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

Abstract: The collection contains produced and unproduced projects by the screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg.

Language of Material: English

Available by appointment only.

The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.

Rospo Pallenberg Collection. Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Donated by Rospo Pallenberg on July 15, 2019.

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.

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.