DAVID WEBB PEOPLES - MY STRANGE CAREER

Prior to making his mark in fiction film, Peoples worked primarily as a news and documentary film editor (and occasional writer) in northern California, often in collaboration with his wife, producer-writer Janet Peoples. The pair worked together on Jon Korty's Oscar-winning WHO ARE THE DEBOLTS? (AND WHERE DID THEY GET 19 KIDS?) (1977) and the Oscar-nominated THE DAY AFTER TRINITY (1980). The latter was an acclaimed profile of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in producing the first atomic bomb. Peoples began dabbling in fiction filmmaking in the 1970s working as an editor on the action flick STEEL ARENA (1973) and the X-rated THE JOY OF LETTING GO (1976).

Impressed by one of Peoples' unproduced scripts, director Tony Scott referred it to his brother Ridley. This lead to Peoples' feature debut as a screenwriter (with co-scenarist Hampton Fancher) on the sci-fi classic BLADE RUNNER (1982). Though a box-office disappointment, the film was a critical and cult hit that boosted the reputations of many of those involved with the project. Peoples next surfaced as the writer-director of the unimpressive sci-fi actioner THE BLOOD OF HEROES (1990) starring Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen in a grim post-apocalyptic future. He did not fare much better penning a poorly-received underwater version of ALIEN (1979) entitled LEVIATHAN (1989) and used the pseudonym Anthony Able as the scripter of the direct-to-video PROJECT: ALIEN (1990).

Peoples' career was transformed in 1992: two major films made from his scripts—Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN and Stephen Frears' HERO—were released within months of each other, just as BLADE RUNNER, finally recognized as a masterpiece, was successfully reissued in a "director's cut" version. While HERO received a lukewarm response from both press and public, UNFORGIVEN—written in 1976 when Peoples was an unknown quantity—was a critical and commercial smash. Hailed as a classic Western, UNFORGIVEN was credited with revitalizing both the genre and the career of star-director Clint Eastwood. The film's many honors included Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman). Peoples received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. Meanwhile, the flawed comedy-drama HERO took some cues from Frank Capra to tell an implausible story of mistaken identity and slippery notions of heroism.