Eric Roth

American screenwriterTemplate:SHORTDESC:American screenwriter

**Eric R. Roth** (born March 22, 1945) is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — for *Forrest Gump* (1994), *The Insider* (1999), *Munich* (2005), *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* (2008), and *A Star Is Born* (2018) — winning for *Forrest Gump*. He also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011) and co-wrote Denis Villeneuve's *Dune* (2021) with Jon Spaihts and Villeneuve. Roth also contributed to Martin Scorsese's upcoming film *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Early life and education

Roth was born in New York City, New York, into a Jewish family, the son of Miriam "Mimi", a teacher, studio executive, and radio writer, and Leon Roth, a university teacher and film producer. He grew up in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in New York. He grew up boxing and would credit some of his later successes to habits learned from the sport.

Roth went to college at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is part of the class of 1966. He would later attend UCLA Film School as part of the class of 1973.

## Career

Roth won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for *Forrest Gump*. He is known for writing his scripts in a DOS program without Internet access, as well as distributing the scripts only in hard copy formats. He followed his Academy Award win by co-writing screenplays for several Oscar-nominated films, including *The Insider*, *Munich*, *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*, and *A Star Is Born*. While writing *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*, he lost both of his parents, and as a result views the film as "...my most personal movie."

## Personal life

Roth lives in Santa Monica, California. He was one of the investors defrauded by Bernard Madoff in a Ponzi Scheme via Stanley Chais. He stated that his losses were heavy and he has lost his retirement money, although the full extent is unknown. As a result of the fraud and the associated losses, Roth sued the estate of Chais, who died on September 26, 2010.

## Accolades

### Academy Awards

 2021 | *Mank* | Best Picture | Nominated

### Golden Globe Awards

 2009 | *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* | Nominated

### Primetime Emmy Awards

 2018 | *The Alienist* | Outstanding Limited Series | Nominated

## References

1. ↑ "Profile: Eric Roth", *filmreference.com*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Pfefferman, Naomi (January 26, 2012). "Writer's Guild to Honor 'Extremely' Talented Screenwriter Eric Roth". *The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles*. Los Angeles. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Tallal, Jimy (April 11, 2015). "Salon Series Continues with Screenwriter Eric Roth". *The Malibu Times*. Malibu, California. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
4. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher (September 22, 2014). Did You Know: 'Forrest Gump' Screenwriter Eric Roth Uses A DOS Program To Write Scripts.
5. ↑ Renée, V (September 24, 2014). Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Eric Roth Takes You on a Tour of His Writing Process.
6. ↑ Yamato, Jen (December 22, 2008). RT INTERVIEW: ERIC ROTH CALLS BENJAMIN BUTTON HIS MOST PERSONAL FILM TO DATE.
7. ↑ Interview: Benjamin Button Writer Eric Roth (January 28, 2009).
8. ↑ 'A Star Is Born' Writer Eric Roth Settles in Santa Monica (August 23, 2019).
9. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Reckard, E. Scott; Abramowitz, Rachel; Eller, Claudia (December 17, 2008). "Hollywood figures snared in Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud". *LA Times*.
10. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Standora, Leo (May 2, 2009). "Los Angeles investment manager Stanley Chais sued for funneling cash to Bernie Madoff fund". *Daily News*. New York.

## External links

* Eric Roth at IMDb

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