Gregory Widen
| Gregory Widen | |
|---|---|
| Born | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, film director, author |
Gregory Widen is an American screenwriter and film director. Creator of Highlander
A native of Laguna Beach, California, Gregory Widen is a former firefighter, NPR station host, and mountain-rescue team member. While a film student at UCLA, he sold his script for Highlander (film) (1986) while still an undergraduate, and it stars Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. Its tagline, "There can only be one" has gained popular culture infamy. The original movie became a cult classic, spawning four sequels and Highlander: The Series, tie-in novels and video games.
Queen originally intended to record only one song for the film, but after viewing footage from the movie, they were inspired to write more. The band members each had a favorite scene and composed songs specifically for them. Brian May wrote "Who Wants to Live Forever" during the cab ride home after seeing the film, and Roger Taylor used the line "It's a kind of magic" as the basis for the end title song.
Widen worked as a firefighter for three years while still an undergraduate at UCLA. He witnessed a person being killed by an explosive backdraft, which became the basis for the screenplay he wrote for the movie Backdraft, directed by Ron Howard and starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro. Released in 1991, Backdraft (film) grossed grossed $77,868,585 in the US (ranking 14th in box-office for 1991), and $74,500,000 in foreign markets. Backdraft received three Academy Award Nominations.
Backdraft (attraction) was created into a ride for Universal Studios Hollywood (opened 1992, closed 2010) and Universal Studios Japan where it is still active.
In 1995, Widen wrote and directed the supernatural thriller The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. The film spawned four sequels: The Prophecy II (1998), The Ascent (2000), Uprising (2005) and Forsaken (2005).
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