David Webb Peoples

Unforgiven has one of those making-of stories that give aspiring screenwriters everywhere hope…because this script sat around for almost twenty years before getting made into a movie.

And also, you know, because it's universally recognized as a masterpiece. The Writer's Guild of America put it at #30 on their 101 Greatest Screenplays list (and frankly, we think that's way too far from the top).

David Webb Peoples (of Blade Runner fame) first wrote the script way back in 1976. In those days, the script wasn't called Unforgiven, but rather The William Munny Killings. At other points in its early history the script was called The Cut Whore Killings—ew—and Whore's Gold.

But let's back up a bit. Peoples wrote the script, and then sold it to Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director of The Godfather and legendary uncle of Nicolas Cage. Sometime in the early-to-mid-1980s, Coppola passed on making the film and Eastwood purchased it. Eastwood, however, didn't immediately rush to make the film. He was waiting for just the right time, and until he was old enough to assume the role of aging gunfighter William Munny.

Little changed about the Unforgiven script between its original composition in 1976 and the film's theatrical release in 1992. If you take a look at Peoples' original script here and read along with the movie, you'll notice that the dialogue is virtually identical, with a few adjustments here and there.

In fact, the biggest revision Eastwood made was retitling the film Unforgiven…and we're glad he did. (The Cut Whore Killings? Seriously? "Honey, what movie are you going to see?" "It's okay, Mom—just going to see The Cut Whore Killings.")