John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is a graduate of Kenyon College.[1] He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before shifting to screenplay writing.[1] He was married to actress Verna Bloom from 1972 until her death in 2019.[2] They had a son, Sam, born in 1981.
As a screenwriter, he is notable for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, particularly The Age of Innocence[3] and Gangs of New York[4] — a screenplay he started working on in 1976 — as well as Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days.[5] 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.[6]
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
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1990 | Made in Milan | Martin Scorsese | Documentary Short |
1993 | The Age of Innocence | Credited with Martin Scorsese Nominated - Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | |
1995 | Strange Days | Kathryn Bigelow | Credited with James Cameron Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing |
2002 | Gangs of New York | Martin Scorsese | Credited with Kenneth Lonergan & Steven Zaillian Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay |
2004 | De-Lovely | Irwin Winkler | |
2016 | Silence | Martin Scorsese | Credited with Martin Scorsese National Board of Review Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
National Board of Review Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | |
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National libraries | |
Other |
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