RIP David Giler

 

American David Giler, a writer, producer or both on some of the most high-profile films of the 1970s and ’80s, from the controversial Myra Breckinridge to the immensely popular Alien franchise, died of cancer December 19, 2020 at his home in Bangkok, Thailand. He was 77. Born in 1943 Giler. Giler’s screenwriting credits include The Parallax View (1974), Fun With Dick And Jane (1977) and The Money Pit (1986). He has writing or story credits for both Aliens (1986) and Aliens 3 (1992), and was a producer of the original Alien (1979) and its seven sequels, up to 2017’s Alien: Covenant (though his and Hill’s involvement lessened in the later sequels). In television, Giler wrote scripts for ’60s series Burke’s Law, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. In 1970, at 25 years old, Giler took on Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckinridge, his battles with director Michael Sarne becoming nearly as infamous as the legendary Raquel Welch-Rex Reed flop itself. One significant outlier: Vidal himself, who praised Giler’s original draft and became a lifelong friend. David Giller was a producer of 1985’s Euro-western “Rustlers’ Rhapsody” starring Tom Berenger.