SOURCE: Zurbrugg, Nicholas. “Will Hollywood Never Learn?: David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch.” In Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text, edited by Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, pp. 98-112. London: Routledge, 1999.

In the following essay, Zurbrugg presents a critical analysis of David Cronenberg's adaptation of Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, theorizing that the film was a successful rendition of the text because of the collaborative nature of Burroughs and Cronenberg's relationship.

My nephew … was not an author. … Very few of those employed in writing motion picture dialogue are. The executives of the studios just haul in anyone they meet and make them sign contracts. Most of the mysterious disappearances you read about are due to this cause. Only the other day they found a plumber who had been missing for years. All the time he had been writing dialogue for the Mishkin Brothers. Once having reached Los Angeles...