1. Early Life
Gary Leon Goldman was born on September 17, 1953.
2. Career
Goldman's career as a screenwriter spans several decades, marked by contributions to significant science fiction and action films, as well as his work on adapting stories by celebrated author Philip K. Dick.
2.1. Early Screenwriting Works
Goldman's first major screenwriting credit was for John Carpenter's 1986 fantasy martial arts film, Big Trouble in Little China. He co-wrote the script with David Weinstein. The original concept for the script was set in the old west, but it was later adapted by Carpenter's former classmate at USC film school, W. D. Richter, to take place in modern times.
His next notable writing project came in 1989 with the science fiction action film Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The initial script was written by Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon. However, director Paul Verhoeven encountered difficulties with the film's third act and enlisted Goldman to help refine the screenplay. According to Verhoeven, the primary issue was that the final forty minutes of the movie consisted of an extended action sequence that had strayed from its intended "mental theme." Working with Shusett, Goldman successfully reincorporated this theme by introducing a plot twist where the audience discovers that Schwarzenegger's character, initially perceived as a hero, had his memory erased and is, in fact, a villain. Goldman also holds a credit for the 1990 film Navy SEALs.
2.2. Adaptation and Producing Endeavors
Following the success of Total Recall, Goldman collaborated again with Ronald Shusett to co-write a screen adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story, The Minority Report. Their intention was for this adaptation to serve as a possible sequel to Total Recall. Although their specific screenplay was not ultimately used for the 2002 film Minority Report, a sequence depicting a car factory in the final movie was indeed adapted from their early script. Despite not receiving a writing credit for the film, Goldman was listed as an executive producer.
By 2003, Goldman's career momentum had somewhat slowed. His manager, Lenny Beckerman, suggested he adapt another of Philip K. Dick's stories. Benefiting from a good relationship with the Dick estate, Goldman successfully acquired the rights to Dick's 1954 short story, The Golden Man. The completed script was subsequently sold to Saturn Films, the production company owned by Nicolas Cage. This adaptation eventually became the 2007 film Next, directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Cage alongside Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel. Unfortunately, Next did not achieve significant critical or financial success.
3. Legal Disputes and Controversies
Gary Goldman became involved in a high-profile legal battle with The Walt Disney Company, filing a copyright infringement lawsuit concerning the animated film Zootopia.
3.1. Background of the 'Zootopia' Lawsuit
On March 21, 2017, Goldman filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Disney. According to his legal complaint, Goldman had pitched a concept for a live-action film titled Looney to Disney on two separate occasions, in 2000 and 2009. His pitch centered around an animator creating a fictional television cartoon named Zootopia. Goldman asserted that the term "Zootopia" had never appeared in Disney's creative work prior to their pre-production on their own film, which began in 2013. The lawsuit alleged that Disney's film, which depicted a society of animals where individuals could "pursue their dreams no matter their species," shared substantial similarities in its core theme with Goldman's original pitch. Goldman further claimed that Disney had reproduced the name, thematic elements, settings, and character tropes presented in his proposals. As part of his evidence, Goldman submitted graphics of concept artwork for characters that he argued Disney had appropriated in their portrayals, including characters such as Nick Wilde, Flash, Chief Bogo, and Judy Hopps. In Goldman's pitch, Judy Hopps was envisioned as a squirrel character modeled after his own wife, Judith.
3.2. Lawsuit Proceedings and Outcome
The lawsuit initiated by Goldman faced an initial setback when U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the infringement claims on November 8, 2017. In the final review of the case, the court concluded that Goldman's attempts to establish similarity between the plots of Looney and Zootopia were "strained." The court reasoned that any purported similarities between the two works were confined to general themes rather than specific plot points or sequences of events, and such general themes were deemed too broad to be protected by copyright law.
Undeterred by the initial dismissal, Goldman subsequently appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. However, the Ninth Circuit upheld the lower court's dismissal, affirming its previous ruling. The appellate court's reasoning further solidified the previous judgment, stating that while The Walt Disney Company "may have copied the idea of a zoo-utopia," their actual "expression of that idea bears almost no resemblance to Plaintiff's expression." This ruling effectively brought an end to Goldman's legal challenge against Disney.