William Hjortsberg
Writing
Biography
William Reinhold "Gatz" Hjortsberg was an American novelist and screenwriter, known for his originality and for writing the screenplay of the film Legend. His novel Falling Angel was the basis for the film Angel Heart (1987). The novel was adapted into an opera in 2015, composed by J. Mark Scearce with a libretto by Lucy Thurber. His 2015 novel Mañana is a thriller set in Mexico. Hjortsberg was the only child of a Swedish restaurateur father and a Swiss mother. He attended Dartmouth College, the Yale School of Drama (where he met Thomas McGuane), and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He was married three times, and had a son and a daughter. He died of pancreatic cancer. Description above from the Wikipedia article William Hjortsberg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story follows a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate, to undertake a heroic quest. He must save the beautiful Princess Lili and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness, or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age.
Legend
A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.
Angel Heart
A young man who hauls liquor for moonshiners comes up against a competing gang of moonshiners who intend to get rid of him and take over his operation.
Thunder and Lightning
A Southern gal who runs her family's auto repair shop, her aspiring country singer sister, and their stock-car racing friend who runs moonshine on the side are conned into working as government undercover agents to track down a dangerous criminal in this pilot to a prospective series.
The Georgia Peaches
This 51 minute documentary of the movie "Legend" can be found as an extra on the 2002 2-disc boxed-set 'Ultimate Edition' DVD release of "Legend". The first part of the documentary deals with the fruition of the idea and the making of the movie. It includes interviews with almost all the main participants of the feature, with the exception of actor Tom Cruise, who was a no show. The second half is much more fascinating and deals with what went wrong with the movie and its marketing.