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Eric Roth might not be a name you’re immediately familiar with. The American screenwriter has enjoyed a hugely successful career, quietly working in the background through his collaborations with some of Hollywood’s most visionary filmmakers.
As a writer, he has worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon, Denis Villeneuve on Dune, and Robert Zemeckis on Forrest Gump. He has been nominated for an Academy Award six times for his screenwriting, winning once for Forrest Gump.
The remarkable screenwriting of Eric Roth
An old-school screenwriter with a remarkable talent for crafting compelling stories and dynamic, multi-layered characters, Eric Roth is not only highly regarded by Hollywood filmmakers but well known for his unique approach. He crafts scripts using a DOS program devoid of internet access and opts to distribute his screenplays solely in hard copy format.
The screenwriter Eric Roth at home. | IMAGE: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times.
Following his Academy Award triumph with 1995’s Forrest Gump Roth continued his streak by co-writing screenplays for several acclaimed films, including The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and A Star Is Born. Roth has called The Curious Case of Benjamin Button his most personal movie after the writer endured the deaths of both parents during the writing process. It ultimately infused the film with profound personal significance.
His contributions extend beyond award-winning projects, having also left his mark on Oscar-nominated films like Ali (2001) and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). Roth’s versatility is evident in his collaboration on Martin Scorsese’s epic Western crime drama, Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), further solidifying his reputation as a prolific and accomplished screenwriter in the industry.
Screenwriter Eric Roth’s Best Films
Here’s our rundown of screenwriter Eric Roth’s best work including films he wrote as the sole screenwriter and those he collaborated on with others.
10. Wolfen
Dir. Michael Wadleigh (1981)
Roth was uncredited for his work on the screenplay which was written by David M. Eyre, Jr. and Michael Wadleigh.
1981 was a great year for werewolf movies. Wolfen takes a different stance on the werewolf myth, shedding much of the traditional conventions for a more modern look at the beast. Indeed, some critics say it isn’t a werewolf movie, but if you like the genre, you’ll like this great film.
Significantly, it features one of the earlier uses of an in-camera effect similar to that used in Predator to display the perspective of the werewolves themselves. Wolfen is essentially a murder-mystery detective story set in New York. Albert Finney is great as Detective Dewey Wilson who is given the unenviable task of unearthing the culprit behind a series of bizarre murders.
9. The Good Shepherd
Dir. Robert De Niro (2006)
Roth served as the film’s sole writer.
This American spy film was both produced and directed by Robert De Niro. It was De Niro’s second film at the helm after 1993’s A Bronx Tale. Roth began work on The Good Shepherd after abandoning an attempt to adapt Norman Mailer’s Harlot’s Ghost.
While the film is fictional, it draws loose inspiration from the life of James Jesus Angleton and explores the origins of counterintelligence within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and De Niro himself form part of an ensemble cast that also includes William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, and Alec Baldwin.
8. Ali
Dir. Michael Mann (2001)
Roth co-writes alongside Michael Mann, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson.
Director Michael Mann immediately brought Roth into the project when he decided to make Ali. Having worked with the screenwriter two years previously on The Insider, he felt Roth’s skill was perfect to bring Muhammad Ali’s story to the screen.
The film, in which Will Smith plays iconic boxer Muhammad Ali, saw the actor move towards more serious cinema and a subtlety in performance audiences hadn’t seen before. He would earn his first Academy Award nomination for the film which dramatises the life of Ali between the years of 1964 and 1974, the year the boxer would famously fight George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle.
7. Munich
Dir. Steven Spielberg (2005)
Roth shares screenwriting credit with Tony Kushner.
Steven Spielberg’s work has often been inspired by true stories, the most notable of which is Schindler’s List. But Munich might be next on the list of factual dramas closest to the filmmaker’s heart.
This one mixes some smart action sequences with socio-political drama following the massacre of athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games. Acclaimed critic James Berardinelli named it his “film of the year” in 2005.
Eric Roth and Tony Kushner would be nominated for numerous awards for their screenplay including an Oscar. They would ultimately triumph at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards where Munich swept the top accolades.
6. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Dir. David Fincher (2008)
Roth served as the film’s sole writer.
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Roth, whose portrayal of Benjamin Button has drawn parallels to Forrest Gump (the film that earned him the Oscar for Best Screenplay), said that much of the emotional depth in the film stemmed from his own experience of losing his parents during the writing process.
“I think this might be my most personal movie. It’s about as close as you can get to me,” he noted. “My mother was diagnosed with cancer just approximately the same time I started writing [the script] and she died not long afterwards. And then my dad died a couple years after that, but I was still working on it.
“In other words, it probably made me – unfortunately – a better writer. You have to deal with your feelings while you’re doing things but I think you do that anyway, whether or not there are tragedies. I think good writing comes out of it even if you’re not writing about [the tragedy], per se.”
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, whose story was developed by Roth and Robin Swicord before Roth embarked on writing the screenplay, draws inspiration from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story of the same name. Brad Pitt portrays Button, a character aging in reverse, while Cate Blanchett assumes the role of his enduring love interest.
5. The Insider
Dir. Michael Mann (1999)
Roth serves as joint screenwriter with director Michael Mann.
One of the best films about investigative journalism, The Insider was inspired by Marie Brenner’s 1996 Vanity Fair article titled “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” The story revolves around the controversial 60 Minutes segment featuring Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower within the tobacco industry.
The film delves into the challenges faced by Wigand and CBS producer Lowell Bergman as they navigate the turbulent waters of defending Wigand’s testimony against concerted efforts by CBS and his former employer to discredit and suppress it.
4. A Star Is Born
Dir. Bradley Cooper (2018)
Roth served as lead screenwriter alongside Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters.
A Star Is Born revolves around an alcoholic musician (Bradley Cooper) who stumbles upon and subsequently falls in love with a talented young singer (Lady Gaga). This is the fourth version of the story after the original 1937 romantic drama and its remakes in 1954 and 1976.
3. Dune
Dir. Denis Villeneuve (2021)
Roth wrote the film alongside Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve.
Dune marks the initial instalment of a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name. Set within the expansive universe of the Dune franchise, the film chronicles the journey of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his noble family, the House Atreides, as they become embroiled in a conflict for control over the perilous and unforgiving desert planet, Arrakis.
2. Killers Of The Flower Moon
Dir. Martin Scorsese (2023)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon. | (c) Apple / Paramount
Roth worked with Martin Scorsese on the screenplay.
Adapted by the director and Eric Roth from David Grann’s novel, the film depicts the 1920s serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in Oklahoma. The string of brutal crimes became known as the Reign of Terror.
Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon boasts elements of the western as well as crime-drama as two lovers find themselves crossing paths with betrayal.
The film topped the coveted Sight & Sound magazine’s “best film of the year” poll for 2023 which saw leading film critics vote on their favourite movies from the past 12 months.
Described as “one of the great chroniclers of American life, and an undisputed giant of cinema” by Sight & Sound, Scorsese charts the complex human relationships at the centre of a grand conspiracy against the Native American Osage Nation in Killers of the Flower Moon.
1. Forrest Gump
Dir. Robert Zemeckis (1995)
Roth was the sole screenwriter of Forrest Gump.
Robert Zemeckis’ best film after Back to the Future, Forrest Gump was immediately taken to the hearts of cinemagoers. Tom Hanks’ wonderful performance as the eponymous character became the iconic image of 1994 Hollywood.
His simpleton’s line: “Life is like a box of chocolates” became an immortal movie quote, and his lifelong adventure, interspersed with significant historical events and real people, made the character and the film an instant crowd pleaser.
Eric Roth’s best work to adapt Winston Groom’s 1986 novel earned him his first and only Oscar. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert loved the movie and paid tribute to Roth, saying in his Chicago Sun-Times review: “It’s a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Or a dream. The screenplay by Eric Roth has the complexity of modern fiction…a breathtaking balancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story rich in big laughs and quiet truths…What a magical movie.”
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