Writing

Jonathan Gems

Place of birth

London, United Kingdom

Known for

Writing

Credits

7 titles

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…

Known for

Mars Attacks! poster
6.4

A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.

Mars Attacks!

1996

White Mischief poster
6.1

A millionaire past his prime and his young wife arrive in Kenya circa 1940 to find that the other affluent British expatriates are living large as the homefront gears up for war. They are busy swapping partners, doing drugs, and attending lavish parties and horse races. She begins a torrid affair with one of the bon vivants, and her husband finds out and confronts them. The husband and wife decide to break up peacefully, but the bon vivant is murdered and all the evidence points to the husband.

White Mischief

1987

The War Of The Worlds: The Prophetic Novel poster
7.2

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.

The War Of The Worlds: The Prophetic Novel

2025

The Treat poster
3.3

The lives of four strange prostitutes will change forever when they go to the Mayor's birthday party.

The Treat

1998

Who Killed British Cinema? poster
5.0

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.

Who Killed British Cinema?

2018

No artwork available
10.0

The first official video by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, showing footage of the band whilst touring in Ireland and images of Belfast, including Hyndford Street and Cyprus Avenue.

Van Morrison in Ireland

1981

Film credits

Behind the camera