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The jury's out on how much movie violence inspires real-life violence, but there's no question it inspires more movie violence. TAXI DRIVER CONVINCED THE SCREENWRITER TO GO MEGA-VIOLENT. (His post- Unforgiven work includes Hero, Twelve Monkeys, and Soldier.) Originally, Peoples' Unforgiven screenplay was alternately known as The William Munny Killings and The Cut-Whore Killings, which might go a long way toward explaining why nobody wanted to make it. His first big break in that field came when he was hired to co-write Blade Runner for Ridley Scott, and he subsequently worked on Ladyhawke and Leviathan. THE SCREENPLAY HAD BEEN KICKING AROUND SINCE 1976.ĭavid Webb Peoples was a film editor in the '70s, writing scripts on the side. and kept it for another several years before he finally made the movie. When his option on the script expired in 1985, Clint Eastwood picked it up. The director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now optioned the screenplay in the early 1980s, but couldn't get the movie financed. Never mind whether you deserve them deserve's got nothing to do with it. In the meantime, here are a dozen tidbits to enhance your appreciation for what remains one of Eastwood's greatest movies on the 25th anniversary of its release. Of course, one could argue that it wasn't until Unforgiven that Eastwood deserved Oscar attention. Despite decades of popular success, both as an actor and a filmmaker, it wasn't until Unforgiven that Eastwood began to be recognized by the esteemed members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He won the latter two, and was at the time the oldest person to ever take home the director trophy. But it was the first one to earn him an Oscar nomination-three of them, actually: for Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Director. Unforgiven, released on August 7, 1992, was Clint Eastwood's 16th movie as a director and his 34th as a lead actor.