Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Rospo Pallenberg Collection
Dates: 1968-2016
Collection Number: WGF-MS-126
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 6 linear feet, 6 boxes
Repository:
Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Los Angeles, California 90048
Abstract: The collection contains produced and unproduced projects by the screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg.
Language of Material: English
Access
Available by appointment only.
Publication Rights
The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
Rospo Pallenberg Collection. Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Acquisition Information
Donated by Rospo Pallenberg on July 15, 2019.
Biography/Administrative History
Rospo Pallenberg was born Robert Pallenberg in 1939 in England. He is the son of Corrado Pallenberg, an Italian physician
and author. Before becoming a feature screenwriter, he worked as an architect. Pallenberg met writer and director John Boorman
in New York and the two would go on to collaborate on and off for years, beginning in 1970 when Boorman hired Pallenberg to
work on a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings novels for United Artists. Pallenberg went on to work on Deliverance and
Exorcist II: The Heretic and was a co-writer (with Boorman) on Excalibur (1981) and wrote The Emerald Forest (1985), all directed
by Boorman. Pallenberg is also credited with Druids and The Barber of Siberia. In addition to credited projects, Pallenberg
worked steadily from the 1970s through the 2010s on unrealized projects, with novelists and independent producers including
John Boorman and Stephen King. In 1989, Pallenberg directed the film Cutting Class, written by Steve Slavkin.
Pallenberg is married to Barbara Pallenberg and lives in Los Angeles.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Pallenberg Collection is divided into two series: Work by Pallenberg and Work by Other Writers. Both series consist almost
entirely of feature screenplays. Series I produced titles are The Emerald Forrest, Excalibur, and Druids as well as Pallenberg’s
unused draft of Cocoon. Unproduced adapted titles include the Feathered Serpent based on “Mexica” by Norman Spinrad, The First
Immortal based on the novel by James Halperin, Flesh and Glory based on Homer and other ancient stories, Hadrian based on
Marguerite Yourcenar’s The Memoirs of Hadrian, a script based on the fictional character of Judge Dee, Noah’s Ark, Ricochet
adapted from the novel “Die Alleenlopers” by Peet Venter, Roland based on “La Chanson de Roland”, the Spear of Destiny based
on the book by Trevor Ravenscroft, and treatments for Herbert’s “Dune” and Asimov’s “Foundation”. There are also multiple
drafts adapting the Stephen King novel The Stand, which was to be directed by George Romero but ultimately was shelved. Unproduced
original scripts include Flesh, I Robot, The Last Man on Earth, and Love among others. About a dozen screenplays were co-written
with Barbara Pallenberg.
Series II consists of work by others and includes produced and unproduced titles. Produced titles include Dead Heat, Fellini's
Casanova, Motorama, Saving Star Wars, Silent Trigger, and the Stephen King miniseries The Golden Years. Unproduced titles
include multiple screenplays by Jay Strong, Cynthia Troyer, and Paul Morrissey. There is a treatment for a musical film by
Italian composer Ennio Morricone and song lyricist Audrey Station.
The collection contains multiple screenplays by John Boorman. Titles include the features Tiger’s Tail and Queen & Country
and unrealized projects including a treatment titled Bram, a screenplay Broken Dream (with Neil Jordan), miniseries scripts
for Cuchulainn Chronicles, a treatment The Dark Knight, and a screenplay for Halfway House.