Charles Leavitt (born 1956) is an American screenwriter best known for writing the 2006 film '' Blood Diamond''.

Life and career

Leavitt's screenwriting career began in 1996 when he wrote ''

Sunchaser ''The Sunchaser'' (advertised simply as ''Sunchaser'') is a 1996 crime drama film directed by Michael Cimino and starring Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda and Anne Bancroft. It was director Cimino's last feature-length film. Plot summary During a medi ...

''. He wrote the screen adaptation of the

Rodman Philbrick Rodman Philbrick (born January 22, 1951) is an American writer of novels for adults and children. He has written popular children's books such as ''Freak the Mighty'', Max the Mighty, The Last Book on Earth and has written other mysteries and thr ...

novel '' Freak the Mighty'' for the screen in 1998. ''

The Mighty ''The Mighty'' is a 1998 American coming of age buddy comedy-drama film directed by Peter Chelsom and written by Charles Leavitt. Based on the book ''Freak the Mighty'' by Rodman Philbrick, the film stars Sharon Stone, Gena Rowlands, Gillian A ...

'' starred

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

, Gena Rowlands,

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Kelly's Heroes ...

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

and

Elden Henson Elden Henson (born Elden Ryan Ratliff, August 30, 1977) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Fulton Reed in '' The Mighty Ducks'' trilogy (1992–1996), Foggy Nelson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) streaming television series ...

. The film received two Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Sharon Stone) and Best Original Song ("The Mighty"). After writing the script for the 2001 film ''

K-PAX ''K-PAX'' is an American science fiction novel by Gene Brewer, the first in the ''K-PAX'' series. The series deals with the experiences on Earth of a being named Prot. It is written in the first person from the point of view of Prot's psychiat ...

'', Leavitt was hired by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in February 2004 to rewrite an early draft of the film '' Blood Diamond'', then titled ''Okavango''. The story had been stuck in " development hell" at the studio for years before producers Paula Weinstein and

Gillian Gorfil Gillian may refer to: Places * Gillian Settlement, Arkansas, an unincorporated community People Gillian (variant Jillian) is an English feminine given name, frequently shortened to Gill. It originates as a feminine form of the name Julian, Julio ...

finally decided on the story of a

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

an farmer caught up in the conflict between a White people in Zimbabwe, White Zimbabwean smuggler and the local diamond mining organization. Leavitt researched the diamond industry to great lengths before he began writing the screenplay, explaining that he has "always been a stickler for immersing imselfin research". He wrote the film with the assumption that it would offend the diamond industry, particularly De Beers, and so made sure to portray the industry truthfully, aware that he could potentially be sued by De Beers and other powerful mining corporations. Paula Weinstein was impressed by Leavitt's ''Blood Diamond'' draft, but hired writers

Ed Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker and producer of film and television. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and epic historical film genres, including ''About Last Night, Glory, Legends of the Fall,'' and ' ...

and

Marshall Herskovitz Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz (born February 23, 1952) is an American film director, writer, and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are ''Traffic'', '' The Last Samurai'', '' ...

to rewrite the script again; by the time he had completed the script, Zwick had become so interested in the story that he agreed to direct the film as well. Leavitt was signed by Warner Bros. in October 2006 to adapt '' Vanity Fair'' editor Doug Stumpf's novel ''

Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy Confessions are acknowledgements of facts by those who would have otherwise preferred to keep those facts hidden. Confessions may also refer to: Film, television, and radio * ''Confessions'' (1925 film), a British silent film * ''Confessions'' ...

'', which the studio had acquired the rights to in mid-2005. He has also since rewritten Scott Williams' original draft of '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a biographical film about

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player Ernie Davis. He wrote the screenplay for '' In the Heart of the Sea'', for

Intermedia Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe various interdisciplinarity art activities that occur between genres, beginning in the 1960s. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to work ...

and Spring Creek, and has written ''Animal Kingdom''

on spec ''On Spec'' is a digest-sized, perfect-bound, Canadian quarterly magazine publishing stories and poetry in science fiction, fantasy, and allied genres broadly grouped under the "speculative fiction" umbrella. History and profile Based in Edmon ...

. He re-wrote the 2014 film '' Seventh Son'' and the 2016 film ''

Warcraft ''Warcraft'' is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five core games: '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'', '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chao ...

''.

Filmography

;Film * '' The Sunchaser'' (1996) * ''

'' (1998) * ''

'' (2001) * '' Blood Diamond'' (2006) * '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'' (2008) * '' Seventh Son'' (2014) * '' In the Heart of the Sea'' (2015) * ''

'' (2016) *''

Those Who Wish Me Dead ''Those Who Wish Me Dead'' is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Taylor Sheridan with a screenplay by Michael Koryta, Charles Leavitt, and Sheridan, based on Koryta's novel of the same name. The film follows a boy (Finn Little) w ...

'' (2021) ;Television * ''

The Jennie Project ''The Jennie Project'' is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released in the summer of 2001. The film was based on the book '' Jennie'' by Douglas Preston. The movie is about a chimpanzee who knows and uses American Sign Language to communi ...

'' (2001)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leavitt, Charles 1956 births Living people American male screenwriters Writers from Pittsburgh Screenwriters from Pennsylvania