Jay Cocks

Template:Short description John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is a graduate of Kenyon College.<ref name="kenyon">Some Notable Alumni Template:Webarchive, kenyon.edu; accessed August 28, 2015.</ref> He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before shifting to screenplay writing.<ref name="kenyon"/> For his work, Cocks has received three Academy Award nominations: two for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Age of Innocence (1993) and A Complete Unknown (2024); and one for Best Original Screenplay, Gangs of New York (2002).

Career

As a screenwriter, he is notable for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, particularly The Age of Innocence<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Gangs of New York<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> — a screenplay he started working on in 1976 — as well as Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He did an uncredited rewrite of James Cameron's screenplay for Titanic and was, with Scorsese, the co-screenwriter of Silence. Cocks and Scorsese approached author Philip K. Dick in 1969 for an adaptation of his 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Though the duo never optioned the book, it was later developed into the movie Blade Runner by screenwriter Hampton Fancher and director Ridley Scott.<ref name="Runner">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Under the pseudonym "Joseph P. Gillis", Cocks and filmmaker Brian De Palma wrote a spec script for the crime drama television series Columbo in 1973. Their teleplay, titled "Shooting Script", was never filmed.<ref name="columbophile.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> De Palma and Cocks did however contribute to the writing of the narrative crawl that opens the 1977 film Star Wars.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Cocks married actress Verna Bloom in 1972. Bloom, with Cocks, had a son, Sam, born in 1981. Bloom died in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ	Martin Scorsese	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1990	Made in Milan		Documentary short
1993	The Age of Innocence
1995	Strange Days	Kathryn Bigelow
2002	Gangs of New York	Martin Scorsese
2004	De-Lovely	Irwin Winkler
2016	Silence	Martin Scorsese
2024	A Complete Unknown	James Mangold

Unproduced projects

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1969) – Script for Martin Scorsese<ref name="Runner"/>
• "Shooting Script" (1973) – Unproduced Columbo teleplay (under the pseudonym Joseph P. Gillis)<ref name="columbophile.com"/>
• Night Life (1978) – Script for Martin Scorsese
• Untitled satirical comedy (1980) – Script for Brian De Palma<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• The Company of Angels (1994) – Script for Kathryn Bigelow<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Ambrose Chapel (1998) – Script for Brian De Palma<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Nazi Gold (1998) – Script for Brian De Palma<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Brownsville Girl (2010) – Script for Scott Cooper<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• The Last of the Savages (2023) – Adaptation of the novel<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1993	Academy Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay	The Age of Innocence	Template:Nom
2002		Best Original Screenplay	Gangs of New York	Template:Nom
	BAFTA Awards	Best Original Screenplay		Template:Nom
	Writers Guild of America	Best Original Screenplay		Template:Nom
2016	National Board of Review	Best Adapted Screenplay	Silence	Template:Won
	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Adapted Screenplay		Template:Nom
2024	Academy Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay	A Complete Unknown	Template:Nom
	BAFTA Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay		Template:Nom
	Writers Guild of America	Best Adapted Screenplay		Template:Nom

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0168379

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