David Scarpa
{{short description|American screenwriter}}
{{Infobox person
|name=David Scarpa
|image= David Scarpa.jpg
|caption = Scarpa in 2017
|birth_date=
|birth_place=Fort Campbell, Kentucky, United States
|nationality=American
|occupation=Screenwriter
|education= New York University
}}
David Scarpa is an American screenwriter.{{cite web |title=Ridley Scott's 'All the Money in the World' Set as Closing Night Film at AFI Fest |date=2017-10-19 |website=Variety |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410105011/https://variety.com/2017/film/news/ridley-scott-all-the-money-in-the-world-closing-night-afi-fest-1202594485/ |archive-date=2023-04-10 |url-status=live |url=https://variety.com/2017/film/news/ridley-scott-all-the-money-in-the-world-closing-night-afi-fest-1202594485/}}[https://deadline.com/2016/04/david-scarpa-cleopatra-sony-pictures-angelina-jolie-stacy-schiff-cleopatra-a-life-1201733084/ Deadline.com]{{cite web |title=Hero Complex |website=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110061548/https://herocomplex.latimes.com/uncategorized/david-scarpa-is-feeling-his-inner-daredevil/ |archive-date=2017-11-10 |url-status=live |url=http://herocomplex.latimes.com/uncategorized/david-scarpa-is-feeling-his-inner-daredevil/}} He is best known for his collaborations with director Ridley Scott, writing the screenplays for All the Money in the World (2017), about the John Paul Getty III kidnapping, Napoleon (2023), a historical biopic centered on Napoleon Bonaparte, and Gladiator II (2024), a sequel to the 2000 film Gladiator.
Personal life
Scarpa was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and raised in Tennessee and Connecticut before attending New York University's film program.
He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Career
Scarpa began writing features. In 2005, he began developing a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Scarpa felt everything about the original film was still relevant, but changed the allegory from nuclear war to environmental damage because "the specifics of [how] we now have the capability to destroy ourselves have changed."{{cite web|title=Production notes|publisher=20th Century Fox|url=http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2008_11xx_day.htm|accessdate=October 8, 2014}} Scarpa noted the recent events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 informed his mindset when writing the screenplay.{{cite news|author=Matt Mueller|title=Excellent adventure, or bogus journey?|work=Total Film|date=December 2008|pages=68–72}} He scrapped Klaatu's speech at the conclusion of the story because "audiences today are [un]willing to tolerate that. People don't want to be preached to about the environment. We tried to avoid having our alien looking out over the garbage in the lake and crying a silent tear [from the 1970s Keep America Beautiful ads]."{{cite magazine|author=Scott Brown|title=The Looming Deluge of Eco-Disaster Flicks|magazine=Wired|date=November 25, 2008|url=https://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-12/pl_brown|accessdate=November 25, 2008}} He served as the co-showrunner for Amazon Prime Video series The Man in the High Castle season 4.
After writing All the Money in the World for director Ridley Scott, he reteamed with the director on two more projects: Napoleon, a historical epic centered on Napoleon Bonaparte, and Gladiator II.{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=October 14, 2020 |title=Ridley Scott Eyes Another Epic: Joaquin Phoenix As Napoleon In 'Kitbag' As Director Today Wraps 'The Last Duel' |url=https://deadline.com/2020/10/ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix-napoleon-epic-kitbag-wraps-the-last-duel-today-1234597342/ |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=Deadline}}{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=November 12, 2021 |title=Ridley Scott Won't Let Age Or Pandemic Slow A Storytelling Appetite That Brought 'House of Gucci' & 'The Last Duel;' Napoleon & More 'Gladiator' Up Next |url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/ridley-scott-house-of-gucci-lady-gaga-adam-driver-the-last-duel-oscar-season-1234872529/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}
= Upcoming projects =
He is also writing Cleopatra for Sony Pictures Entertainment, with Denis Villeneuve directing. In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Scarpa described the film as being "a two-hour, lean, mean political thriller, full of assassinations, etc.", and that it will be "going the opposite direction from the way we think that movie is going to go."{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=April 6, 2016 |title=David Scarpa To Rewrite 'Cleopatra' |url=https://deadline.com/2016/04/david-scarpa-cleopatra-sony-pictures-angelina-jolie-stacy-schiff-cleopatra-a-life-1201733084/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}{{Cite web |last=Galuppo |first=Mia |date=September 27, 2017 |title=Denis Villeneuve in Talks to Direct Sony's Cleopatra Movie |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/denis-villeneuve-talks-direct-sonys-cleopatra-movie-1014160/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}}{{Cite web |last=Couch |first=Aaron |date=December 22, 2017 |title='All The Money in the World' Writer Reveals Patty Jenkins Helped Secret Recasting |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/all-money-world-writer-reveals-patty-jenkins-helped-secret-recasting-1069493/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}} Scarpa is also writing the HBO miniseries Londongrad, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alexander Litvinenko, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006.{{Cite web |last=Petski |first=Denise |date=October 28, 2021 |title=Benedict Cumberbatch To Headline HBO Limited Series About Poisoned KGB Agent Alexander Litvinenko |url=https://deadline.com/2021/10/benedict-cumberbatch-hbo-limited-series-poisoned-kgb-agent-alexander-litvinenko-1234864442/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}
Writing credits
Film
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Title !Notes |
| 2001
| Co-written with Graham Yost |
| 2008
|The Day the Earth Stood Still | |
| 2017
| |
| 2023
| |
| 2024
|Also story writer with Peter Craig |
Television
| class="wikitable"
! Year ! Title ! Notes |
| 2019
| 3 episodes; |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Award ! scope="col"| Category ! scope="col"| Nominated work ! scope="col"| Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{refh}} |
|---|
| 2024
| 77th British Academy Film Awards | Outstanding British Film | Napoleon | {{nom}} | {{cite web|url=https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2024-nominations-winners|title=2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards: The Winners and Nominations|website=British Academy of Film and Television Arts|access-date=July 1, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630081825/https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2024-nominations-winners|archive-date=June 30, 2024}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0769227}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarpa, David}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American screenwriters
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American male television writers
Category:American television producers
Category:American television writers
Category:New York University alumni
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:People from Christian County, Kentucky
Category:Screenwriters from Kentucky
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