The Cotton Club, 1982 - 1984

This series contains numerous drafts and notes for the original screenplay for the film The Cotton Club (1984), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, and Diane Lane. Puzo's screenplay was eventually rewritten by Coppola and William Kennedy (author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Ironweed), but Puzo retained a story credit on the final film. A copy of the final rehearsal script is included in the series and... will allow researchers to compare Puzo's and Kennedy's versions of the film.