10 Totally Confusing Hollywood Screenwriting Disputes

Barry Levinson was hired to direct a film based on the novel American Hero, which is about a U.S. President staging a war to gain popularity. However, Levinson thought the existing screenplay by Road House screenwriter Hilary Henkin was inadequate. He hired David Mamet, one of the most acclaimed American writers of stage and screen, to write an entirely new screenplay. Without reading the novel or Henkin’s screenplay, Mamet created the co-lead character of Hollywood producer Stanley Motss, who would be played by Dustin Hoffman. Mamet also introduced many other elements that were unique to his screenplay, so it was expected that Mamet alone would be credited for the script that was now titled Wag The Dog.

Not only did the WGA disagree with that expectation, but Henkin was acknowledged before Mamet in the credits (“Screenplay by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet”). Henkin and Mamet were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, despite Mamet not using any of Henkin’s material.

The following year, director John Frankenheimer asked Mamet to similarly entirely rewrite the screenplay for his movie Ronin. Rather than again accept co-writing credit with the original writer, Mamet chose to be credited under the pseudonym “Richard Weisz.”