…TV fans know him as the creator/showrunner of LEVERAGE, but Dean Devlin also has a couple of dirty little secrets:
He and director Roland Emmerich have been trying for over a decade to bring sequels to their smash hits INDEPENDENCE DAY and STARGATE to the screen.
And, most amazing secret of all:
“Many years ago, I was actually hired to write the sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY. And I wrote a sequel. And they paid me a boatload of money to go write this thing.
And after I wrote it, I read it and I gave them back the money and I said, ‘look, this is an okay movie I just wrote. But it’s not worthy of the sequel to Independence Day.’
And I literally gave back the money. And afterwards I said, ‘You know what? I’m not even going to try anymore.’ And it was only about a year-and-a-half ago that Roland called me up and said, ‘We should try again.’”
Unbelievable, no?! Dood’s a disgrace to the WGA and its struggle for fair pay.
And, it would seem, a hell of an honorable guy.