Episode 29: Contact with James V. Hart
Our guest this week is James V. Hart, whose screenwriting talents have seen him enlisted to pen scripts for Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and everyone in between . There's one movie in his extensive filmography that he looks back on with particular pride and emotion, however. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Contact was the story of a scientist played by Jodie Foster, who discovers proof of alien life. It was a novel before James adapted it into one of the most celebrated sci-fi dramas of all time, written by renowned astronomer Carl Sagan – a close personal friend of James'. Carl sadly didn't live to see the film's completion, passing away after a long illness just months before Contact's release.
James looks back on the movie today as a testament to the warmth and intellect of both his friend Carl, and Carl’s brilliant partner, author Ann Druyan, both of whom he worked with closely while adapting Contact. It was a tricky screenplay to get right. As you'll discover in this episode, the book was a dense meditation on what would happen if contact were made with life from another planet – the ripples it would send through politics, through religion, and everything in between. It was a book rooted in scientific fact. Translating the novel into a piece of blockbuster entertainment without losing any of the book's authority and spirit of scientific discovery, in a time dominated by the explosions and spectacle of alien movies like Independence Day, was a daunting task.
This is the story of how James pulled it off. Over an engrossing sixty minutes, we reflect on the movies that Contact helped inspire, a version of the script that included the Pope as a major character, and why James is not satisfied with the film's ending.
Support for this episode comes from Screencraft, MUBI and Launchpad.
Script Apart is a podcast about the first-draft secrets behind great movies. Each episode, the screenwriter behind a beloved film shares with us their initial screenplay for that movie. We then talk through what changed, what didn’t and why on its journey to the big screen. All proceeds go to Black Minds Matter UK, the NHS Charities Covid-19 Appeal and the Film and TV Charity.
Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek, with music from Stefan Bindley-Taylor. You can follow Script Apart on Twitter and Instagram. You can also email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.
