Mark Rosenthal

Mark David Rosenthal is an American screenwriter and film director and long-time writing partner of Lawrence Konner.

Education

Mark David Rosenthal was born in Philadelphia. He received his Masters degree from the University of Vermont and his Doctor of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific.

Screenwriting career

Rosenthal sold the first screenplay he ever wrote which came out theatrically as The Legend of Billie Jean. This was followed by such films as The Jewel of the Nile, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,^[1] Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, The Beverly Hillbillies, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Mona Lisa Smile, Flicka, Mercury Rising, Mighty Joe Young and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He also did uncredited work on I, Robot and Eragon.

Rosenthal co-wrote (with Konner) and directed The In Crowd for Orion Studios.

Other appearances and contributions

Rosenthal is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. He was featured in TALES FROM THE SCRIPT: 50 HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITERS SHARE THEIR STORIES (Harpercollins, book and DVD) and in WHY WE WRITE: 25 TOP SCREENWRITERS SHARE THEIR STORIES (Sillman-James Press).

Mark recorded a DVD commentary for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace for the Deluxe Edition of the film in 2006. Here he discusses the films original intentions and the many deleted scenes. According to Rosenthal, star Christopher Reeve and director Sidney J. Furie begged producer Cannon to be able to film that sequence in New York in front of the real United Nations because everyone knew what New York and the United Nations was supposed to look like and that the Milton Keynes setting looked nothing like it. However Cannon refused. According to Rosenthal, they were "pinching pennies at every step" and that it was impossible to look at the location and think of it as the United Nations, but more rather a municipal auditorium, which is, according to Rosenthal, exactly what it was.

Rosenthal has also described the final film as Cannon stabbing Christopher Reeve in the back. He also revealed on the Deluxe Edition DVD that he and writer Lawrence Konner wanted Reeve to play Nuclear Man as well as his dual roles of Superman and Clark Kent in the film. They imagined the villain being a darker version of the hero in the cloning process. This would've been financially expensive and was already explored in minor detail in Superman III. So Cannon decided to hire Mark Pillow instead for the part of Nuclear Man in the final film. (Pillow was dubbed by Gene Hackman, who also portrayed Lex Luthor in the film).

Also according to Rosenthal's commentary on the 2006 Deluxe Edition DVD for Superman IV, the gallery of deleted scenes included on the disc, there are approximately 45 minutes of the film that have not been seen by the public after they were deleted following a failed Southern California test screening. In fact, the Nuclear Man that appears in the film is actually the second Nuclear Man Lex Luthor created. Cut scenes featured the original Nuclear Man (portrayed by Clive Mantle) engaging Superman in battle outside the Metro Club and being destroyed by the Man of Steel. The first Nuclear Man was somewhat more inhuman-looking than his successor, and resembled vaguely in looks, and significantly in personality, the comic book character Bizarro. Luthor postulates that this Nuclear Man was not strong enough, and hatches the plan to create the second Nuclear Man inside the sun as a result.

Rosenthal (with Konner) did essential, non-credited work on I, ROBOT as well. In the original draft, the Bridget Moynahan character was the "hidden robot-human hybrid". Realizing that this dilemma would explain Will Smith's antipathy towards robots, Rosenthal made the switch to create a central character who had been maimed by robots. Rosenthal (with Konner) also wrote the sequence where Smith uncovers the escaped robot in the factory by shooting into the lines of robots.

References

1. ^ Maslin, Janet (July 25, 1987). "Superman IV: the Quest for Peace (1987) Movie: 'Superman IV: Quest for Peace'". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9b0deed6103af936a15754c0a961948260. Retrieved 16 September 2011. 

External links

• Mark Rosenthal at the Internet Movie Database
• Mark Rosenthal at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

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