Lawrence D. Cohen

Lawrence D. Cohen is an American screenwriter who, although hardly prolific, has worked with some of the most respected names in the genre movie and genre fiction industry. He first came to prominence in the 1970s when he penned the screenplay for the Stephen King adaptation Carrie (1976): the film was directed by Brian De Palma and featured an all-star cast that included Amy Irving, William Katt, Piper Laurie, P.J. Soles, Sissy Spacek, and John Travolta. With a long-awaited and phenomenal resurgence in the horror novel and film - mostly due to the arrival of Stephen King - Cohen has clearly found his niche.

His next writing project was the John Irvin film Ghost Story (1981) based on the classic novel by Peter Straub. This chilling - and often ambiguous - horror tale starred Fred Astaire and 'Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in lead roles. Cohen would then script another two Stephen King adaptations. Firstly the adaptation of It (1990) that was shot by cult horror director Tommy Lee Wallace, a bildungsroman tale laced with horror and science fiction, set in the small town of Derry, Maine. Following this was the alien invasion film The Tommyknockers (1993), a body snatcher tale starring Jimmy Smits and E.G. Marshall. Both teleplays were superbly executed and have remained extremely popular.

Cohen recently scripted a fourth Stephen King story, 'The End of the Whole Mess' from his collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006). He is also a movie producer.