How A Dog Almost Won A Screenwriting Oscar For 80s Tarzan Film Greystoke

Dogs are variously talented, but screenwriting doesn’t generally appear on the canine CV.

But now, thanks to the release of new Tarzan movie, ‘The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes’, the time a dog almost won an Oscar for his screenwriting efforts is doing the rounds.

- Gondry: Green Hornet was worst moment of my career
- Pixar Won’t Be Doing Sequels After Incredibles 2
- Universal Sued Over Warcraft Spam

The film in question was the 1984 take on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel, 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan’, helmed by director Hugh Hudson, he of 'Chariots of Fire’ fame.

It starred Christopher Lambert as Tarzan, alongside an all-star cast, including Sir Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Andie MacDowell and James Fox.

Though not critically lauded, it earned a raft of Oscar nominations, including Best Screenplay at the 57th awards in 1985 (Peter Shaffer won in the end for the peerless ‘Amadeus’).

Robert Towne, the scribe behind classic 70s movies 'Chinatown’ and 'The Last Detail’, as well as the likes of ‘Day of Thunder’, had penned half the script for the movie, and was in line to direct it too, but there was much drama behind the scenes.

He had written the script incredibly slowly, and had eyes on making his own movie too, 'Personal Best’, so agreed to give up the rights to the rest of the script in exchange for the money to make his movie.

However, when 'Personal Best’, a sports movie about a group of women training to qualify for the 1980 Olympics, bombed horribly, he was taken off directing duties for 'Greystoke’.

Hudson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Robert Towne never liked it, of course. Why would he? It was his baby to begin with, but he sold his baby, to put it that way.

“And when we did the film, he put the name of his dog on it.”

'P.H. Vazak’, which is credited instead of Towne, was his dog, and remains the only dog to have been nominated in the screenwriting category.

It was not the only drama on the movie, with Andie MacDowell’s performance proving to be another issue.

Hudson explains: “I found Andie MacDowell on the cover of a magazine and we tracked her down and she had the right look. I didn’t want her to be blonde because every Jane is blonde.

“But I didn’t really want to have a southern accent, and she wasn’t a trained actress.

“Later, I had the unenviable task of telling her we were going to re-voice her [with Glenn Close]. She didn’t like it. Oh, a terrible blow it was. But as a result she went and took acting lessons. And she became who she became.”

Awks, as they say.

‘The Legend of Tarzan’, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie is out on July 6.

Image credits: Rex Features