10 Movies Disowned By Their Screenwriters

4. Paddy Chayefsky - Altered States

When the movie adaptation of writer Paddy Chayefsky's lone novel Altered States was being filmed by Tommy director Ken Russell, Chayefsky was a highly-respected three-time Oscar winner for the scripts of 1955's Marty, 1971's The Hospital, and 1976's Network. He also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Altered States, his own sci-fi thriller novel about the effects of isolation therapy.

The original director, Arthur Penn, left the movie after he found it impossible to work with Chayefsky and Russell faced similar problems. Though Russell disliked the script, Chayefsky insisted that Russell follow every line of dialogue.

While on set Chayefsky expressed displeasure at the dark tone of Russell's film, and in particular he didn't like how the actors delivered his dialogue. Russell claimed he tried everything he could to adhere to Chayefsky's demands even to the determent to the film, but Chayefsky still demanded that his name be removed from the movie when it was released in 1980. He was credited as "Sidney Aaron.]

Though the movie was critically praised, it performed poorly at the box office. Chayefsky died less than a year after the release and never made another movie.