From The Guardian:
Must admit I've never seen it (heard a couple of bad things about it) but the knowledge it was made by someone trying to get laid makes me feel a lot better about it.
Battlefield Earth: writer JD Shapiro apologises
Screenwriter JD Shapiro has unveiled the testosterone-fuelled secret behind his involvement in the Razzie-winning flop
It's a question many of us have asked: how do you make a movie so abominably awful as Battlefield Earth, the 2000 John Travolta vehicle based on scientology founder L Ron Hubbard's 1981 novel? Ten years after the movie bombed at cinemas and a few weeks after he picked up the Razzie for worst movie of the decade in person, screenwriter JD Shapiro has revealed the answer in an article for the New York Post in which he also apologises for his part in the film's creation.
According to Shapiro, he had very little interest in scientology, despite availing himself of a number of courses in the run-up to writing Battlefield Earth. But he was extremely interested in the chance to hang out at Celebrity Center, LA's Scientology hub, having read an article in Premiere magazine suggesting that it was "a great place to meet women".
Following what he refers to as his "Willy Wonka", Shapiro arranged a meeting with Karen Hollander, president of the centre, who turned out to be a fan of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, the 1993 spoof which Shapiro co-penned with arch-satirist Mel Brooks. There followed a dinner with Travolta, wife Kelly Preston and a variety of other scientologists, and Shapiro soon found himself penning a treatment for Battlefield Earth, Hubbard's personal favourite among his own novels. Studio MGM greenlit the film with a budget of $100m after Travolta agreed to star, and in Shapiro's own words "life was grrrrreat!"
Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. Despite having earlier hailed Shapiro's work as "the Schindler's List of science fiction movies," Travolta apparently encouraged MGM to demand a series of rewrites, which Shapiro at first indulged, before finally refusing to make any further changes, at which point he was fired.
"My script was very, VERY different than what ended up on the screen," says the screenwriter. "My screenplay was darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters. What my screenplay didn't have was slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs."
Shapiro says he then tried to get his name taken off the film, but was dissuaded by his agent and lawyer, who pointed out that he might suffer financially as a result.
"Now, looking back at the movie with fresh eyes, I can't help but be strangely proud of it," he writes. "Because out of all the sucky movies, mine is the suckiest."
The saddest part of all is that the film didn't even benefit Shapiro's "Wonka". "No way do you get any action by boldly going up to a woman and proclaiming, 'I wrote Battlefield Earth!'," bemoans the screenwriter.
Must admit I've never seen it (heard a couple of bad things about it) but the knowledge it was made by someone trying to get laid makes me feel a lot better about it.
