Mark Norman wrote Shakespeare in Love. Tom Stoppard re-wrote it. As usual, Norman is completely missing from the credit, despite winning the Academy Award and creating the concept and every character and all the situations. Having read the script with only Marc Norman's name on it, I'd say he can thank his lucky stars that the Writers Guild required his name to remain on the project. As I recall, Norman gave his son credit for the concept, so even that wasn't his. The final product, the one that won the Oscar, was a Stoppard work. Other than some character names, little of Norman's original script was filmed. Thank goodness!
All you have to do is look at Marc Norman's filmography over at the IMDB to see what he's capable of and that he hasn't done anything since.
The film's Oscar was due entirely to the way Stoppard completely elevated the concept, plus Miramax's aggressive campaigning.
Stoppard's recurring line: "It's a mystery" sums it up.
Marc Norman's filmography
Updated On: 6/21/08 at 04:24 PM