# Jay Cocks

John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is a graduate of Kenyon College. He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before shifting to screenplay writing. In 2025, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, with James Mangold, for the film A Complete Unknown.

## Career

As a screenwriter, he is notable for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, particularly The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York — a screenplay he started working on in 1976 — as well as Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days. 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.
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. De Palma and Cocks did however contribute to the writing of the narrative crawl that opens the 1977 film Star Wars.

## Personal life

Cocks married actress Verna Bloom in 1972. Bloom, with Cocks, had a son, Sam, born in 1981. Bloom died in 2019.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Martin Scorsese | Uncredited |
| 1990 | Made in Milan | Martin Scorsese | Documentary short |
| 1993 | The Age of Innocence | Martin Scorsese | |
| 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
* "Shooting Script" (1973) – Unproduced Columbo teleplay (under the pseudonym Joseph P. Gillis)
* Night Life (1978) – Script for Martin Scorsese
* Untitled satirical comedy (1980) – Script for Brian De Palma
* The Company of Angels (1994) – Script for Kathryn Bigelow
* Ambrose Chapel (1998) – Script for Brian De Palma
* Nazi Gold (1998) – Script for Brian De Palma
* Brownsville Girl (2010) – Script for Scott Cooper
* The Last of the Savages (2023) – Adaptation of the novel

## Awards and nominations

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