for stories, and one for source material), as well as five credits for editing, and three credits for directing. [9]

Awards

Peoples' highest accolades are for Unforgiven . It received Oscar, Golden Globe and British Academy nominations, and won L.A. Film Critics (1991) and National Society of Film Critics (1992) awards for best screenplay.[ citation needed ] Peoples was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival. [10]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.

<i>Unforgiven</i> 1992 film by Clint Eastwood

Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, years after he had turned to farming. The film co-stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris.

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Soldier is a 1998 American science fiction action film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, written by David Webb Peoples, and starring Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and Gary Busey. The film tells the story of a highly skilled and emotionally distant soldier who is left for dead, befriends a group of refugees, then faces his former superiors who are determined to eliminate them.

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<i>Leviathan</i> (1989 film) 1989 film by George P. Cosmatos

Leviathan is a 1989 science fiction horror film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by David Webb Peoples and Jeb Stuart. An international co-production of the United States and Italy, it stars Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Ernie Hudson, Amanda Pays and Daniel Stern as the crew of an underwater geological facility stalked and killed by a hideous mutant creature. Its creature effects were designed by Academy Award-winning special effects artist Stan Winston.

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References

  1. ↑ Courant Staff [ (March 23, 2000). "Obiturary: Joe Webb Peoples". Hartford Courant . Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Weinraub, Bernard (October 6, 1992). "A Screenwriter Whose Life's Script Stars Privacy". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  3. ↑ NYT Staff (April 4, 2000). "Obituary: Joe Webb Peoples, 92, Student of Dinosaurs". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  4. ↑ NYT Staff (September 10, 1937). "Wedding announcement: Ruth Levinger Married; Maplewood Girl Wed at Club to Prof. Joe W. Peoples" . The New York Times : 21. Archived from the original on 10 February 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Snider, Eric D. (August 29, 2015). "12 Dusty Facts About 'Unforgiven'". Mental Floss . Archived from the original on December 4, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ Boucher, Geoff (February 1, 2010). "'Sgt. Rock' Reloads as Movie Project—But Not as a WWII Story". Hero Complex . Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ Canby, Vincent (23 February 1990). "Review/Film; Clashing Gladiators in the Bloody Sport of a Future Dark Age". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Brew, Simon (2020-03-24). "Soldier: Kurt Russell, a major injury, and an ornamental cabbage". Film Stories. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  9. ↑ Hollywood.com Staff (February 4, 2015). "David Peoples—Biography and Filmography". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  10. ↑ "2010 Winners". Austin Film Festival. 2010-11-01. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
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