Nick Castle

Son of Hollywood choreographer Nick Castle Sr., this writer-director has crafted a variety of mainstream entertainments for film and TV. Castle's most memorable works include his sly screenplay for John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" (1983), his own "The Boy Who Could Fly" (1986), a slightly flawed, but well-intentioned "small movie," and his old-fashioned homage to black dancers, "Tap" (1989). He has also earned a small footnote to the history of the horror film for playing "The Shape," writer-director John Carpenter's nickname for the masked silent stalker of his "Halloween" (1978).

Credited for providing the original story for Steven Spielberg's "Hook" (1991), Castle was also slated to helm that quirky Peter Pan update until Spielberg came aboard. He did return to the director's chair for John Hughes' production of "Dennis the Menace" (1993), the film version of the venerable children's comic strip.