The Lost World was made into a motion picture in 1997, directed by Stephen Spielberg but with no collaboration by the author, unlike the motion picture version of Jurassic Park. The screenplay was entirely written by David Koepp, Crichton's co-writer from Jurassic Park, by Spielberg's order. Koepp himself said later in an interview about the movie that he was treated like a "hack." Author Crichton was forced to threaten to halt production of the movie just to see a copy of the script. As a result, perhaps, of Crichton's exclusion from the enterprise, The Lost World is acceptable entertainment but nothing more; it is certainly nowhere close to the stature of Jurassic Park, which is now ranked as a nearclassic of its genre. For reasons best known to himself, director Spielberg decided to rewrite the story to his own tastes. The result should be a lesson to directors everywhere...