Jonathan Gems

Writing
London, United Kingdom

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Gems (born 1952, London) is a British playwright and screenwriter mostly known for his work on Mars Attacks!, directed by Tim Burton. He also wrote the film's novelization. The son of the playwright Pam Gems, Jonathan Gems wrote a number of plays for theatres on the London fringe before gradually turning to screenwriting. As well as Mars Attacks!, Gems did uncredited rewrite work on Batman. Gems has written a number of unproduced scripts for Burton, including a Beetlejuice sequel titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, an updating of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" set in Burbank, California, The Hawkline Monster, a cowboy/monster movie that was to star Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson and Go Baby Go, a beach movie in the style of Russ Meyer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jonathan Gems, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For & Full Filmography2 Titles

#1The War Of The Worlds: The Prophetic Novel

Movie - 2025, 2h 15m as Self (Screenwriter)

8.8 / 10
DocumentarySci-FiAnimation

First published in 1898, H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds was a veritable literary and cultural revolution. It laid the foundations for modern sci-fi by telling the first- ever story of an alien invasion. A political and moral fable, the novel uses science fiction as a tool to raise our awareness and alert the modern world to the dangers and risks inherent in industrial, scientific and technological progress. It is high time to rediscover this seminal book.

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#2Who Killed British Cinema?

Movie - 2018, 2h 15m as Self

5.0 / 10
Documentary

A feature length documentary about the real state of the British film industry in relation to UK structures past, present and currently for the future. This film exposes the shocking truths about the UK Governments' will to grow an indigenous British film industry, the legacy and testament of the now closed UK Film Council (UKFC), the current British Film Institute and the new Creative England.

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