5 Screenwriters That Ended Up Hating Their Own Movies

5. Andrew Kevin Walker - 8MM

After the breakout hit Se7en, director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker were at the top of the "to work with" lists of nearly every major Hollywood studio. Walker quickly sold a spec script called 8mm, after Se7en found box office glory, with a reported $1.75 million. The bleak and grim script was bought by Sony, and Walker was assured the dark script would not be lightened or tampered without his involvement. That is until Joel Schumacher entered as director and the studio started to unexpectedly show some worry about the film's commercial potential. Schumacher immediately began rearranging the script and then entirely rewriting whole portions of it, much to the chagrin of Walker. Walker's original script would later be published and it's shocking to note the difference in tone between page and screen. Schumacher tried to take a dark script and create something mainstream out of it. Walker says he barely recognizes the movie that got made and has since worked primarily as a script doctor in Hollywood. "It was such an inherently depressing experience that the very least I can do is protect myself from the miserable experience of actually watching it," said Walker about the film. After the film debuted, Walker (who shies away from press today) said about being a screenwriter: "One of the things I'm realizing is how inherently unsatisfying the career of screenwriter can be."