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Eric Roth

Screenwriter Eric Roth

If you don’t know writer/producer Eric Roth you do know his films.

Notables such as: A Star Is Born (the latest one), Ali, Forest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Good Shepard, Munich, The Horse Whisperer, The Postman (costner), Suspect (Cher) and early, uncredited movies like Wolfen, The Drowning Pool, and The Onion Field.

Born in 1945 in the Bedford Sty area of New York, his mother and father were producers and writers giving him what was certainly a good head start on his career.

He’s quoted as saying that the boxing he learned as a young man helped his later career by teaching him discipline. Certainly an unusual path to becoming one of Hollywood’s finest writers.

Roth went to college in California and then film school at UCLA with Jim Morrison. They were good friends until Morrison’s death in 1971.

There’s not a lot of background on how Roth became Hollywood’s A-lister of note but he did pay his dues writing or working on a dozen films before he saw major success in 1994's Forest Gump.

Six films of Roths’ were nominated for the 'Best Picture' Academy Awards: Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) and A Star Is Born (2018).

"Forrest Gump" won 'Best Picture' and earned him the 'Best Adapted Screenplay' Academy Award.

In 2001 Roth handed in the sequel for Forest Gump but because of the tragic circumstances of 9/11 that next day and some of the material in the script, it was decided not to pursue production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb_AWaYyt5g

Beside features, Roth was also producer on Netflix’s first original series “House of Cards” staring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright which has won 35 awards among 133 nominations.

Also, Exec Producer on The Alienist.

One factoid in particular stands out - he was financially devastated by the Bernie Maddof ponzi scheme. He said he lost his retirement which might have been a blessing for us since it forced him to continue writing.

Roth’s daughter, Vanessa, is also a well-regarded producer and director.

Seems great film work runs in the family.

Roth currently has several projects in various stages of production including co-writer on the new version of the amazing scifi book Dune scheduled for December 2020 release.

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