CHAPTER 21

Rod Serling and Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston, directed by Franklin Schaffner, and based on a novel by French author Pierre Boulle, was released across the United States on April 3, 1968. It quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. Over the next five decades, the film spawned four sequels, a television series, and two modern reboots. Few could have predicted such success, however, and getting the initial film made was a long, arduous process. Rod Serling’s contribution to what eventually showed up on-screen has been subject to speculation and misinformation since the film’s release.

The credits for Planet of the Apes indicate that its screenplay was written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling rather than by Michael Wilson & Rod Serling. The distinction is significant. Guidelines established by the Writers Guild of America call for a writing team to be credited with an ampersand, while and is to be used when multiple writers separately performed sufficient work to warrant equal credit for having written a screenplay. Wilson and Serling never worked together on this screenplay, and the credit points this out.

Serling first became involved with a proposed Planet of the Apes film on December 6, 1963, more than two years before Wilson’s involvement. On that date, Frank King of King Brothers Productions discussed with Serling the possibility of adapting Boulle’s novel, La Planete des Singes, published earlier that year into a screenplay and then mailed Serling a copy of the book.

The novel begins with a framing device in which two space travelers discover a message in a bottle floating in space. The message is the journal of a French astronaut, Ulysse Merou, who has visited a planet where apes are the dominant, civilized species while humans are subservient and mute. His experiences on this upside-down planet—and what these experiences say about life on our planet—make up the bulk of the novel. The story then utilizes what are essentially two twist endings. First, Merou’s journal ends with his return to Earth, where he is shocked to find that apes have become the dominant form of life there as well. He then flees the planet and tosses his message in a bottle into space. The frame is then completed when it is revealed that the two space travelers who have been reading Merou’s story are apes—and they dismiss Merou’s story as fantasy. No human could have written such a thing.

“The King Brothers had a notion about doing the Pierre Boulle book as a nickel-and-dime picture,” Serling later said. “As I recall, I did a whole treatment for them, a scene-by-scene breakdown of how we could lick the problem.”¹ The “problem,” as Serling saw it, was that “as talented and creative a man as Boulle is, he does not have the deftness of a science fiction writer. Boulle’s book was not a parody, but rather a prolonged allegory about morality, more than it was a stunning science fiction piece. But it contained within its structure a walloping science fiction idea.”²

When King initially contacted Serling, he was immersed in an assignment for the State Department, writing a documentary film that would be used to help introduce President Lyndon B. Johnson to the world. He read the novel after returning from Washington, D.C., and immediately set about adapting that “walloping science fiction idea” into screenplay form, producing a draft by January 6, 1964. Like Boulle, Serling initially set the story in a modern (not necessarily futuristic) city, but according to Serling, this vision was deemed too expensive to produce “by the time they created an ape population, clothed it and built a city for them to live in.”³ The King Brothers “were going to do a $200,000 film, and put masks on actors, at which point I said I couldn’t associate myself with it,” Serling said.⁴

King Brothers’ involvement with Planet of the Apes was brief, however. By February 1964, the film’s eventual producer, Arthur P. Jacobs (APJAC Productions), had acquired the rights to the property and officially hired Serling to write the screenplay. In coordination with Jacobs, Serling set aside what he had already written and rewrote his script “with an eye toward a very special society, one that was semi-primitive, semi-civilized.”⁵

The earliest of Serling’s attempts uses the novel’s initial twist ending: the protagonist (named Thomas, not Taylor) leaves the ape planet and returns to an Earth where the evolutionary process has somehow flipped during his absence. Serling never included the framing device involving the two ape space travelers.*

In each of Serling’s drafts, Thomas, the spectacular “talking man,” becomes a celebrity on the ape planet. In the film as produced, his existence poses a threat to the orthodoxy, represented by the character of Dr. Zaius, who opposes anything that would bring into question the idea that apes are and have always been the universe’s dominant species. In Serling’s versions, Zaius’s motivation proceeds not from orthodoxy but from fear. He has had an inkling of the truth of humans’ catastrophic history on his planet and is terrified at the prospect that humanity could rise and repeat that history. In one early draft, Zaius conspires to hide the truth by creating a robot duplicate of Thomas that can be presented to the media as evidence that the entire affair was a hoax. He then intends to lobotomize the captured man to ensure that the truth can never be revealed. But Dr. Zira, who is sympathetic to Thomas’s plight (as she is in the finished film), intervenes. The story ends with Thomas escaping in his ship while the surgeons make their first incision into what they discover is not Thomas but the robot duplicate, which Zira has sneaked onto the operating table.

Each of these endings was eventually discarded. Gradually, Serling incorporated clues that the planet had undergone a nuclear holocaust in the distant past, and by December 1964, his screenplay included the ingredients for what would become one of the most iconic endings in film history.

THE ENDING

In Serling’s December 17, 1964, second draft, Cornelius and Zira discover evidence of humans’ prior dominance during an archeological expedition, much as they do in the film as produced. In this version, Dr. Zaius responds to this revelation by attempting to have Thomas assassinated. Thomas survives and escapes in a stolen helicopter:

AERIAL SHOT—THE DIGGINGS

as sections of earth, loosened by the explosions, begin to shift and move and then sink. This movement takes the form of a running line like an earthquake fault snaking across the ground until it reaches one point and from the earth emerges a GIANT METAL ARM and around it something resembling a kind of IRON PICKET FENCE.

REVERSE ANGLE—LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS—THOMAS

as he studies this, bewildered by it.

Thomas disregards this strange sight and takes the helicopter back to the city to retrieve Nova and to rescue his fellow astronaut, LaFever (renamed Landon in the film). He cannot find Nova and discovers that LaFever has been lobotomized—a telltale scar runs across the side of his head, much as it does in the produced film. Thomas intends to take LaFever but is attacked by two apes. As Thomas dodges, one ape’s momentum takes him into the cockpit of the helicopter. He lands on the controls and the helicopter’s blades spin to life. As Thomas pulls the ape from the cockpit and they continue to fight, LaFever walks mindlessly toward the helicopter, attracted to the sound.

THOMAS:
(screams)

LaFever, get back!

At the same time, he flings himself on the controls, but LaFever’s last sound on earth—a PIERCING SCREAM—is a testimony to horror and to what the blades have done.

Alone, Thomas takes the helicopter back into the air and returns to the excavation site, where he meets Zira and Cornelius. Nearby he surveys his wrecked ship and confirms that it will never take him home. Reviewing the ship’s recorder, however, he finally begins to make sense of many things that had puzzled him. He now understands that two thousand Earth years have passed since he left home. He also has some inkling of what he saw sticking out from the sand.

Cornelius and Zira offer to take Thomas with them and provide protection from Dr. Zaius, but he declines. The apes climb aboard a helicopter to return to the city, and Thomas then takes the other helicopter into the air. Cornelius contacts him by radio, and Thomas explains the significance of the “ruins” below:

THOMAS:
(into the microphone)

They mean nothing to you, but remember them. And remember what I’m going to tell you now. Because in case I don’t get where I’m going … the following is another chapter in your history book …

When we first landed and looked toward the sky, some of the stars had changed their positions. We assumed we were somewhere out in space and that explained it. It wasn’t a question of space … it was time. Time had altered the look of the sky. When I looked in your telescope, it was almost identical to what I’d seen on Earth. Almost identical … and again I assumed I was on another planet …

Here’s the last chapter in the history book, Mr. Cornelius. The stars are the solar system as I know it. Your map is a map of a world I know. Parts of the land have sunk into the sea. Continents have been split. Jungle has replaced cities … But I’ve come home, Mr. Cornelius. This is Earth …

He releases the button on the microphone, tosses it aside, manipulates the controls so that the helicopter banks to the left and loses altitude.

CUT TO:

AERIAL SHOT—THE HELICOPTER

as it roars across the sky. A PAN DOWN from it to see what Thomas has already seen. Down below, protruding from the earth, is the giant metal arm surrounded by its iron picket fence. But this time it is caught in the blaze of the morning sun revealing it as what it is—the top part of the Statue of Liberty.

CUT TO:

EXT. SKY

as the helicopter heads toward the jungle area beyond.

The CAMERA PANS BACK for a:

SHOT—THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

as we take a

SLOW FADE TO BLACK

THE END

In the March 1, 1965, final draft, Serling removes Thomas’s explanatory dialogue, allowing the sight of the Statue of Liberty to speak for itself. This draft also includes long sequences in which Thomas puzzles over the inexplicable similarities between the ape planet and the Earth, blatantly telegraphing the ending. The climax itself, however, is handled more smoothly. And in this version, Thomas does not escape in a helicopter. Instead, Dr. Zaius and his soldiers pursue him to the excavation site. Cornelius and Zira urge Thomas to run, but he has gotten a better look at the object jutting out from the sand, and he now understands exactly where—and when—he is.

ANOTHER ANGLE—THOMAS

as he walks slowly toward the metal “arm,” then past it, heading directly toward the gorillas who raise their guns.

THOMAS

I’m afraid … I’m afraid there’s no place to run to. I’m afraid there’s no place to go … now.

ANOTHER ANGLE OF HIM

as he moves TOWARD THE CAMERA, BRIEFLY OBLITERATING THE SCENE, and then there is the SOUNDS OF SPORADIC GUNFIRE.

EXTREMELY TIGHT CLOSE SHOT—A PIECE OF GROUND

as Thomas’ body falls in FRONT OF THE LENS to land, face down, in the sand.

ANGLE SHOT—LOOKING UP AT DR. ZAIUS, CORNELIUS, AND THEN ZIRA

who stare down at the prostrate, lifeless body.

DR. ZAIUS

We’ll take him back now.

A SLOW PAN AWAY FROM the scene UNTIL we are FOCUSING ON the dark side of the metal “arm,” then INTO THE FRAME, PAST the metal “arm” COME two apes carrying a pole. Hanging from it is the trussed up body of Thomas.

CLOSE SHOT—DR. ZAIUS, CORNELIUS AND ZIRA

ZIRA

Why didn’t he run, Mr. Cornelius? Why didn’t he run?

CORNELIUS

What did he mean—no place to go?

ZAIUS
(to Zira and Cornelius)

What do we know of the habits of Earth creatures?

Zaius, Zira and Cornelius turn and start toward the helicopter area following the apes, carrying the body of Thomas.

SLOWLY THE CAMERA RISES AND PULLS BACK—the sun is just rising and is now clearly illuminating the area.

As the CAMERA RISES and RISES HIGHER and FURTHER and FURTHER AWAY FROM the funeral procession, we see now for the first time what the metal “arm” is.

Caught in the blaze of the morning sun, we see in what is the beginning of an excavation—the top part of the STATUE OF LIBERTY.

The CAMERA LOWERS and COMES CLOSER and CLOSER until the Statue fills the entire screen. As the MUSIC RISES to a CRESCENDO we:

FADE OUT.

On a BLACK SCREEN with NO MUSIC—the credits slowly appear on a roll.

THE END

According to Serling biographer Joel Engel, Jacobs brought in Wilson later

to reconstruct Serling’s work. Wilson completely rethought the book and used only the basic conceit of a man trapped in an ape’s world. He made the character of Zaius—in the book just an ignorant and prideful scientist—a type of fourteenth-century grand inquisitor who refuses to accept the notion of man’s equality, thus giving the film an evil character from whom the man must escape. He also invented the movie’s surprise ending: finding the head of the Statue of Liberty washed up on the beach, the man discovers he has in fact landed on earth far in the future, after the atomic holocaust.⁶

In fact, Serling’s earliest drafts proceed from “the basic conceit of a man trapped in an ape’s world.” Serling established Dr. Zaius as an antagonist from whom Thomas must literally escape. And Serling’s version of Planet of the Apes included “the movie’s surprise ending” well over a year before Michael Wilson became involved in the project.^†

THE REST OF THE STORY

From the outset, everyone involved with the project was unanimous about the most significant concern in translating the novel’s concept to the screen: ensuring that the audience would not laugh at the sight of talking apes. To this end, Serling (in collaboration with Jacobs) handled the apes’ first appearance this way:

Shortly after discovering a group of primitive humans, the astronauts hear the sound of a helicopter coming closer. This sound drives the primitives to flee in panic.

DODGE

Oh, my God! I have now seen everything there is to be seen in the whole bloody universe!

CLOSEUP—THE OTHER TWO ASTRONAUTS

as they, too, look, start, react and convulse with LAUGHTER. A WHIP PAN ACROSS THE FIELD in the direction of a car engine coming through the foliage.

SHOT—THE FRONT END OF A JEEP
as it comes to a stop at the edge of the clearing. PAN UP SLOW THE FRONT GRILL TO THE WINDSHIELD where standing are TWO APES dressed immaculately in the white garb and pith helmets of British hunters. Behind them, on foot, come SEVERAL OTHER GROUPS OF APES, CHIMPANZEES, and ORANGUTANS in assorted sizes and shapes, but all dressed as members of a safari carrying guns of different caliber.

CLOSE SHOT—THE ASTRONAUTS, FAVORING DODGE

DODGE
(shrieking with laughter)

I’ll die. I will positively—

There is suddenly a fusillade of SHOTS. Dodge’s face goes pasty-white. He lets out one small gasp as the CAMERA PANS DOWN his body to where his fingers clutch at a bloody mass that was his stomach, then he topples OUT OF THE SCENE.

ABRUPT CLOSE SHOT—THOMAS

THOMAS
(screams)

Dodge! Dodge, get—

He suddenly grabs at his throat as a bullet pierces his neck from the side.

The intention was explicit: laugh at the apes before the audience gets a chance to do so—and then demonstrate the price for not taking these apes seriously.

A cleverly written introduction was not enough, however. 20th Century Fox, which Jacobs had approached after Warner Brothers declined the project, needed visual reassurance that talking apes would not look ridiculous. And so, Serling wrote dialogue for a screen test that was filmed on March 8, 1966, with Charlton Heston interacting with actors wearing rudimentary ape makeup.⁷

Planet of the Apes theatrical poster, 1968

This screen test footage, which has since been included with DVD versions of the film, was convincing enough for 20th Century Fox to express enthusiasm for the project—but only if Jacobs could significantly reduce the projected budget. Again, the primary hurdle was the setting. It was decided that the most efficient way to reduce costs was to rewrite the script so that the apes lived in a preindustrial society.

By this point, Serling had been involved with Planet of the Apes for almost two and a half years. The project had bounced among studios (and none had yet committed to producing the film), Blake Edwards had come and gone as the film’s proposed director, and multiple potential stars (including Marlon Brando and Paul Newman) had been pursued unsuccessfully before Heston committed to the film. Jacobs relentlessly shopped the project, convinced that it would be an enormous success, but everyone else in Hollywood seemed to view the concept as far too risky. Serling’s script needed to be pared down and reinvented to accommodate a more primitive setting, Jacobs and others felt that the dialogue needed to be strengthened, and Serling admitted that he might have “written himself out” on the project.”⁸ Only then did Jacobs bring in Wilson.^‡

The final version of the film retains Serling’s imprint. According to associate producer Mort Abrahams, Serling’s screenplay

really cracked the problem of translating the book to the screen. But it wasn’t in good enough form for anyone to get excited about it. He’d also had the inherent problem which plagued us for five years of “How are you going to make a picture about apes that talk?” It was a terrific script because it solved, I’d say, eighty percent of the story problems, but there were serious flaws in it.⁹

Serling himself recalled that Wilson “took away almost all of my dialogue and used his own. My recollection, though, of the shooting script is that the chronology of scenes and events was identical to mine—except that the people didn’t say the same things.” The producers “offered me collaborative credit almost immediately. But it’s really Mike Wilson’s screenplay, much more than it is mine.”¹⁰

AFTERMATH

Just days after the film’s nationwide release, Serling met with Jacobs and Abrahams to discuss ideas for a sequel. On April 8, 1968, he sent a two-page letter to Abrahams outlining a preliminary idea: given twenty-four hours grace, Taylor and Nova flee to “the dark side of the earth—the unexplored part.” They discover more evidence of prior human civilization: a wrecked building, remnants of a city street, and eventually a Piper Cub airplane, guns, and ammo. “And perhaps with this find, [Taylor] realizes that he is man’s only hope for eventual redemption. And he is also man’s army.”¹¹

Serling envisioned that “perhaps half of the picture would be spent in pitched battles with the apes. There might also be a hint of another strange factor hovering around—perhaps lights in the sky at one point or other that are noted but not explained.” Taylor uses the Piper Cub airplane to “knock the shit out of the apes in a marvelously poetic justice moment when they are about to close in on him—and instead, he strafes them from the air and sends them fleeing.” Taylor crashes the plane, however, and just when it looks like he is going to be overwhelmed by apes, the “lights in the sky” are revealed to be a descending spaceship—astronauts sent from Earth to search for him. “They become his allies and they knock off the apes—perhaps in a miserable slaughter that sickens them as they do it. And then Heston has the chance to go back with them.” He decides instead “to remain on the planet of the apes and try to bring humanity back to the planet through the offices of Man.”¹²

Abrahams was not impressed. He responded to Serling two days later,

I wish I were able to write “Eureka!” but in all honesty I can’t. First of all, I think we are missing the visual shock which is the equivalent of the disclosure of the gorilla hunters. Secondly, I think we are missing the big shock ending equivalent to the Statue of Liberty. Without these two factors, I don’t think we would stand much of a chance in a follow-up version.

He also explained that although he and Arthur Jacobs had begun preliminary discussions with Serling, 20th Century Fox had contacted Boulle to give him first chance to pitch ideas for a sequel. Boulle, however, “was not very enthusiastic” about the opportunity, and Abrahams encouraged Serling to contact him again with further ideas.¹³

Serling responded immediately.

I won’t battle for the sequel idea that I threw at you, because I’m not that satisfied with it. I do suggest to you that if, indeed, you’re trying to do another picture, responsive to the popularity of PLANET OF THE APES—it’s a picture that I suppose should have to do with the apes. If, on the other hand, you want to do a film in which the original is simply a jumping off place to yet another picture—then the world is our oyster and we can try myriad paths. The idea in my letter to you to continue the conflict between astronaut and ape was based on a surmise that what made the other picture such a corker was this very relationship and this very conflict.

Serling offered a few superficial ideas about time travel and wondered whether Abrahams was suggesting (or recommending) that the follow-up film be “in no way related to what we have already seen.” He suggested they “continue to knock it about,” and added: “I’m not at all disturbed that Boulle has been asked for ideas. What the hell, Mort—it was his in the first place, and the original source is always the best.”¹⁴

Boulle ultimately wrote a proposed sequel treatment, “Planet of the Men,” though neither Abrahams nor Jacobs was satisfied with it, and Jacobs sent a copy to Serling, asking for his input. Serling responded with a three-page treatment, “The Dark Side of the Earth.”

“THE DARK SIDE OF THE EARTH”: A SEQUEL TO PLANET OF THE APES

Serling’s sequel begins one year after the events of the first film. The area of the “forbidden zone” that includes the Statue of Liberty is now a historic curiosity. Young ape students learn about the unusual man who “could mimic an ape and even speak words” while they visit the place where this strange creature was last seen. They study the “gigantic artifact—a female human actually clothed, and holding a torch—sculpted centuries ago by apes whose lineage has disappeared.”

While this fantasy is perpetuated in the ape city, Taylor and Nova investigate the reality of the forbidden zone. For a year they’ve traveled aimlessly through jungle, desert, swamp, desolate wastelands, until they begin to discover evidence of life—and civilization. They reach a town peopled by civilized, speaking human beings. “Their life is, however, a parody of another time. Donkeys pull ancient limousines. Supermarkets, still standing, house multiple communal families. A rusted Boeing 707 is the City Hall. The society is pastoral and peaceful … they know nothing of earth except their town. They know nothing of history except a vague body of old wives’ tales about an enemy society that lives on the other side of the mountain.”

Taylor and Nova are welcomed into their community and find peace until a spaceship crash-lands. All of its crew are dead except for one badly wounded man. Taylor and the townsfolk nurse him back to health, and Taylor learns that this ship left Earth shortly after he did, “on a similar mission with an identical result.” Taylor plans to repair and modify the ship not to travel through space but to explore this world, to search for more civilized human beings. Taylor has grown restless among people who have “no special ambitions, no drives,” contentedly blissful in their ignorance.

The unnamed Earth man has other ideas. He sees himself as a giant among these primitive people and is intoxicated by idea of wielding power—perhaps the “incredible opportunity to literally control the earth.” When Taylor explains about the ape population only a few hundred miles away, the man is further inspired. He begins to create dissension within the town, riling up the villagers (particularly the young people) with speeches about “the grandeur that is man” and is soon leading raiding parties to attack ape outposts.

The apes, led by Dr. Zaius, respond by launching a great “war of extermination.” The humans somehow prevail, and “the ape city is destroyed, and there is a massive blood-letting. Only a handful of apes survive.” Zaius is captured and tortured. Sickened by what has happened, Taylor rescues Zira and Cornelius and is then pursued by the humans, who see him as a traitor. He flees to the village with Cornelius and Zira.

Shortly after his first arrival in the village, Taylor had discovered an ancient and massive arsenal, and within this arsenal: the bomb. Taylor has seen what is happening here and he knows what will happen here: “Already evidence of class, groupings, prejudice, hatreds. A microcosm of the earth he remembers. Best, he decides, to let evolution begin again. Destroy everything and let the deity try it all over again.” He takes the spaceship on a kamikaze mission, diving directly into the arsenal and detonating the bomb.

“In the smoking ruins there is little left … except … a flower … and a bee. This is all we see as the picture ends … but a new earth begins.”

It is not clear how the studio responded to this treatment, but Serling soon discovered that he would be unable to complete a full screenplay by the time the studio needed it. On August 16, 1968, Jacobs wrote to Serling,

Just wanted to tell you how sorry both Mort and I were to learn that you would be unable to do the screenplay for the APES sequel. David Brown [of 20th Century Fox] explained to me that he spoke with you and that you would not be able to start until October and that you estimated it would take you longer than you originally thought. As the picture must go into production in January–February, we, of course, would not be able to wait that long.¹⁵

The sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, was ultimately written by Paul Dehn. Though Serling said that he “didn’t have the remotest connection with the approach Jacobs eventually went with,” the ending used in the sequel is the equivalent of what was suggested in Serling’s treatment—the film ends with Taylor detonating a doomsday bomb, destroying the planet.¹⁶

POSTSCRIPT

“The Dark Side of the Earth” was not Rod Serling’s last visit to the Planet of the Apes. When the apes franchise migrated from film to television, Serling was hired to create the overall concept for the series as well as to write the first two scripts. Though his scripts were not produced, Serling’s bible provided a working outline for the television series.

Though he was uncredited, the series premiere on September 13, 1974, represented the culmination of a sporadic ten-year relationship between Rod Serling and the Planet of the Apes franchise. In 2011, the makers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes paid tribute to Serling and Wilson by naming the film’s protagonist Dr. Will Rodman.

* In 1972, Serling declared that he had done “thirty or forty drafts” of the script (Cinefantastique, Summer 1972). Two years later, however, he said, “I think I did about three drafts of the actual screenplay” (“Rod Serling Recalls,” Planet of the Apes Magazine, August 1974). The vast discrepancy can be explained by distinguishing between “drafts” and “revisions.” Ithaca College’s Rod Serling Archives contains drafts or revisions dated January 6, 7, April 5, 6, 15, 16, 20, 27, May 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 1964, as well as a “Second Draft Screenplay” (December 17, 1964), another “Second Draft Screenplay” (December 23, 1964), revisions (January 6, 7, 1965), and a final completed draft (March 1, 1965). The first indication that Serling and Jacobs were working together appears in a March 11, 1964, letter in which Jacobs wrote, “Rod Serling is going to do the screenplay and will start this week” (Russo, Landsman, and Gross, Planet of the Apes Revisited, 15). The January 6 and January 7, 1964, drafts apparently were written for King Brothers, and Serling considered the April 5, 1964, version his true first draft (written for Jacobs), with the April 6–May 22, 1964, versions considered revisions. Since the two December 1964 versions are explicitly labeled “second draft,” the January 6 and January 7, 1965, version would be revisions of this second draft, and the March 1, 1965, version would be the third and final draft.

† Another Serling biographer, Gordon F. Sander, also muddies the origin of the film’s ending by declaring that Serling turned “Boulle’s Zone-esque trick ending (where the escaped astronauts discover that they are really on Earth, several thousand years into the future) into one of the more visually powerful scenes in science-fiction cinema: Charlton Heston escapes into forbidden territory only to discover the remains of the Statue of Liberty washed up on the beach” (Serling, 204). The plot of Boulle’s novel does not include the astronauts discovering that they are really on Earth.

‡ Jacobs initially brought in Charles Eastman, who was dismissed after producing between thirty and forty pages that were deemed unusable. After Wilson completed his work on the screenplay, a fourth writer, John T. Kelley, was brought in to do some additional polishing of the dialogue. Neither Eastman nor Kelley received credit on the final film.