Caroline Thompson (born April 23, 1956) 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
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre.
Choreographer
In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...
. Thompson also adapted the screenplay for the film version of ''
Wicked Lovely
''Wicked Lovely'' is a young adult/urban fantasy novel by author Melissa Marr. The story follows protagonist Aislinn, who has the Sight (the ability to see faeries), and whose life begins to unravel when it seems the fey-folk develop a sudden in ...
'', a bestselling fantasy series, in 2011, but the production was put into
turnaround. She directed ''
Black Beauty'' (1994); ''
Buddy'' (1997), which she also wrote; and the television film ''
Snow White: The Fairest of Them All'' (2001), also as producer and co-writer.
Early life
Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Bettie Marshall (née Warner), a teacher, and Thomas Carlton Thompson, Jr., a lawyer. She received her early education in Washington. She later moved to
Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
, and eventually graduated from
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
in 1978 with a degree in English and classic literature.
[Biography]
'' The New York Times''.
Career
Thompson moved to Los Angeles, supporting herself as a freelance book reviewer and writer. In 1983, she published a novel ''First Born'' which director
Penelope Spheeris chose to adapt into a film, and from whom she started learning scriptwriting while writing the drafts of the film's screenplay. Though the movie was never made, the project inspired her to pursue a career as a screenwriter. Tim Burton was impressed with the novel, which was "about a monster fetus ". 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.
Her other works include ''
Snow White: The Fairest of Them All'' for
Hallmark, starring
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for ''Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...
and
Kristin Kreuk, ''
The Secret Garden
''The Secret Garden'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and ...
'', ''
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'' (1994) as her directorial debut, followed by ''Snow White'' in 2001 for TV 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
''Wicked Lovely'' is a young adult/urban fantasy novel by author Melissa Marr. The story follows protagonist Aislinn, who has the Sight (the ability to see faeries), and whose life begins to unravel when it seems the fey-folk develop a sudden in ...
'', intended to be directed by
Mary Harron, was in
turnaround in 2011.
Thompson was the first woman to be presented with the ''Distinguished Screenwriter Award'' at the 2011
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the ...
.
Filmography
As writer
* ''
Edward Scissorhands'' (1990) (also associate producer)
* ''
The Addams Family'' (1991)
* ''
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey'' (1993)
* ''
The Secret Garden
''The Secret Garden'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and ...
'' (1993) (also associate producer)
* ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993; developed Sally Rags)
* ''
Black Beauty'' (1994) (also director)
* ''
Buddy'' (1997) (also director)
* ''
Snow White: The Fairest of Them All'' (TV, 2001) (also director and producer)
* ''
Corpse Bride'' (2005)
* ''
City of Ember'' (2008)
* ''
Welcome to Marwen'' (2018)
As herself
* ''Prop Culture'' (2020) episode: "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas"
* ''
The Holiday Movies That Made Us '' (2020) episode: "Nightmare Before Christmas"
Bibliography
* ''First born'', Published by Coward-McCann, 1983. .
* ''Edward Scissorhands'', by Thompson & Tim Burton. Published by distributed by Cinestore, 1990.
* ''The Secret Garden'', Adapted by Thompson. Published by s.n., 1991.
* ''The Addams Family: A Novelization'', by Elizabeth Faucher, Thompson, & Larry Wilson. Published by Scholastic Inc., 1991. .
* ''Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: A Novel'', by Daphne Skinner, Thompson, Michael McDowell, & Tim Burton. Published by Puffin Books, 1994. .
* ''Snow White'', by Thompson & Julie Hickson. Published by s.n, 2000.
* ''Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision'', by Frank Thompson, Tim Burton. Published by Disney Editions, 2002. . ''Caroline Thompson – Page 179''.
*
References
External links
*
*
Caroline Thompson Video Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Caroline
1956 births
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American women novelists
Amherst College alumni
Living people
Radcliffe College alumni
American women screenwriters
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
Screenwriters from Washington, D.C.
Hugo Award-winning writers