HEATHERS: An Original Screenplay

Los Angeles: [New World Pictures], 1987. Very good plus.. Original revised second draft for the classic 1989 teen film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford. One of the greatest high school movies ever made, and one of the few really worthy Winona Ryder vehicles, HEATHERS not only anticipated the more satirical edge of '90s teen movies to come, it perhaps embodied better than even John Hughes the world-weary pose for which Gen X would become best known. From the great heights of his Edgar-winning first screenplay, Waters later descended to the ignominy of HUDSON HAWK and "a little bit of friction" with Tim Burton - although, as he later noted, there is much to be said for a career in which one has "enough old Batman residual money I can live my own life and write original scripts." Subjected to several recent stage and screen adaptations, the original HEATHERS still cuts like a knife and resists reduction to a period piece: like Shakespeare, Waters wrote not for an age but for all time. Gracious to a fault, the writer neither disdained nor disclaimed the musical or the ill-fated television show based on his iconic work; in fact, he suggested, a "Heathers On Ice" would be nice, too, "and I'm getting an opera vibe." Gen X canon. 11'' x 8.5''. Original brad-bound white printed production wrappers. Title page dated November 17, 1987. 110 leaves printed rectos only. Light toning and touches of soil to wrappers.