‘Ghost’ of a Chance

What a difference a $100 million-grossing film can make: Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, author of Paramount’s sleeper hit, “Ghost,” has just signed a deal with the studio to write, co-produce and direct his first feature, “My Life” (working title). The “drama-based” story will be “much more earthbound” than “Ghost,” promises Rubin, who’s mum on further details.

Rubin wrote the original script for the troubled “Brainstorm” (1983)--star Natalie Wood died during filming--ending up only with story credit. He also wrote Wes Craven’s “Deadly Friend” (1986), but was so unhappy with the final cut that he omits it from his resume. Other Rubin scripts died in development.

Now, “Ghost.” And come fall, Columbia will release director Adrian Lyne’s version of Rubin’s “Jacob’s Ladder.” Written in 1981, rejected by “every studio in town,” it’s a horror/fantasy about a war veteran (played by Tim Robbins) haunted by terrifying demons who insist that he died in Vietnam.

With sudden success, says Rubin, “the pressures are greater and the expectations are greater.” But daily life for the Detroit native and former NYU film student remains much the same.

“(Screenwriters) Bruce Evans and Ray Gideon called one night as I was washing the dishes,” Rubin says. “They were shocked. They said, ‘You’re a big screenwriter now, you don’t wash dishes.’

“I said, ‘Tell that to my wife.’ ”