Search results
Oct 20, 2016 · Bill Phillips ’71 wrote the screenplay to “Christine ,” a film that has taken on a life of its own. “I think the performances were just so honest and genuine that people relate to it,” says Bill Phillips of the movie Christine. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00) 10/20/2016. No one is more surprised than Bill Phillips ’71 that Christine ...
Bill Phillips has written for most of the major studios, networks and cable companies. He won the Ace Award for Best Screenplay (with John Carpenter) for El Diablo, was nominated for the Edgar Award (with Brian Dennehy) for Shadow of a Doubt, and adapted Peter Maas' In a Child's Name, which was nominated for an Emmy as Best Miniseries.
- Stephen King Pitched The Movie to Get made.
- John Carpenter Signed on Simply Because He Wanted A Job.
- Carpenter and The Screenwriter Were Stephen King Veterans.
- Horror Hits at The Time Forced Changes to The script.
- Hit Songs Played A Part in Script Changes, too.
- The Studio Wanted A Hard R Rating.
- Carpenter Didn’T Want to Cast Movie Stars.
- Kevin Bacon Was Originally Cast as Arnie.
- Carpenter Had A Driving Mishap on His First Day.
- The Production Reused A Key Set.
Producer Richard Kobritz helped adapt Stephen King’s novel Salem’s Lot as a TV miniseries in 1979, and the author asked Kobritz whether he’d be up for adapting any more of his works. King initially sent the producer the manuscript for Cujo, which Kobritz didn’t like (the book would eventually be published in 1981 with a movie adaptation also in 198...
Kobritz approached John Carpenter after the critical and financial failure of his 1982 adaptation of The Thing, which isnow widely regarded as one of the filmmaker’s best. The pair previously worked together on Carpenter’s 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! and Carpenter agreed to take on the project because he wanted to jump immediately into ano...
Christine wasn’t Carpenter’s first foray into adapting the twisted mind of Stephen King. He was originally supposed to direct the adaptation of Firestarter, but was fired from the project because of the poor performance of The Thing. (Firestarterwas eventually released in 1984 and directed by Mark L. Lester.) Carpenter’s screenwriter on his version...
In King’s book, Christine is seemingly haunted by her former owner, Roland D. LeBay, who appears to mild-mannered nerd Arnie in the backseat of the car as a rotting corpse taunting the car’s new owner. Phillips, looking to distinguish his script from the book—as well as preemptively cut costs for what would inevitably be an expensive corpse effect—...
Each of the chapters in King’s book begins with a corresponding 1950s rock n' roll lyric, which inspired Phillips to include rock music cues written directly into scenes in his script. But he wanted to include a more contemporary song to set the tone for the movie. He found it when he saw the music video for “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood an...
Columbia Pictures wanted to take advantage of the ratings system and King’s reputation to have Christine be a hard-R-rated movie. But Carpenter specifically joined the project to get away from the blood, guts, and splatter that defined his previous movie, The Thing. Plus, most of the car-related carnage in Christinedoesn’t involve gore. So to achie...
Columbia execs wanted a star-studded cast to round out their King adaptation, and suggested that Brooke Shields—coming off the hit film The Blue Lagoon—be cast as Leigh, and Scott Baio be cast as Arnie. But Carpenter didn’t want recognizable faces in the movie as a way to stress that the titular car was the real star of the movie.
Carpenter held auditions in California and New York, looking for the right fresh faces for the teen characters in the film, and he found the perfect newcomer for Arnie: Kevin Bacon. The now-famous actor’s only other significant work at the time was bit parts in Animal House and Friday the 13th, and Kobritz and Carpenter thought Arnie’s transformati...
The assembly-line opening of the movie was the first scene shot for Christine, but the director almost didn’t make it to the set. On the way to the massive warehouse in the San Fernando Valley where they were shooting the scene, which had been outfitted to look like a post-World War II Detroit factory, Carpenter was pulled over by the highway patro...
Darnell’s Auto Body Shop was shot at a massive warehouse space previously used as a wire factory during World War II, and located in Irwindale, California—and it was more than just a set. Production designers used half of the space to stand in as the actual garage and junkyard, but the other half was used as a body shop to assemble and fix the nume...
Dec 9, 1983 · Film: Christine Director: John Carpenter Producers: Richard Kobritz, Larry J. Franco Screenwriter: Bill Phillips Based on Christine by Stephen King Starring: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton Music Composers: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth Cinematographer: Donald M. Morgan Editor: Marion Rothman
Mar 24, 2017 · In 2002, Bill Phillips left Washington, D.C. for Los Angeles, where he planned to work as a screenwriter. He never made it to the West Coast. After stopping in New Orleans for the Super Bowl —…
Oct 21, 2016 · Bill Phillips '71, who will be teaching MALS 226: Screenwriting during winter term 2017, discusses "Christine," the 1983 "killer car movie" based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King.
Nov 20, 2020 · Professor Bill Phillips '71, a screenwriter, director, and visiting associate professor in the Department of Film & Media Studies, was elected an alumni member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society on November 17th. "This College is and should be dedicated first and foremost to the life of the mind," Chapter President Washburn said, congratulating the ...
