"It's a very risky thing, letting someone turn your life into a feature film," notes Susannah Grant in the introduction to her screenplay for the biographical film Erin Brockovich. But, fortunately, she reports, her subject liked what she wrote. Then, to make things even better, Julia Roberts agreed to play the lead role and Steven Soderbergh directed the movie. Grant is one happy screenwriter! And she deserves to be. She has taken an engrossing detective story — a David versus Goliath tale — and added enough human touches to make us really care about her characters.
"Nothing is quite what it seems" is a central theme of the movie. In the case of Erin Brockovich, the old cliché "Don't judge a book by its cover" also applies. Although she dresses in very revealing clothes and often uses foul language, she turns out to be an angel in the eyes of the residents of Hinkley, a community whose groundwater has been poisoned with Hexavalent Chromium (or Chromium 6). She unites them behind a class action suit against Pacific Gas and Electric, a faceless but formidable conglomerate.Reading the complete shooting script, I was struck by the flinty courage of this crusader who joins the ranks of other screen heroines: Norma Rae (1979), Silkwood (1983), and Marie, (1985). Trying to make a difference in the world is not an easy assignment, and Erin has her troubles at home and in the office. But determination is her middle name and she stays the course. This paperback also contains movie stills, production notes, and complete cast and crew credits.