Wesley Strick (born February 11, 1954) is an American screenwriter who has written such films as ''

Arachnophobia Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions. Signs and symptoms People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbour spiders or that h ...

'', '' Batman Returns'' and

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 ...

's remake of '' Cape Fear''. Since 2015, Strick has worked as a writer/executive producer on '' The Man in the High Castle''.

Life and career

Strick was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the son of Racelle (née Kessler) and Louis Strick. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where he studied creative writing with the poet

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...

. Prior to his Hollywood career, he worked as a rock journalist in New York City, contributing features and reviews to ''

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

'', '' Creem'' 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 ...

''. As a "script doctor" he has done production polishes on such films as '' Batman Returns'', '' Face/Off'' and '' Mission: Impossible 2''. Strick's screenplay for '' True Believer'' was nominated for a 1990

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best Mystery Motion Picture. Strick won a 1994

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

(with co-writer Jim Harrison) for his screenplay for the Mike Nichols film ''

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

''. Since 1995, Strick has served as a creative advisor at the Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab. Strick wrote the original script for

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

's unproduced '' Superman Lives'', later re-written by Dan Gilroy as a more budget conscious take on Strick's story. His first novel, ''Out There in the Dark'', was published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

in February 2006. His second novel, ''Whirlybird'', is available as a Kindle book on Amazon.com. In 2008, Strick co-wrote the screenplay for a remake of '' A Nightmare on Elm Street'', starring Jackie Earle Haley and Rooney Mara, directed by Samuel Bayer. The film won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Horror Movie of 2010. Strick's adaptation of the Belgian thriller ''

Loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

,'' starring James Marsden and Karl Urban, was released by Open Road in January 2015. In summer 2013, Strick wrote and directed a short film, ''Watching, Waiting'', which screened at numerous 2014 film festivals, including Women and Minorities in Media, Black Maria, Sedona and Williamstown. In fall 2015, Strick relocated to London to write on Season 2 of the Amazon drama series (based on the Philip K. Dick novel) '' The Man in the High Castle.'' He returned to Los Angeles in 2016 to resume as a writer/co-executive producer on Season 3 (Strick wrote the season opener, mid-season finale and final episode). In early 2018, Strick began work on Season 4.

Personal life

Strick is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

."Racelle Larkin" Obituary.
''The New York Times.'' Published October 19, 2008. Accessed March 6, 2021.

Filmography

*'' True Believer'' (1989) *''

'' (1990) *'' Cape Fear'' (1991) *''

Final Analysis ''Final Analysis'' is a 1992 American neo-noir erotic film, erotic thriller film directed by Phil Joanou and written by Wesley Strick from a concept by Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychiatrist Robert H. Berger. It stars Richard Gere, Kim Basinge ...

'' (1992) *'' Batman Returns'' (1992) *''

'' (1994) *'' The Tie That Binds'' (1995) *''

The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...

'' (1997) *'' Return to Paradise'' (1998) *''Hitched'' (2001) *'' The Glass House'' (2001) *''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * L ...

'' (2005) *''

Love Is the Drug "Love Is the Drug" is a 1975 song from English rock band Roxy Music's fifth studio album ''Siren'', released as a single in September 1975. Co-written by Bryan Ferry and Andy Mackay, the song originated as a slower, dreamier track until the b ...

'' aka ''Addicted to Her Love'' (2006) *'' A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (2010) *'' The Loft'' (2014) * ''The Man in the High Castle'' (2015-)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strick, Wesley 1954 births American male screenwriters Jewish American screenwriters Living people Writers from New York City University of California, Berkeley alumni Vassar College alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American Jews

Life and career

Personal life

Filmography

Further reading

References

External links