Robert Boris (October 12, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film producer and director.

Life and career

During the 1970s and 1980s Robert Boris wrote or co-wrote various original or adapted screenplays and dialogues, either for TV or feature films, including Birds of Prey, Electra Glide in Blue (whose script was noted for its fatalism ) and Some Kind of Hero, directed by Michael Pressman. He also wrote the screenplay for Dr Detroit, his second collaboration with Pressman. Boris's work on the film is described as follows: "Meeting with screenwriter Robert Boris and director Michael Pressman at the latter's house, Aykroyd acted out scenes, cranking up the comedic volume as if he was overcompensating for the absence of Belushi. (...)This wasn’t exactly what the writers had originally had in mind. “I really wanted to do it as if it was Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, and the film ended up as a low-rent Marx Brothers comedy,” lamented Boris. Sure enough, as production proceeded over the summer of 1982, it became difficult to describe anything about Doctor Detroit as sophisticated or highbrow." In 1983 Boris wrote the screenplay of the 4-part serialised film Blood Feud, focusing on the power struggle between Robert F. Kennedy and James R. Hoffa. The next year, he wrote and directed Oxford Blues. Regarding the film, Boris's debut as director, Peter Bart recalls: He is also the director of Steele Justice, Buy & Cell, Frank and Jesse, and Backyard Dogs. Drafts or abandoned screenplays by Boris include the first draft for Air Force One, that producers wanted to submit to Ridley Scott.

Awards

Boris won the WGA Award for Original/Adapted Multi-Part Long Form Series for Blood Feud in 1984.

Filmography

As director only

As writer and director

As writer only