Erik's Michael Crichton Collection


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SCREENPLAYS AND DIRECTING Probably driven by the success of the movie adaptations of his novels (besides the three novels mentioned in Early Novels, also The Andromeda Strain had made it to the screen in the early 70s, see Novels), Michael Crichton turned to movie screenwriting himself with Westworld in 1973. By then he had made his directorial debut with Binary in 1972, but he would not get back to directing until 1978, and only for a decade. Let’s review Michael Crichton's direct involvement in moviemaking:
1971, 1972, 1974	Michael Crichton did not miraculously hit the top with his first movie screenplay of Westworld (see below). Before that he had already had experience in screenwriting, being the author of three episodes of the "Insight Series" produced by Paulist Productions, whom I thank for making them available to me. The series ran from 1960 to 1984 with 262 episodes and Michael Crichton wrote the following: "The War of the Eggs", 1971 "Killer", 1972 "The Theft", 1974
1972	Based on his novel “Binary”, Michael Crichton directed this movie after the great success of three other film adaptations of novels of his.
1973 Remake planned for 2012. Check back for latest status of production at IMDB	Michael Crichton wrote the script and directed this movie, which would be one of his greatest successes. It had a sequel, Futureworld (Richard T. Hefforon, 1976) and a five-chapter TV-series followed as well, entitled Beyond Westworld. Futureworld used footage from Westworld to justify the inclusion of Yul Brynner on its cast credits, in order to attract this actor’s numerous fans to the movie. Beyond Westworld is a five chapter series, of which the last two were never aired. Both credited Michael Crichton as the creator of the idea and characters.	1976 1980
1973	The same year as Westworld, Michael Crichton wrote the script “Extreme Close-Up”, which was made into the movie “Sex Through a Window”. It addresses topics that are even hotter today, such as privacy, data protection and the paparazzi. It is the only Crichton movie not (yet?) available on DVD.
1974/1994	It had to wait 20 odd years to make it to a screen, albeit as a TV series. Michael Crichton’s original script (the pilot episode) was intended for a movie, which was almost made in the 80s, with Steven Spielberg’s involvement. But when he “discovered” Jurassic Park, the project was shelved again. It has been often mistakenly interpreted as a TV follow up of Coma (see below), but the script had been written well before this movie. If anything I'd consider ER an adaptation of his non-fiction book Five Patients.
1978	Coma is the only instance in which Michael Crichton adapted someone else’s novel to the screen. It is one of Robin Cook’s most succesful works (right).
1979	This is the only full Michael Crichton movie, as there is no other one which he wrote and directed and is based on a novel of his.
1981	Looker contains elements that were revisited later by films such as S1m0ne (Andrew Niccol, 2002). A DVD edition was relased in 2007.
1984	“Robots on the rampage”, Runaway includes ideas loosely resembling Blade Runner (Rydley Scott, 1982) and closely related to his own Westworld (1973), Screamers (Christian Duguay, 1995) and Matrix (Wachowsky Brothers, 1999).
1989	This is the only movie he just directed. It is also his last one as director.
GENES A Screenplay Based on the Mary Shelley novel "Frankenstein" 1989	Kahlessa found this screenplay by Michael Crichton, and in an on-line discussion he held in 2005, made sure it was his, having the conversation shown on the right. Thanks Kahlessa, for sharing your finding and your conversation with Michael Crichton!
1996	Twister is a screenplay Michael Crichton co-authored with his then wife Anne-Marie Martin, whom he had probably met in the making of Runaway (right).
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