J.G. Ballard wrote this
The same J.G. Ballard wrote Speilberg's "Empire of the Sun" and Cronenberg's "Crash." The title credits say "J.B.," but the BFI has acknowledged that is a mistake.
shareThe same J.G. Ballard wrote Speilberg's "Empire of the Sun" and Cronenberg's "Crash." The title credits say "J.B.," but the BFI has acknowledged that is a mistake.
shareJ.G. Ballad wrote a "treatment" for the film when Hammer first decided to make a non connected sequal of sorts to One Million Years, B.C.
A treatment is not a script, per se, but a "what happens" transcript that can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to many pages.
Ballard's original idea was to do a high key comedy much closer to (but not exactly like) the FLINTSTONES than to One Million Years B.C. At the last minute Hammer got cold feet and when they hired Val Guest to direct, he wrote a more familiar script...
Jim Danforth had the original treatment, the comedy, and he said to me when we worked together at Cascade, "You want to read it? I'll bring it in."
I said "no, that's ok."
I wish I had read it now. I can only assume that the original intent by Ballard was more like CAVEMAN with Ringo Starr, made ten years later.
http://www.woodywelch.com
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Yes, infinitely better this way than any Caveman-style "comedy".
shareBallard gives an account of his involvement with this film in his memoir Miracles Of Life. He describes his meeting with the film people, and finally remarks that upon seeing the finished film, he was relieved that his name is spelled incorrectly in the credits.
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J.G. Ballard, overrated?!?
Overrated by who?
I always felt he was underrated.
And yes, in the MIRACLE OF LIFE autobiography I picked-up on him seeming somewhat embaressed by his involvement in this film. Still, I enjoy the hell out of the effects and brief 'naked in the sun' bits.
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