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American writer

Not to be lost with Caroline Thomson.

Caroline Thompson (born April 23, ) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer.

She wrote the screenplays for the Tim Burton-directed films Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride and the Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas. She co-wrote the story for Edward Scissorhands and co-adapted a new stage version of the film with director and choreographer Matthew Bourne.

The writer of Edward ScissorhandsCaroline Thompson, cried when she learned how much certain audiences were impacted by the titular traits. Speaking with InsiderThompson explained how she learned that Johny Depp's Edward was incredibly significant to those who identified with the disabled community. The realization that he gave "confidence and comfort and clarity" to so many people brought her to tears. Those who have a visual otherness are often the victims of cruelty, and for Thompson, it was a "beautiful feeling" to have been some sort of support.

Thompson also adapted the screenplay for the production version of Wicked Lovely, a bestselling fantasy series, in , but the production was set into turnaround. She directed Black Beauty (); Buddy (), which she also wrote; and the television film Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (), also as producer and co-writer.

Personal life

Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Bettie Marshall (née Warner), a teacher, and Thomas Carlton Thompson, Jr., a lawyer.^[1] She received her early education in Washington. She later moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Radcliffe College, and eventually graduated from Amherst College in with a degree in English and classic literature.^[2] Her first marriage was to Henry Bromell, a fellow novelist and screenwriter.

She later married Steve Nicolaides, a film and TV producer.^[3][4]

Career

Thompson moved to Los Angeles, supporting herself as a freelance book reviewer and penner. In , she published a novel First Born which director Penelope Spheeris chose to adjust into a film, and from whom she started learning scriptwriting while writing the drafts of the film's screenplay.^[5] Though the movie was never made, the project inspired her to pursue a career as a screenwriter.^[6] Tim Burton was impressed with the novel, which was "about a monster fetus".

Thompson told Insider that when director and friend Tim Burton first told her about his idea for a movie about a guy with scissors for hands, she thought it was "the stupidest idea [she'd] ever heard in [her] life. Thompson told Insider: "It's brilliant. There is no struggling for understanding what that means, it's right there on its sleeve. If I can't understand a movie with the sound, it's not worth watching to me.

He felt First Born had the same psychological elements he wanted to showcase in Edward Scissorhands, and hired her to write its screenplay as a spec script.^[7]

Her other works include Snow White: The Fairest of Them All, The Secret Garden, Buddy, Black Beauty,Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, and The Addams Family.

Though she is best known for having written the screenplays for Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, she has had more than a dozen movies made, including City of Ember and The Addams Family.

From the above, she directed Black Beauty () as her directorial debut,^[8] followed by Snow White in for TV^[9] and Buddy. She was the producer for Snow White and the associate producer for The Secret Garden and Edward Scissorhands.

Her screenplay for Wicked Lovely, intended to be directed by Mary Harron, was in turnaround in ^[10]

Thompson was the first woman to be presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the Austin Motion picture Festival.^[11]

Filmography

As herself

Bibliography

• First born, Published by Coward-McCann, ISBN&#;
• Edward Scissorhands, by Thompson & Tim Burton.

  Published by distributed by Cinestore,

• The Confidential Garden, Adapted by Thompson. Published by s.n.,
• The Addams Family: A Novelization, by Elizabeth Faucher, Thompson, & Larry Wilson.
  Caroline Thompson, the screenwriter behind "Edward Scissorhands," said that she cried when she recently found out what an "icon" Edward is to some people with disabilities. Thompson spoke to Insider about the Tim Burton movie, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Thompson recalled her moment on the movie fondly and told Insider how she created the character of Edwardplayed by Johnny Depp. Today, the film is considered a classic and arguably Burton's best movie as a director.

  Published by Scholastic Inc., ISBN&#;

• Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: A Novel, by Daphne Skinner, Thompson, Michael McDowell, & Tim Burton. Published by Puffin Books, ISBN&#;
• Snow White, by Thompson & Julie Hickson.

  Published by s.n,

• Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision, by Frank Thompson, Tim Burton. Published by Disney Editions, ISBN&#; Caroline Thompson – Page .
• Salisbury, Mark; Burton, Tim ().
  The film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and still maintains a solid position in the film canon. The character has been shunned from society and lives in isolation until a suburban saleswoman finds him and welcomes him into her home. At times, Edward uses the scissors to his advantage, but in other moments they cause him to inadvertently harm people. Most of the people in the town assess him harshly and only handle him well when they can use him to their advantage.

  Burton on Burton. Faber and Faber. ISBN&#;.

References

External links