Lem Dobbs
| Lem Dobbs | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Anton Lemuel Kitaj 24 December 1959 Oxford, England, United Kingdom  |
| Nationality |
British American  |
| Education | American School London, England |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Spouse(s) | Dana Kraft |
| Parents | R. B. Kitaj (father), Elsi Roessler (mother) |
Lem Dobbs (born Anton Lemuel Kitaj; 24 December 1959) is a British-American screenwriter, best known for the films Dark City (1998) and The Limey (1999). He was born in Oxford, England, and is the son of the late painter, R.B. Kitaj. The nom de plume "Dobbs" was taken from the character played by Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Career
In 1979, Dobbs wrote an original screenplay entitled Edward Ford which remains unproduced as of November 2012. Critic Matthew Dessem has called the script "famously brilliant, famously unproduced", and asserts that "most of Hollywood" agrees it is a "masterpiece".[1] On the basis of another unproduced screenplay, The Marvel of the Haunted Castle, Dobbs was hired to re-write Diane Thomas' screenplay Romancing the Stone, though his contributions went uncredited.
Following that film's success, several films based on Dobbs' screenplays saw the light of day: Hider in the House, The Hard Way, Kafka (which Dobbs wrote in the 1970s), and The Limey. He was also credited as co-writer on both Dark City and The Score.
Dobbs' latest produced credit is Haywire, a 2012 action-thriller, directed again by Steven Soderbergh (director of both Kafka and The Limey).
Dobbs has spoken on DVD commentary tracks for his films Dark City and The Limey, and (as a film historian) for the unrelated The Sand Pebbles, Von Ryan's Express, and Double Indemnity (this last due to his personal friendship with the late director Billy Wilder).[citation needed]
Filmography
- Romancing the Stone (1984) (uncredited)
- Hider in the House (1989)
- The Hard Way (with Daniel Pyne) (1991)
- Kafka (1991)
- Dark City (with Alex Proyas & David S. Goyer) (1998)
- The Limey (1999)
- The Score (with Daniel E. Taylor, Kario Salem and Scott Marshall Smith) (2001)
- S.W.A.T. (2003) (uncredited)
- Fear Itself (2009) (TV)
- Haywire (2012)
- The Company You Keep (2012)
References
- ↑ Matthew Dessem (2012-11-15). "The Great American Unproduced Screenplay: Three Oscar nominees are the latest to try their hand at Edward Ford, a masterpiece despite the fact—because of the fact?—that it has never been filmed.". Slate.com. Retrieved 2013-01-06.