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'Battlefield Earth' Screenwriter Writes Hilarious Open Apology

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'Battlefield Earth' won a Razzie for the worst movie of the decade this month, and screenwriter J.D. Shapiro has written a long, hilarious apology and explanation of the film in the NY Post.

The movie was a sci-fi bomb based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and starred John Travolta.

Shapiro came about the project in 1994 by reading that the Scientology Center was a "great place to meet women." He found it wasn't, but he ended up meeting Karen Hollander, president of the center, who was a fan of the Shapiro-penned "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." She suggested a movie based on a book by Hubbard.

He agreed, dined with John Travolta, wrote and sold a script to studios that he was proud of, and then had that script radically altered.

But first he tried Scientology:


Scientology didn't take, but he penned the script anyway:




In the end he shared screenwriting credit on the project, as he would have had to sacrifice his payday to take his name off the picture.

But in the end, he's proud.

Now, looking back at the movie with fresh eyes, I can't help but be strangely proud of it. Because out of all the sucky movies, mine is the suckiest.

The whole thing is hilarious, read it here.

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