Rospo Pallenberg

{{short description|English screenwriter and film director (b. 1939)}} {{BLP sources|date=November 2016}} {{Use British English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Rospo Pallenberg | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Robert Pallenberg | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1939}} | birth_place = England | death_date =  | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Screenwriter, film director | years_active = | known_for = Work with John Boorman | notable_works = }}

'''Robert "Rospo" Pallenberg<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rospo Pallenberg Collection |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8862pwr/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref>''' (born 1939<ref name=":0" />) is an English screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his collaborations with John Boorman.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Noble |first=Holcomb B. |date=June 30, 1985 |title=Pondering Man in 'The Emerald Forest' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/30/movies/pondering-man-in-the-emerald-forest.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

== Early life == Pallenberg was born in England in 1939. His father was Corrado Pallenberg (1912–1989), an Italian physician and journalist who worked as a papal medical adviser. He moved to New York City in the 1960s to study architecture, where he met director John Boorman.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/67647 |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=cinephiliabeyond |date=2019-06-27 |title='The Past, Present and Future of Humanity': John Boorman's 'Excalibur' • Cinephilia & Beyond |url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/excalibur/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Career == While working professionally as an architect, Pallenberg collaborated with Boorman on the screenplay for his unproduced film adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings''. He was an uncredited script doctor on ''Deliverance'' (1972)<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2009-09-24 |title=Story of the Scene: 'Say it again, Bobby' and other greats |url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/story-of-the-scene-say-it-again-bobby-and-other-greats-1792684.html |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> and ''Zardoz'' (1974). He wrote the shooting script for ''Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977), though due to Writers Guild of America rules he was credited as "Creative Associate". He was also a second unit director, and according to Linda Blair co-directed several scenes with Boorman. He also contributed to the scripts for ''Crazy Joe'' (1974, dir. Carlo Lizzani) and ''Avalanche Express'' (1979, dir. Mark Robson).

Pallenberg's first credited screenplay was for Boorman's Arthurian fantasy epic ''Excalibur'' (1981), which earned him and the director a Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. He then wrote his 1985 film ''The Emerald Forest''.<ref name=":1" /> They had a falling out over Boorman's insistence on casting his own son Charley in the lead role, though they reconciled years later, co-writing scripts about Hadrian and Cú Chulainn.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Development |url=https://merlin-films.com/works/in-development/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Merlin Films |language=en-US}}</ref>

He directed the 1989 slasher comedy film ''Cutting Class'', starring Brad Pitt in an early role. During the 1990s, he collaborated with Stephen King on a film adaptation of ''The Stand'', which was later retooled into a TV miniseries without his involvement.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=King |first1=Stephen |last2=Pallenberg |first2=Rospo |date=1989 |title=[Screenplay]: Stephen King's The Stand |url=https://www.betweenthecovers.com/pages/books/312824/stephen-king-rospo-pallenberg/screenplay-stephen-kings-the-stand?soldItem=true |website=Between the Covers}}</ref> He wrote an adaptation of Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' during the early 1970s, for producer Arthur P. Jacobs.<ref name=":2" />

== Filmography == {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Notes |- |1981 |''Excalibur'' |John Boorman |Co-wrote with Boorman |- |1985 |''The Emerald Forest'' |John Boorman | |- |1989 |''Cutting Class'' |Himself |Directorial debut |- |1998 |''The Barber of Siberia'' |Nikita Mikhalkov |Co-wrote with Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov |- |2001 |''Druids'' |Jacques Dorfmann |Wrote story, screenplay by Dorfmann and Norman Spinrad |}

=== Uncredited script contributions === {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Notes |- | 1972 | ''Deliverance'' | John Boorman |Script doctor<ref name=":3" /> |- | rowspan="2" |1974 |''Crazy Joe'' |Carlo Lizzani |Script doctor |- |''Zardoz'' | rowspan="2" |John Boorman |Script doctor |- |1977 |''Exorcist II: The Heretic'' |Also second unit director |- |1979 |''Avalanche Express'' |Mark Robson |Script doctor |}

== Unproduced scripts ==

* ''The Lord of the Rings'' (early-to-mid-1970s) - Adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien novel, for producers Gabriel Katzka, David Picker, and Arnold Picker. Co-written with and intended to be directed by John Boorman. * ''Dune'' (early-to-mid-1970s) - Adaptation of Frank Herbert novel, for producer Arthur P. Jacobs. Haskell Wexler was attached to direct, with Susan Hampshire, John Neville and Patrick McGoohan attached to star.<ref name=":2" /> * ''Hadrian'' (mid-2000s) - Biopic of 1st-century Roman Emperor, co-written with John Boorman. * ''Cú Chulainn'' (c. 2015) - Fantasy film based on Irish mythological hero, co-written with John Boorman.

== References == <references />

==External links== * {{IMDb name|657853}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallenberg, Rospo}} Category:Living people Category:English male screenwriters Category:English film directors Category:English architects Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English people of Italian descent Category:20th-century English male writers Category:21st-century English male writers Category:1939 births Category:21st-century English writers