John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American
film critic
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...
and screenwriter. He is a graduate of
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
.
[Some Notable Alumni]
kenyon.edu; accessed August 28, 2015. He was a critic for ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', and ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', among other magazines, before shifting to screenplay writing.
He was married to actress
Verna Bloom
Verna Frances Bloom (August 7, 1938 – January 9, 2019) was an American actress.
Career
On Broadway, Bloom portrayed Charlotte Corday in '' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Chare ...
from 1972 until her death in 2019. They had a son, Sam, born in 1981.
As a screenwriter, he is notable for his collaborations with director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
, particularly ''
The Age of Innocence
''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine ''Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Apple ...
'' and ''
Gangs of New York
''Gangs of New York'' is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book '' The Gangs of New York''. The film stars Le ...
'' — a screenplay he started working on in 1976 — as well as
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...
's ''
Strange Days''. He did an uncredited rewrite of
James Cameron's screenplay for ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'' and was, with Scorsese, the co-screenwriter of ''
Silence
Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...
''. Cocks and Scorsese approached author
Philip K. Dick in 1969 for an adaptation of his 1968 novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...
'' Though the duo never optioned the book, it was later developed into the movie ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' by screenwriter
Hampton Fancher
Hampton Lansden Fancher (born July 18, 1938) is an American actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker, best known for co-writing the 1982 neo-noir science fiction film ''Blade Runner'' and its 2017 sequel '' Blade Runner 2049,'' based on the novel '' ...
and director
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
.
Works
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocks, Jay
1944 births
American film critics
American male screenwriters
Place of birth missing (living people)
Kenyon College alumni
Living people
American male non-fiction writers