10 Totally Confusing Hollywood Screenwriting Disputes
2. Credited Writer Of The Bridge On The River Kwai Didn't Speak English
According to the original credits of the 1957 David Lean World War II epic The Bridge On The River Kwai, the script was written by French novelist Pierre Boulle, who wrote the historical novel (Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai) that the film was based on. The film became a huge hit and Boulle was nominated and later won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. There was only one problem: Boulle didn’t write the screenplay. In fact, he couldn’t even speak or write in English at the time.
Boulle was given credit because the actual writers of the script, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, were on the Hollywood blacklist for refusing to answer questions during U.S. Congressional hearings regarding their past involvement in the American Communist Party. Because of that, neither could receive on-screen credit for their work.
Though both Foreman and Wilson wrote screenplays in Europe and under pseudonyms until the blacklist ended, the Academy did not award them their Oscars until 1985. Unfortunately, both men had died before then – in fact, Foreman died the day after the WGA announced it was revising credit in 1984. Foreman and Wilson have received on-screen credit for the screenplay in all subsequent reissues of the film.