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Low-discrepancy sequence

In mathematics, a low-discrepancy sequence is a sequence with the property that for all values of N, its subsequence x1, ..., xN has a low discrepancy.

Roughly speaking, the discrepancy of a sequence is low if the proportion of points in the sequence falling into an arbitrary set B is close to proportional to the measure of B, as would happen on average (but not for particular samples) in the case of an equidistributed sequence. Specific definitions of discrepancy differ regarding the choice of B (hyperspheres, hypercubes, etc.) and how the discrepancy for every B is computed (usually normalized) and combined (usually by taking the worst value).

Low-discrepancy sequences are also called quasirandom sequences, due to their common use as a replacement of uniformly distributed random numbers. The "quasi" modifier is used to denote more clearly that the values of a low-discrepancy sequence are neither random nor pseudorandom, but such sequences share some properties of random variables and in certain applications such as the quasi-Monte Carlo method their lower discrepancy is an important advantage.

Applications

Quasirandom numbers have an advantage over pure random numbers in that they cover the domain of interest quickly and evenly.

Two useful applications are in finding the characteristic function of a probability density function, and in finding the derivative function of a deterministic function with a small amount of noise. Quasirandom numbers allow higher-order moments to be calculated to high accuracy very quickly.

Applications that don't involve sorting would be in finding the mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis of a statistical distribution, and in finding the integral and global maxima and minima of difficult deterministic functions. Quasirandom numbers can also be used for providing starting points for deterministic algorithms that only work locally, such as Newton–Raphson iteration.

Quasirandom numbers can also be combined with search algorithms. With a search algorithm, quasirandom numbers can be used to find the mode, median, confidence intervals and cumulative distribution of a statistical distribution, and all local minima and all solutions of deterministic functions.

Low-discrepancy sequences in numerical integration
Various methods of numerical integration can be phrased as approximating the integral of a function f in some interval, e.g. [0,1], as the average of the function evaluated at a set {x1, ..., xN} in that interval:
 * $$ \int_0^1 f(u)\,du \approx \frac{1}{N}\,\sum_{i=1}^N f(x_i). $$

If the points are chosen as xi = i/N, this is the rectangle rule. If the points are chosen to be randomly (or pseudorandomly) distributed, this is the Monte Carlo method. If the points are chosen as elements of a low-discrepancy sequence, this is the quasi-Monte Carlo method. A remarkable result, the Koksma–Hlawka inequality (stated below), shows that the error of such a method can be bounded by the product of two terms, one of which depends only on f, and the other one is the discrepancy of the set {x1, ..., xN}.

It is convenient to construct the set {x1, ..., xN} in such a way that if a set with N+1 elements is constructed, the previous N elements need not be recomputed. The rectangle rule uses points set which have low discrepancy, but in general the elements must be recomputed if N is increased. Elements need not be recomputed in the random Monte Carlo method if N is increased, but the point sets do not have minimal discrepancy. By using low-discrepancy sequences we aim for low discrepancy and no need for recomputations, but actually low-discrepancy sequences can only be incrementally good on discrepancy if we allow no recomputation.

Definition of discrepancy
The discrepancy of a set P = {x1, ..., xN} is defined, using Niederreiter's notation, as
 * $$ D_N(P) = \sup_{B\in J}

\left| \frac{A(B;P)}{N} - \lambda_s(B)  \right|$$

where λs is the s-dimensional Lebesgue measure, A(B;P) is the number of points in P that fall into B, and J is the set of s-dimensional intervals or boxes of the form

 * $$ \prod_{i=1}^s [a_i, b_i) = \{ \mathbf{x} \in \mathbf{R}^s : a_i \le x_i < b_i \} \, $$

where $$ 0 \le a_i < b_i \le 1 $$.

The star-discrepancy D*N(P) is defined similarly, except that the supremum is taken over the set J* of rectangular boxes of the form

 * $$ \prod_{i=1}^s [0, u_i) $$

where ui is in the half-open interval [0, 1).

The two are related by

 * $$D^*_N \le D_N \le 2^s D^*_N . \,$$

Note: With these definitions, discrepancy represents the worst-case or maximum point density deviation of a uniform set. However, also other error measures are meaningful, leading to other definitions and variation measures. For instance, L2 discrepancy or modified centered L2 discrepancy are also used intensively to compare the quality of uniform point sets. Both are much easier to calculate for large N and s.

The Koksma–Hlawka inequality
Let Īs be the s-dimensional unit cube, Īs = [0, 1] × ... × [0, 1]. Let f have bounded variation V(f) on Īs in the sense of Hardy and Krause. Then for any x1, ..., xN in Is = [ 0, 1 ) × ... × [ 0, 1 ) ,
 * $$ \left| \frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N f(x_i)

- \int_{\bar I^s} f(u)\,du \right| \le V(f)\, D_N^* (x_1,\ldots,x_N). $$

The Koksma–Hlawka inequality is sharp in the following sense: For any point set {x1,...,xN} in Is and any $$\varepsilon>0$$, there is a function f with bounded variation and V(f) = 1 such that

\left| \frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N f(x_i) - \int_{\bar I^s} f(u)\,du \right|>D_{N}^{*}(x_1,\ldots,x_N)-\varepsilon. $$

Therefore, the quality of a numerical integration rule depends only on the discrepancy D*N(x1,...,xN).

The formula of Hlawka–Zaremba
Let $$D=\{1,2,\ldots,d\}$$. For $$\emptyset\neq u\subseteq D$$ we write

dx_u:=\prod_{j\in u} dx_j $$ and denote by $$(x_u,1)$$ the point obtained from x by replacing the coordinates not in u by $$1$$. Then

\frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N f(x_i) - \int_{\bar I^s} f(u)\,du= \sum_{\emptyset\neq u\subseteq D}(-1)^{|u|} \int_{[0,1]^{|u|}} \operatorname{disc}(x_u,1)\frac{\partial^{|u|}}{\partial x_u}f(x_u,1) \, dx_u, $$

where $$\operatorname{disc}(z)= \frac{1}{N}\sum_{i=1}^N \prod_{j=1}^d 1_{[0,z_j)}(x_{i,j}) - \prod_{j=1}^d z_i$$ is the discrepancy function.

The L2 version of the Koksma–Hlawka inequality
Applying the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality for integrals and sums to the Hlawka–Zaremba identity, we obtain an $$L^2$$ version of the Koksma–Hlawka inequality:

\left|\frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N f(x_i) - \int_{\bar I^s} f(u)\,du\right|\le \|f\|_d \operatorname{disc}_d (\{t_i\}), $$

where

\operatorname{disc}_d(\{t_i\})=\left(\sum_{\emptyset\neq u\subseteq D} \int_{[0,1]^{|u|}} \operatorname{disc}(x_u,1)^2 \, dx_u\right)^{1/2} $$

and

\|f\|_d = \left(\sum_{u\subseteq D} \int_{[0,1]^{|u|}} \left|\frac{\partial^{|u|}}{\partial x_u} f(x_u,1)\right|^2 dx_u\right)^{1/2}. $$

$$L^2$$ discrepancy has a high practical importance because fast explicit calculations are possible for a given point set. This way it is easy to create point set optimizers using $$L^2$$ discrepancy as criteria.

The Erdős–Turán–Koksma inequality
It is computationally hard to find the exact value of the discrepancy of large point sets. The Erdős–Turán–Koksma inequality provides an upper bound.

Let x1,...,xN be points in Is and H be an arbitrary positive integer. Then

D_{N}^{*}(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\leq \left(\frac{3}{2}\right)^s \left( \frac{2}{H+1}+ \sum_{0<\|h\|_{\infty}\leq H}\frac{1}{r(h)} \left| \frac{1}{N} \sum_{n=1}^{N} e^{2\pi i\langle h,x_n\rangle} \right| \right) $$

where

r(h)=\prod_{i=1}^s\max\{1,|h_i|\}\quad\mbox{for}\quad h=(h_1,\ldots,h_s)\in\Z^s. $$

The main conjectures
Conjecture 1. There is a constant cs depending only on the dimension s, such that

 * $$D_{N}^{*}(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq c_s\frac{(\ln N)^{s-1}}{N}$$

for any finite point set {x1,...,xN}.

Conjecture 2. There is a constant c's depending only on s, such that

 * $$D_{N}^{*}(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq c'_s\frac{(\ln N)^{s}}{N}$$

for infinite number of N for any infinite sequence x1,x2,x3,....

These conjectures are equivalent. They have been proved for s ≤ 2 by W. M. Schmidt. In higher dimensions, the corresponding problem is still open. The best-known lower bounds are due to Michael Lacey and collaborators.

Lower bounds
Let s = 1. Then

D_N^*(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq\frac{1}{2N} $$

for any finite point set {x1, ..., xN}.

Let s = 2. W. M. Schmidt proved that for any finite point set {x1, ..., xN},

D_N^*(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq C\frac{\log N}{N} $$

where

C=\max_{a\geq3}\frac{1}{16}\frac{a-2}{a\log a}=0.023335\dots. $$

For arbitrary dimensions s > 1, K. F. Roth proved that

D_N^*(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq\frac{1}{2^{4s}}\frac{1}{((s-1)\log2)^\frac{s-1}{2}}\frac{\log^{\frac{s-1}{2}}N}{N} $$

for any finite point set {x1, ..., xN}. Jozef Beck established a double log improvement of this result in three dimensions. This was improved by D. Bilyk and M. T. Lacey to a power of a single logarithm. The best known bound for s > 2 is due D. Bilyk and M. T. Lacey and A. Vagharshakyan. For s > 2 there is a t > 0 so that

D_N^*(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\geq t  \frac{\log^{\frac{s-1}{2}+t}N}{N} $$

for any finite point set {x1, ..., xN}.

Construction of low-discrepancy sequences
Because any distribution of random numbers can be mapped onto a uniform distribution, and quasirandom numbers are mapped in the same way, this article only concerns generation of quasirandom numbers on a multidimensional uniform distribution.

There are constructions of sequences known such that

D_N^{*}(x_1,\ldots,x_N)\leq C\frac{(\ln N)^{s}}{N}. $$ where C is a certain constant, depending on the sequence. After Conjecture 2, these sequences are believed to have the best possible order of convergence. Examples below are the van der Corput sequence, the Halton sequences, and the Sobol’ sequences. One general limitation is that construction methods can usually only guarantee the order of convergence. Practically, low discrepancy can be only achieved if N is large enough, and for large given s this minimum N can be very large. This means running a Monte-Carlo analysis with e.g. s=20 variables and N=1000 points from a low-discrepancy sequence generator may offer only a very minor accuracy improvement.

Random numbers
Sequences of quasirandom numbers can be generated from random numbers by imposing a negative correlation on those random numbers. One way to do this is to start with a set of random numbers $$r_i$$ on $$[0,0.5)$$ and construct quasirandom numbers $$s_i$$ which are uniform on $$[0,1)$$ using:

$$s_i = r_i$$ for $$i$$ odd and $$s_i = 0.5 + r_i$$ for $$i$$ even.

A second way to do it with the starting random numbers is to construct a random walk with offset 0.5 as in:

 * $$s_i = s_{i-1} + 0.5+ r_i \pmod 1. \, $$

That is, take the previous quasirandom number, add 0.5 and the random number, and take the result modulo 1.

For more than one dimension, Latin squares of the appropriate dimension can be used to provide offsets to ensure that the whole domain is covered evenly.

Additive recurrence
For any irrational $$\alpha$$, the sequence

 * $$s_n = \{s_0 + n\alpha\}$$

has discrepancy tending to $$1/N$$. Note that the sequence can be defined recursively by
 * $$s_{n+1} = (s_n + \alpha)\bmod 1 \;.$$

A good value of $$\alpha$$ gives lower discrepancy than a sequence of independent uniform random numbers.

The discrepancy can be bounded by the approximation exponent of $$\alpha$$. If the approximation exponent is $$\mu$$, then for any $$\varepsilon>0$$, the following bound holds:

 * $$ D_N((s_n)) = O_\varepsilon (N^{-1/(\mu-1)+\varepsilon}).$$

By the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem, the approximation exponent of any irrational algebraic number is 2, giving a bound of $$N^{-1+\varepsilon}$$ above.

The recurrence relation above is similar to the recurrence relation used by a linear congruential generator, a poor-quality pseudorandom number generator:

 * $$r_i = (a r_{i-1} + c) \bmod m$$

For the low discrepancy additive recurrence above, a and m are chosen to be 1. Note, however, that this will not generate independent random numbers, so should not be used for purposes requiring independence.

The value of $$c$$ with lowest discrepancy is the fractional part of the golden ratio:

 * $$c = \frac{\sqrt{5}-1}{2} = \varphi - 1 \approx 0.618034.$$

Another value that is nearly as good is the fractional part of the silver ratio, which is the fractional part of the square root of 2:

 * $$c = \sqrt{2}-1 \approx 0.414214. \, $$

In more than one dimension, separate quasirandom numbers are needed for each dimension. A convenient set of values that are used, is the square roots of primes from two up, all taken modulo 1:

 * $$c = \sqrt{2}, \sqrt{3}, \sqrt{5}, \sqrt{7}, \sqrt{11}, \ldots \, $$

However, a set of values based on the generalised golden ratio has been shown to produce more evenly distributed points.

The list of pseudorandom number generators lists methods for generating independent pseudorandom numbers. Note: In few dimensions, recursive recurrence leads to uniform sets of good quality, but for larger s (like s>8) other point set generators can offer much lower discrepancies.

van der Corput sequence
Let

n=\sum_{k=0}^{L-1}d_k(n)b^k $$

be the b-ary representation of the positive integer n ≥ 1, i.e. 0 ≤ dk(n) < b. Set

g_b(n)=\sum_{k=0}^{L-1}d_k(n)b^{-k-1}. $$

Then there is a constant C depending only on b such that (gb(n))n ≥ 1satisfies

D^*_N(g_b(1),\dots,g_b(N))\leq C\frac{\log N}{N}, $$

where D*N is the star discrepancy.

Halton sequence

The Halton sequence is a natural generalization of the van der Corput sequence to higher dimensions. Let s be an arbitrary dimension and b1, ..., bs be arbitrary coprime integers greater than 1. Define

x(n)=(g_{b_1}(n),\dots,g_{b_s}(n)). $$

Then there is a constant C depending only on b1, ..., bs, such that sequence {x(n)}n≥1 is a s-dimensional sequence with

D^*_N(x(1),\dots,x(N))\leq C'\frac{(\log N)^s}{N}. $$

Hammersley set
Let b1,...,bs−1 be coprime positive integers greater than 1. For given s and N, the s-dimensional Hammersley set of size N is defined by

x(n)=\left(g_{b_1}(n),\dots,g_{b_{s-1}}(n),\frac{n}{N}\right) $$

for n = 1, ..., N. Then

D^*_N(x(1),\dots,x(N))\leq C\frac{(\log N)^{s-1}}{N} $$

where C is a constant depending only on b1, ..., bs−1. Note: The formulas show that the Hammersley set is actually the Halton sequence, but we get one more dimension for free by adding a linear sweep. This is only possible if N is known upfront. A linear set is also the set with lowest possible one-dimensional discrepancy in general. Unfortunately, for higher dimensions, no such "discrepancy record sets" are known. For s = 2, most low-discrepancy point set generators deliver at least near-optimum discrepancies.

Sobol’ sequence
The Antonov–Saleev variant of the Sobol’ sequence generates numbers between zero and one directly as binary fractions of length $$w$$, from a set of $$w$$ special binary fractions, $$V_i, i = 1, 2, \dots, w$$ called direction numbers. The bits of the Gray code of $$i$$, $$G(i)$$, are used to select direction numbers. To get the Sobol’ sequence value $$s_i$$ take the exclusive or of the binary value of the Gray code of $$i$$ with the appropriate direction number. The number of dimensions required affects the choice of $$V_i$$.

Poisson disk sampling
Poisson disk sampling is popular in video games to rapidly place objects in a way that appears random-looking but guarantees that every two points are separated by at least the specified minimum distance. This does not guarantee low discrepancy (as e. g. Sobol’), but at least a significantly lower discrepancy than pure random sampling. The goal of these sampling patterns is based on frequency analysis rather than discrepancy, a type of so-called "blue noise" patterns.

Graphical examples
The points plotted below are the first 100, 1000, and 10000 elements in a sequence of the Sobol' type. For comparison, 10000 elements of a sequence of pseudorandom points are also shown. The low-discrepancy sequence was generated by TOMS algorithm 659. An implementation of the algorithm in Fortran is available from Netlib.

title: Low-discrepancy sequence


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Slouch hat

A slouch hat is a wide-brimmed felt or cloth hat most commonly worn as part of a military uniform, often, although not always, with a chinstrap. It has been worn by military personnel from many different nations including Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia, France, the United States, the Confederate States, Germany and many others. Australia and New Zealand have had various models of slouch hat as standard issue headwear since the late Victorian period.

Today it is worn by military personnel from a number of countries, although it is primarily associated with Australia, where it is considered to be a national symbol. The distinctive Australian slouch hat, sometimes called an "Australian bush hat" or "digger hat", has one side of the brim turned up or pinned to the side of the hat with a Rising Sun Badge in order to allow a rifle to be slung over the shoulder. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles wore a similar headdress but with the New Zealand military badge attached to the front of the cloth band (puggaree) wound around the base of the hat's crown.

In the United States it was also called the Kossuth hat, after Lajos Kossuth. During the American Civil War (1861–65) the headgear was common among both Confederate and Union troops in the Western Theater, although not always with its brim turned up at the side. During the Spanish–American War, as commander of the Rough Riders, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt became known for wearing a slouch hat.

History

The name "slouch hat" refers to the fact that one side droops down as opposed to the other which is pinned against the side of the crown. This style of hat has been worn for many hundreds of years, especially during the English Civil War during the 17th century when it became associated with the forces of King Charles I, the Cavaliers, but it was also fashionable for the aristocracy throughout Europe during that time until it developed into the cocked hat with two (bicorn) or three (tricorn) points.

It was introduced into Australia around 1885, although it traces its military use back to Austrian skirmishers. The modern slouch hat is derived from the black "Corsican hat" (Korsehut) – historically used in the Austrian army during the Napoleonic Wars. The headwear saw primary use by 15 battalions of Austrian Jägers (skirmishers) and it featured an upturned brim, leather chinstrap and feather plume. The regular infantry also saw limited use of the Corsican hat in the periods 1803–06 and 1811–36.

A shortage of cork helmets led to the widespread use of the slouch hat amongst British Empire forces during the Second Boer War, where it was used by units including the City Imperial Volunteers (CIV), Imperial Yeomanry, and King Edward's Horse. An 1884 painting displayed in the regimental museum of the pipe band of 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders shows the unit in service dress, crossing the veldt in Zululand, wearing khaki slouch hats. After the war many armies rejected the once-popular headwear (as the British Army did in 1905), although it came back into fashion briefly during World War II during the Burma campaign and amongst troops serving in India and Southeast Asia at this time.

The slouch hat in gray felt was worn by the Schutztruppe (protection force), the colonial armed force of Imperial Germany, as an alternative to the pith helmet, especially in South West Africa. Different coloured puggarees were worn by the Germans in South West Africa, German East Africa, German West Africa (Togo and Cameroon), German New Guinea and China. The hat had its brim pinned up on the right side with a cockade in the national colors and was worn with the home uniform as well. German colonial police units in South West Africa wore a khaki slouch hat with a small national cockade on the front and the right side pinned up by a metal Imperial crown device.

It became associated with the Australian military around the end of the 19th century, and since World War I it has been manufactured in Australia for the Australian Army by companies such as Akubra, Mountcastle & Sons and Bardsley Hats. The Australian military still wear the slouch hat with a Unit Colour Patch to identify their unit, and it has become a national symbol in Australia.

The slouch hat or Terai hat is also associated with the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Dutch East Indies Army). It is worn by Gurkha regiments of the British Army and Indian Army (formerly the British Indian Army), but no longer worn on active service. The 2nd Gurkha Rifles became the first Gurkha regiment to adopt the slouch hat when they were issued with the Australian variant in 1901. The Gurkha terai hat is created by fusing two hats into one to make the hat more rigid and is worn at an angle, tilted to the right. The Chindits and other units of Field Marshal William Slim's British Fourteenth Army, who fought against the Japanese in the Far East during World War II, also became associated with the slouch hat (also known as the bush hat in the British Army). The slouch hat was also used by colonial units of the British Empire, including the Royal West African Frontier Force, the Canadian Yukon Field Force, Canadian Pacific Railway Militia, the Kenya Regiment and troops from Rhodesia.

Australia
The slouch hat was first worn by military forces in Australia in 1885 when the newly created Victorian Mounted Rifles adopted the hat as part of their uniform after their commanding officer, Thomas Price, had seen them worn by police in Burma. On 22 December 1890, the military commanders of the then separate Australian Colonies prior to the Federation of Australia met to discuss the introduction of the khaki uniform throughout Australia. They agreed that all Australian Forces with the exception of the Artillery would wear the slouch hat. It was to be looped up on one side—Victoria and Tasmania on the right and the other colonies (later states) on the left. This was done so that rifles could be held at the slope without damaging the brim. After Federation, the slouch hat became standard Australian Army headgear in 1903 and since then it has developed into an important national symbol.

The slouch hat (also known as a hat KFF, or hat khaki fur felt) is worn as the standard ceremonial headress for all members of the Army, except those belonging to units or corps that have an official headress such as a beret, and is treated with the utmost care and respect. It is also worn in some units as general duty dress. When worn for ceremonial purposes, the "Grade 1" Slouch hat is worn with a seven-band puggaree, six of which represent the states of Australia while the seventh represents the territories of Australia. A Unit Colour Patch is worn on the right of puggaree, while a Corps or Regiment Hat badge is placed to its front and the General Service Badge (The Rising Sun) worn on the left brim which is folded up and clipped into place.

The slouch hat worn by the Army is one of its trademarks, but it is not theirs alone: the Royal Australian Air Force wears the HKFF with a dark blue or "Air Force Blue" Puggaree, as a Non Ceremonial head dress for the RAAF; the Royal Australian Navy is also known to wear the hat when wearing camouflage and other uniforms, and has the same features as the RAAF's HKFF.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) wear a jungle green coloured puggaree with no colour patch, which dates back to traditions when serving in Malaya. Staff Cadets at the Royal Military College, Duntroon also wear a darker pugaree, however it contains eight pleats. The eighth pleat signifies the graduation of the first international cadet through the Royal Military College who hailed from New Zealand. They also wear the chin strap of the hat the opposite way around from that of the rest of the Army, as the first commander of the 1st Australian Imperial Force, William Throsby Bridges, was found wearing his slouch hat back to front when he was fatally wounded at Gallipoli.

Some units of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps such as cavalry and light horse regiments wear emu plumes behind the Rising Sun badge. This is a reference to a practice dating from World War 1, where Light Horsemen would chase down emus and steal their feathers to mount in their hat as a mark of their riding skill.

Members of the Australian Air Force Cadets and Australian Army Cadets both wear a slouch hat, referred to as it is by their parent branch: the AAFC calling it the HFFK, and the AAC calling it the KFF.

New Zealand
The NZ version of the slouch hat currently worn by the various corps and regiments of the New Zealand Army is known as the "Mounted Rifles Hat". The puggaree is always khaki-green-khaki, the original Mounted Rifles puggaree, with only the badge denoting the wearer's Regimental affiliation. Dating from the early 1900s, it was reintroduced for wear by Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles in the mid-1990s, but in 2000 its issue was broadened to all Corps for wear with working dress (influenced by such use by QAMR) as well as with service dress. As an alternative to the typical NZ army "lemon squeezer", the NZ Mounted Rifles Hat is worn on all but the most important occasions, where the lemon squeezer takes precedence. The slouch hat predates the introduction of the lemon squeezer hat (which did not appear until after the Boer War) and is worn brim down. Historic photographs indicate the brim to have been worn up in the Australian style on occasion. The term 'bush hat' is also associated with New Zealand culture such as the Bushman, Southern man and man alone stereotypes.

The New Zealand Police wear a variant of the bush hat in navy blue, normally in rural areas. Considered obsolete as main dress, it is now rarely worn instead of the standard peaked cap or recently (2021) introduced baseball cap.

Canada
During the North-West Rebellion of 1885 both non-uniformed and uniformed regiments in the Alberta Field Force, plus occasionally the North-West Mounted Police, wore slouch hats. Slouch hats were commonly worn by Canadian mounted regiments in the Second Boer War and occasionally by the Royal Canadian Regiment. Throughout the late Victorian era and early 1900s slouch hats were widely worn by the Canadian military, from the Yukon to South Africa.

Naval and air force personnel of the Canadian Forces serving overseas during the Gulf War were issued with white cotton duck hats.

Ireland
The Slouch hat was used extensively during the 1916 Rising and Irish War of Independence most famously Padraig Pearse who wore one during The Easter Rising, which is now on display in Collins Barracks

India
A few state police forces in India use slouch hats, or did so in the past. The Armed Reserve wing of the Kerala Police wore slouch hats up to the 1980s, but today the slouch hat is only worn by Recruit Trainee Police Constables (RTPC) during their training. The Armed Reserve policemen of Kerala Police now wear a blue peaked cap. The Karnataka Police continues to use slouch hats for its members in the lower ranks of the police (Constables and Head Constables), with the colours of the police unit embroidered on the turned-up brim. The number of the individual officer is also fixed onto the side of the brim. The Rajasthan Provincial Constabulary: the armed branch of the Rajasthan Police, also uses the slouch hat pinned up to the side, as the standard service and ceremonial headgear for all its Constables and Head Constables.

Nigeria
The uniform of Nigerian soldiers in the 1960s included a slouch hat, popularly known as "Banga Banga", although the term "banga-banga" also refers to the lower rank's fez.

United Kingdom
Some units of the British Army sent to South Africa during the Boer War adopted the slouch hat, particularly members of the Imperial Yeomanry, and retained its use on their return to the UK after the war. Though the Service Cap became standard after the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles used them for ceremonial purposes until around 1910.

During World War II, British soldiers serving in the jungles of Burma often wore the slouch hat.

Post war, the Gurkhas are the only unit which retained the use of a version of the slouch hat. The primary version is the Terai hat, after the Terai region in Nepal. A version called the Double Terai has a double thick crown and brim for additional sun protection and durability.

United States
The slouch hat has been known in the US military at least since the American Civil War, being fairly common among officers.

The standard headgear for US soldiers in the Vietnam War in the 1960s was a fatigue baseball or field cap that offered little protection from the sun. Local tailors made a slouch hat in a style between a French type bush hat of the First Indochina War and an Australian type bush hat with a snap on the brim to pin one side up that was widely bought and unofficially worn by American troops in Vietnam. The local tailors usually used green fatigue cloth or leopard skin pattern military camouflage from old parachutes. The hat often had a cloth arc emblazoned with the word VIET-NAM on the brim. The US 1st Air Commando Group members officially adopted the green slouch hat on 22 May 1964 as their distinctive and practical headgear.

In 1972 the US Army authorized female drill sergeants to wear a bush hat based on the Australian design as their distinctive headgear. This was originally beige, but has been green since 1983.

Rhodesia
Prior to 1972, when the new 'greens' uniform was introduced, most corps and regiments of the Rhodesian Army wore slouch hats. The Rhodesian African Rifles and Grey's Scouts continued to wear the slouch after the introduction of the new uniform, although they were replaced with berets for working dress.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Slouch hat


text:
Mappa mundi

A mappa mundi (Latin ; plural = mappae mundi; mappemonde; mappemond) is any medieval European map of the world. Such maps range in size and complexity from simple schematic maps 1 in or less across to elaborate wall maps, the largest of which to survive to modern times, the Ebstorf map, was around 3.5 m in diameter. The term derives from the Medieval Latin words mappa (cloth or chart) and mundus (world).

Around 1,100 mappae mundi are known to have survived from the Middle Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscript books and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents.

Types of mappae mundi
Extant mappae mundi come in several distinct varieties, including: Medieval world maps which share some characteristics of traditional mappae mundi but contain elements from other sources, including Portolan charts and maps associated with Ptolemy's Geography are sometimes considered a fifth type, called "transitional mappae mundi".
 * Zonal maps (sometimes called Macrobian maps)
 * Tripartite maps (including "T-O" and "V-in-◻" maps)
 * Quadripartite maps (including the Beatus maps)
 * Complex maps

Zonal maps
Zonal maps are pictures of the Eastern Hemisphere. Their purpose was to illustrate the concept that the world is a sphere with latitudinal climate zones, most often the five Aristotelian climes:
 * The northern frigid zone
 * the northern temperate zone
 * the equatorial tropical zone
 * the southern temperate zone
 * the southern frigid zone

Of these, only the two temperate zones at middle latitudes were believed to be inhabitable, and the known world was contained entirely within the northern temperate zone's Eastern Hemisphere. As most surviving zonal maps are found illustrating Macrobius' Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio (an excerpt of Cicero's De Re Publica), this type of map is sometimes called "Macrobian". In their simplest and most common form, Zonal mappae mundi are merely circles divided into five parallel zones, but several larger zonal maps with much more detail have survived.

Tripartite maps
T-O maps, unlike zonal maps, illustrate only the habitable portion of the world known to medieval Europeans, limiting their perspective to a relatively small portion of the Earth's Northern Hemisphere. The landmass was illustrated as a circle (an "O") divided into three portions by a "T". These three divisions were the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. The popularity of the Macrobian maps and the combination of T-O style continents on some of the larger Macrobian spheres illustrate that Earth's sphericity continued to be understood among scholars during the Middle Ages.

The V-in-square map depicts the Earth divided between the sons of Noah.

Quadripartite or Beatus maps
Quadripartite maps represent a sort of amalgam of the zonal and T-O maps by illustrating the three known continents separated by an equatorial ocean from a fourth unknown land, often called Antipodes. Fourteen large quadripartite maps are found illustrating different manuscripts of Beatus of Liébana's popular Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John. These "Beatus maps" are believed to derive from a single (now lost) original which was used to illustrate the missions of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.

Complex maps
The "complex" or "great" world maps are the most famous mappae mundi. Although most employ a modified T-O scheme, they are considerably more detailed than their smaller T-O cousins. These maps show coastal details, mountains, rivers, cities, towns and provinces. Some include figures and stories from history, the Bible and classical mythology. Also shown on some maps are exotic plants, beasts and races known to medieval scholars only through Roman and Greek texts. Prior to its destruction in World War II, the Ebstorf map at 3.5 m across was the largest surviving mappa mundi. Today that honour is held by the surviving centre portion of the Hereford map which is 147 cm across and 175 cm top to bottom. Other important maps in this group are the Cotton or Anglo-Saxon map, the Psalter map and the Henry of Mainz map. The somewhat later mappae mundi that accompany the popular Polychronicon of Ranulf Higden should probably be viewed as degenerate forms of the earlier complex maps.

Complex mappae mundi include:

Purpose of mappae mundi
To modern eyes, mappae mundi can look superficially primitive and inaccurate. However, mappae mundi were never meant to be used as navigational charts and they make no pretence of showing the relative areas of land and water. Rather, mappae mundi were schematic and were meant to illustrate different principles. The simplest mappae mundi were diagrams meant to preserve and illustrate classical learning easily. The zonal maps should be viewed as a kind of teaching aid—easily reproduced and designed to reinforce the idea of the Earth's sphericity and climate zones. T-O maps were designed to schematically illustrate the three land masses of the world as it was known to the Romans and their medieval European heirs.

The larger mappae mundi have the space and detail to illustrate further concepts, such as the cardinal directions, distant lands, Bible stories, history, mythology, flora, fauna and exotic races. In their fullest form, such as the Ebstorf and Hereford maps, they become minor encyclopedias of medieval knowledge.

In her study, Brigitte Englisch shows that the medieval world maps (the mappae mundi) both from their concept and in their concrete practice are founded on a systematically geometric projection of the known world. The basis of this projection, however, is not geographical surveying but the harmonious order of God’s creation. Using regular geometric forms like circles and triangles which are also regarded as religiously perfect, they created a coherent planispheric system. This quite basically presents the known world in its real geographic appearance which is visible in the so-called Vatican Map of Isidor (776), the world maps of Beatus of Liebana’s Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John (8th century), the Anglo-Saxon Map (ca. 1000), the Sawley map, the Psalter map, or the large mappae mundi of the 13th century (Hereford/Ebstorf).

End of the tradition
In the central Middle Ages a new type of map developed as an aid to navigating the Mediterranean Sea. Known as "Portolan charts", these maps are characterized by extremely accurate coastlines with criss-crossing rhumb lines. A particularly famous example is the Catalan Atlas attributed to Abraham Cresques in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. During the late Middle Ages and with the coming of the Renaissance, western Europeans became reacquainted with the work of many ancient Greek scholars. In the field of geography and map-making, the coordinate system which Claudius Ptolemy outlined in the Geography became extremely influential. Over time maps influenced by these new ideas displaced the older traditions of mappae mundi. The last examples of the tradition, including the massive map of Fra Mauro, may be seen as hybrids, incorporating Portolan-style coastlines into the frame of a traditional mappa mundi.

title: Mappa mundi


text:
Talk:Slouch hat

Untitled
This is my first page, so advice as to how to format a title, or break the links at the end into new lines will be appreciated. (I'm fully planning on coming back and cleaning this up and adding to it, just don't quite know what I am doing yet) Thanks -Skylark 19:20, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

This article is inaccurate and needs a bit of revising
The slouch hat wasn't invented in the 1800's, it's considerably older. The name "slouch" refers to the fact that one side droops, as opposed to the other that is pinned up. Examples of this style of hat can be seen on English Cavaliers in paintings from the 1600's as well as court dress of various people from all over Europe at that time. This site has some more information about the evolution of the Australian Slouch Hat and some indications of where it came from: http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/slouch_hat.htm

-I added a little bit of very general knowledge history as well as a definition of the actual name to the beginning of the article.OzoneO (talk) 16:36, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

NZ slouch hat
I've added some very basic info on the NZ slouch hat. It is still worn on occasion. Ozdaren 08:44, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
 * The image that was used by this article to illustrate the NZ slouch hat was deleted because it was a non-free content image that was deemed replaceable. As such, is there anyone that is able to upload a free content photo as a replacement? The suggestion is that in order not to have the photo deleted like last time, that someone - probably a Kiwi soldier who actually owns a NZ slouch hat - takes a photo and uploads it similar to the example that a user uploaded for the Australian version. Can anyone help with this? AustralianRupert (talk) 03:07, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Reverence
I noticed that the following statement was made:

Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel regard the slouch hat as a parade item of dress, and although army standing orders for dress allow it to be worn in the field, most soldiers do not, as it is almost a disgrace to allow it to get unnecessarily dirty.

I disagree with this as a grade 2 slouch hat is often worn in the field by diggers. The idea of it being almost a disgrace implies a whole degree of reverence that does not exist. Ozdaren 02:35, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

 * I do not think that this comment is exactly right anymore. Certainly, Australian soldiers used to wear the slouch hat out field, but I don't think this has been done for a while. I have been in the Army for five years and certainly I have not seen anyone wear the slouch hat out field in that time. We are now issued with proper "bush hats" (or "hat, ridiculous" in Q speak) which are essentially just hats made out of similar material to camouflage jackets and trousers. Having said this, in some units the slouch hat is required to be worn whilst working in a barracks situation - other than headquarters. For example, at a particular a engineer unit whilst not out field or doing field training, the sappers are required to wear their slouch hats instead of bush hats even whilst working on equipment etc in the compound. Certainly the slouch hat is held in high regard, though, and in some units it is only ever worn whilst on parade, e.g. units where berets are worn. AustralianRupert (talk) 02:57, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I've been out of the army for a long time but I'll try to work in a comment about grade 1 and grade 2 slouch hats. 203.216.0.150 (talk) 02:49, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

nothing about the French slouch hat?
wore during the indochina war and known as "chapeau de brousse" (translation of slouch hat). don't know its origins. there were two models this one, (French Foreign Legion 1st BEP airborne w/US vest/UK trousers/FR MAS-36 rifle) it remembers the imperial australian model this one/two (WWII US type?). Paris By Night 19:53, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Indian police
A lot of police here in Bangalore wear these too. Not sure if it's just a Bangalore/Karnataka thing or if it occurs elsewhere.—Wasabe3543 09:34, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Association with American hillbillies?
I think this should be addressed. A floppy, tattered slouch hat (often adorned with safety pins, feathers, etc.) is a classic piece of the archetypal Southern "mountain man"/"hillbilly" persona - Jed Clampett (of the Beverly Hillbillies) is just one example... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seethaki (talk • contribs) 04:07, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

That would just be "A Floppy, Tattered Hat" JF42 (talk) 06:56, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

For what it's worth, in "Huckleberry Finn" Mark Twain describes Pap Finn and other (civilian) characters as wearing "slouch hats". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.212.80.149 (talk) 20:51, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Tripod link
The link to a Tripod contributor has some neat pictures, but the text does not rise to WP reliability standards (presumably the intent of attaching it as a ref to first mention of "Kossuth hat". I focus on text, but perhaps others with an image interest can figure out whether we can display the relevant pics. --Jerzy•t 23:43, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

In Popular Culture: The Pulps
Pulp Heroes and fictional private-eyes in general 'often' (almost universally) wear slouch hats. Should this be mentioned in the article? My only trepidation is that I don't understand the differences between slouch hats, Fedoras, and other similar hats. So I'm not really sure which page the reference belongs on. --illumi (talk) 19:59, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

That would simply be a fedora or 'snap brim hat'.JF42 (talk) 06:58, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Slouch
There is some confusion between 'slouch hats' and, well, hats.

Histroically, the term 'slouch' contains with it the notion of a falling away from usual standards of smartness appropriate to a gentleman or soldier. It stems from the assumption that gentlemen and soldiers properly attired had their hats 'cocked,' that is with the brim turned up, as was the fashion in the 18th century, but the notion persisted with the introduction of the narrow-brimmed top hat at the turn of the 19th century.

In the 18th century, gentlemen out shooting might sometimes wear a slouch hat and soldiers in America wore their hats uncocked, some times with the brims cut down as well, to provide better shelter from the elements as well as cope with the exigencies of active service.

It is in America that we first see the practice of soldiers turning up one side of the slouched hat, allowing the attachment of a cockade and a feather. This was not entirely an innovation since, as has been pointed out, this had been a fashion in the 17th century and became associated with military costume- Royalist 'Cavaliers' and the like. This romantic notion was probably not lost on wearers in the 18th century or later, for instance, by the followers of Kossuth in Hungary nor with American soldiery who wore the style formally and informally during the War between the States and after.

These hats were not 'slouch hats' per se. A hat is not a slouched hat because it has one side turned up. The so-called 'Kossuth', 'Jeff Davis' or 'Fra Diavolo' hat, adopted by the U.S. Army as its Full Dress headgear between 1855 and 1858, was anything but a slouch hat.

However, the growing practice of turning up one side of the hat in a military context and, inevitably, with an increasingly formal aspect, meant this distinction was lost. Meanwhile, the term 'wide awake' also came into use in colonial and frontier contexts for the typical 'slouch' hat.

Adopted by Australian colonial contingents in 1885, the familiar slouch hat was also worn by paramilitaries in Africa during the 1890s. During the Boer War, it eventually replaced the cumbersome Foreign Service helmet among British units. Subsequently, in 1902, the British Army adopted the felt 'slouch' or 'bush' hat style as its headgear in Service Dress with the left-hand brim very smartly turned up. Ironically, it was not suited to European climate and tended all too quickly to become a slouch hat indeed. It was soon replaced by the peaked cap accompanied by the Wolseley helmet for tropical service. However, the form would re-appear in use by British Empire troops during the Second World War in both Africa and the Far East.

It is still worn today by the Ghurkas, uncocked, in No. 2 Dress and, of course, remains the emblematic headgear of the Australian Army. The slouch hat remained in use by Australian troops throughout the 20th century and has become most closely associated with that country and its soldiers.

It is ironic that, in Australia, fulfilling the function of the original slouch hat is the 'Hat, floppy' or 'Ridiculous' while the Slouch Hat is principally a smart or Dress item. JF42 (talk) 16:42, 17 August 2011 (UTC)
 * This is not the place to post mini-lectures or soapbox views. Add to the article if you have a source. Otherwise you can help correct the grammar and general structure. Djathink  imacowboy  23:20, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

 * Djathinkimacowboy: "This account is a suspected sock puppet of User456246478845 and has been blocked indefinitely...This page was last modified on 25 October 2012 at 10:16." Clink on link for further information.JF42 (talk) 14:36, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Emu Plumes (Kangaroo Feathers) - Australian Light Horse
From the current article: "Some units of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps such as cavalry and light horse regiments wear emu plumes behind the Rising Sun badge. This is a reference to a practice dating from World War 1, where Light Horsemen would chase down emus and steal their feathers to mount in their hat as a mark of their riding skill.[3]"

Incorrect to say that a: its a reference to Light Horseman chasing down Emu's and b: even associating it as starting with WW1.

Emu Plumes (Kangaroo Feathers) in Slouch Hats dates back to the Queensland Shearers strike of the late 1890's. The Wide Bay Mounted Infantry are accredited as the first to wear Emu Plumes in their slouch hats at this time. The whole 'chasing down emus' story is a romantic bit of fiction made up later on. Soon ALL Queensland Mounted Infantry units wore them as part of their uniforms - and this practice was continued for all Queensland Mounted Infantry units raised for service during the Boer War (1899-1902). When Australia raised troops for WW1 the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, raised in Queensland, campaigned loudly for the right to wear their Emu Feathers due to their strong historical association with them and this request was granted to them exclusively. They were very upset when the 3rd Light Horse Regiment arrived in Egypt and were wearing 'their' Emu Plumes. They protested this but it was decided that ALL Light Horse Regiments could wear the Emu Plumes on their Slouch Hats providing that they purchased them themselves.

Today the Armoured Corps units of the Australian Army follow this tradition and wear their Emu Plumes on the left side of their slouch hats or berets.

203.206.139.218 (talk) 03:33, 5 June 2015 (UTC) Dread

Word lacking
From Users>Australia: Can Somebody fix this?
 * "A Unit Colour Patch is worn on the right of puggaree, while a Corps or Regiment Hat badge is placed to its [???] and the General Service Badge (The Rising Sun) worn on the left brim which is folded up and clipped into place."   Heavenlyblue (talk) 07:39, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

A bit Aus-centric?

 * it is primarily associated with Australia

Mainly by Australians.

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History
It says: "The name "slouch hat" refers to the fact that one side droops down as opposed to the other which is pinned against the side of the crown." Immediately next to that claim is a photo of a soldier wearing a hat that has neither side drooping, and neither side pinned to the crown.

The caption on the photo doesn't say that the hat is a slouch hat; it just identifies the wearer. Should this picture be removed? Or should the text be altered? Maybe it would help if the photo was just moved to a place in the article where it doesn't directly contradict the article text?

MrDemeanour (talk) 17:47, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Slouch hat


text:
Osgyth

Osgyth (or Osyth; died c. 700 AD) was a Mercian noblewoman and prioress, venerated as an English saint since the 8th century, from soon after her death. She is primarily commemorated in the village of St Osyth, in Essex, near Colchester. Alternative spellings of her name include Sythe, Othith and Ositha. Born of a noble family, she became a nun and founded a priory near Chich which was later named after her.

Life
Born in Quarrendon, Buckinghamshire (at that time part of Mercia), she was the daughter of Frithuwald, a sub-king of Mercia in Surrey. Her mother was Wilburh, of the royal house of Mercia. Her parents, with St. Erconwald, founded Chertsey Abbey in 675 AD.

Raised in the care of her maternal aunts, St Edith of Aylesbury and Edburga of Bicester, her ambition was to become an abbess, but she was too important as a political pawn to be set aside. She was forced by her father into a dynastic marriage with Sighere, King of Essex. She is likely the mother of Offa of Essex, although this is not certain.

While her husband was off on a long hunt to run down a beautiful white stag, Osgyth persuaded two local bishops to accept her vows as a nun. Upon his return some days later, he reluctantly agreed to her decision and granted her some land at Chich near Colchester, now named after her as St Osyth, where she established a convent, and ruled as first abbess. She was beheaded by some raiding pirates, perhaps because she may have resisted being carried off.

Legends
One day, St. Edith sent Osgyth to deliver a book to St. Modwenna of Northumbria at her nunnery. To get there, Osgyth had to cross a stream by a bridge. The stream was swollen, the wind high, she fell into the water and drowned. Her absence was not noted for two days. Edith thought she was safe with Modwenna who was not expecting her visit. On the third day, Edith, wondering that her pupil had not returned, went to Modwenna. The abbesses were greatly concerned when they discovered Osgyth was apparently lost. They searched for her and found the child lying near the banks of the stream. The abbesses prayed for her restoration and commanded her to arise from the water and come to them. This she did. A similar tale is found in Irish hagiography.

Her later death was accounted a martyrdom by some, but Bede makes no mention of Saint Osgyth. The 13th-century chronicler Matthew Paris repeats some of the legends that had accrued around her name. The site of her martyrdom was transferred to the holy spring at Quarrendon. The holy spring at Quarrendon, mentioned in the time of Osgyth's aunts, now became associated with her legend, in which Osgyth stood up after her execution, picking up her head like Saint Denis in Paris, and other cephalophoric martyrs and walking with it in her hands, to the door of a local convent, before collapsing there. Some modern authors link the legends of cephalophores miraculously walking with their heads in their hands to the Celtic cult of heads.

Veneration
Her cult was promoted by Maurice, bishop of London, where there was a shrine dedicated to her at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Around 1121, his successor, Richard de Belmeis I founded a priory for canons of Saint Augustine, on the site of a former nunnery at Chich. He obtained the relic of an arm for the monastery church. His remains were buried in the chancel of the church in 1127: he bequeathed the church and tithes to the canons, who elected as their first abbot or prior William de Corbeil, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury (died in 1136). Corbeil acquired the other arm for Canterbury.

Benefactions, charters, and privileges granted by Henry II, made the Canons wealthy: at the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1536, priory revenues were valued at £758 5s. 8d. yearly. In 1397 the abbot of St Osgyth was granted the right to wear a mitre and give the solemn benediction, and, more singularly, the right to ordain priests, conferred by Pope Boniface IX. The gatehouse, the so-called 'Abbot's Tower', and some ranges of buildings remain.

Osgyth's burial site at St. Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury became a site of great, though unofficial pilgrimage; following a papal decree in 1500, the bones were removed from the church and buried in secret. Undeterred, according to the curious 17th-century antiquary John Aubrey (author of the Brief Lives), "in those days, when they went to bed they did rake up the fire, and make a X on the ashes, and pray to God and Saint Sythe [Saint Osgyth] to deliver them from fire, and from water, and from all misadventure."

Veneration of St Osyth was widespread across England. Norwich Cathedral and St Albans Abbey had chapels dedicated to her in the Middle Ages.

Her feast day is 7 October. She is often depicted carrying her own head.

title: Osgyth


text:
Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Force Awakens (2015), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). He also wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Bodyguard (1992), and is the writer-director of Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Dreamcatcher (2003).

Kasdan is known for updating old Hollywood genres—film noir, science fiction, westerns—in a classical dramatic style with quick-witted dialogue, but dealing with contemporary social themes. As a director, he has made various personal films that examine characters and generations.

Kasdan has been nominated for four Academy Awards: as a producer for Best Picture nominee The Accidental Tourist, for which he was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and for Best Original Screenplay for both The Big Chill and Grand Canyon (1991). He has often collaborated with his wife, Meg Kasdan, his brother, Mark Kasdan, and his two sons: Jonathan Kasdan and Jake Kasdan. He has frequently cast Kevin Kline and William Hurt in his films.

Early life
Kasdan was born in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Sylvia, an employment counselor, and Clarence Kasdan, an electronics-store manager. Kasdan is Jewish. His older brother is Mark Kasdan, who co-wrote Silverado (1985) and produced Dreamcatcher (2003), and he has two sisters. Kasdan grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia. "I felt very fortunate to have had a regular American childhood in the fifties," he said. "It was a safe place, where you owned the town if you had a bicycle."

His parents were both "thwarted writers." His father, who died when Kasdan was 14, had wanted to be a playwright, and his mother claimed to have studied with novelist and playwright Sinclair Lewis at the University of Wisconsin. She sold a few stories to "confessional magazines" in the 1950s, and later bought self-help books and typed up their contents with the dream of writing her own book one day. She also struck up conversations with strangers on the bus, saying it was all "grist for the mill" for future writing. "Looking back on it now," Kasdan wrote, "I wonder if maybe I owe her everything. Whether by nature or nurture, I became a writer."

Many of Kasdan's movies were inspired by his "difficult childhood and home life," he wrote. "So, in my work, I've looked for something more stable or explored why growing up in my home was so upsetting."

"We didn't have a lot of money and neither did anyone around us, and going to the movies was the happiest thing about my childhood," he said. "Movies weren't very big in Wheeling in those days. We used to call up the theater to ask what time the show began, and they'd say, 'What time can you get here?'" He particularly loved The Great Escape (1963) and The Magnificent Seven (1960), both directed by John Sturges—movies that shaped his ideas of manhood and heroism. "Film made its values tangible for me in the ways that parents, school, Sunday School had not. I wanted to live in the world I found in the movies."

In 1963, his brother Mark took him to see David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. They arrived a few minutes late, and Mark insisted that they kill six hours until the next showing. "I thought my brother was crazy. But when the show was over, I knew I had done the right thing. As I stumbled from the theater, having seen the whole movie, I had a new hero. It was not T. E. Lawrence, but David Lean".

He graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966. To earn money for college, he worked various jobs at a glass factory and the night shift at a supermarket in Wheeling, scraping meat from butcher machines. He applied to the University of Michigan because he was told it had the best-paying college writing contest in the country (the Hopwood Award), and that the playwright Arthur Miller had paid for his studies by winning the award. Miller's teacher, Kenneth Thorpe Rowe, was still a professor there, and Kasdan studied drama writing with Rowe.

Kasdan won the Hopwood Award four times between 1968 and 1970, winning a total of $2,000. "When I received the letter telling me that I had won Hopwood Awards in both fiction and drama, my life changed forever," he said. "It was the first sign the real world, the outside world, the big-time world, had given me that this was not just a hopeless dream. ... Even though I had many discouraging years after that, there was never a day after I received that letter that I doubted I would be able to make my way as a writer."

While in college, Kasdan marched on Washington to protest the Vietnam War. He also made one short film. "Technically, it was very crude," he said. "It was a wry look at a professor I knew who was very interested in all the young female students—sort of a rough, humorous film about his fascination with one particular girl. It was shot on 16mm. I cut it and did the sound, but I was never a technically proficient student filmmaker."

He was determined to become a director, and decided the best path was to write screenplays. He got into UCLA's writing program and briefly moved to Los Angeles, but found the experience frustrating and moved back to Ann Arbor, where he worked in a record store and continued writing screenplays.

He pursued a master's degree in education at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1971, with plans to support himself as a high-school English teacher until he broke into Hollywood. But he soon discovered that there were no high-school English teaching jobs. "It was almost as hard to get that kind of work as being a movie director," he said. The experience he did have as a student teacher later proved useful on film sets: "You can control an unruly class at almost any level, but the more you yell, the less effective yelling becomes," he said. "That has influenced my approach to directing; for me, being hard is giving someone a look where another director might scream at them."

Career
Unable to find a teaching position, Kasdan took a job as an advertising copywriter at the W.B. Doner agency in Detroit—a profession he didn't enjoy but found success in, earning a Clio Award for his first TV commercial, as well as an award from The One Show. His supervisor, Jim Dale, remembered Kasdan "always said he was better at writing for TV than for print, and that was certainly prophetic." Kasdan called his five years in advertising "hellacious", and persisted in writing screenplays at night.

Early career (1970s)
The Bodyguard

Kasdan's sixth finished screenplay, written in 1975, was about a singer who falls in love with her bodyguard. With The Bodyguard he was able to get an agent, Norman Kurland, and he took an advertising job in Los Angeles to further justify a move to California. Kurland sent the script around town for two years, and it was rejected 67 times. "We couldn’t even get him a job writing Starsky and Hutch," Kurland said, although Kasdan had no desire to write for television. He was hired to write a treatment for a low-budget feature for Paramount, but the film was never made. He continued to write screenplays, including what he called an "un-producible historical" movie.

The Bodyguard was finally optioned by Warner Bros. in 1977 for $20,000. It was rewritten many times over the years, and attached to different actresses (including Diana Ross and Whoopi Goldberg) whose characters had various occupations. Kasdan wrote it with Steve McQueen in mind as the bodyguard, Frank. In the original draft, the U.S. president Frank failed to save was John F. Kennedy. Kevin Costner read the screenplay when Kasdan directed him in Silverado, the role that made him a star. In 1991, he asked Kasdan to make The Bodyguard with Costner in the title role. Kasdan had "messed around" with it so many times that he felt too burned out, and he was also preparing to direct Grand Canyon—so he chose instead to produce it with Costner, and they hired Mick Jackson, who had just made L.A. Story, to direct. Whitney Houston was cast as superstar singer Rachel Marron.

Kasdan was not happy with the way the film turned out, "but I think it had nothing to do with Mick Jackson," he later said. "I think it had to do with the fact that I'm not a good person for having other people direct my screenplays ... and so I was very unhappy with The Bodyguard. Kevin and I got very involved in the editing, which is not something I would normally do with any other director. I don't want people messing with my movie. But we were the producers and we had serious problems with it."

Despite receiving "probably the worst reviews I've ever had," Kasdan said, the film was a huge box-office success, earning more than $411 million worldwide. "If I had directed that film it probably wouldn't have done anything like that business," Kasdan wrote.

Continental Divide

While The Bodyguard was being passed around town, Kasdan wrote Continental Divide—a script about a brash Chicago journalist who falls in love with a woman living in the mountains studying eagles, in the vein of an old Spencer Tracy / Katharine Hepburn comedy. He came up with the outline while eating lunch on the lawn of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Kurland shopped it around, and took it to Steven Spielberg, who was on the dubbing stage for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Spielberg had Universal buy the script for $150,000 in October 1977, with a desire to serve as executive producer. "I was looking for a love story to do," Spielberg said. "Actually, it was a very intense bidding situation. There were four studios bidding for it and Universal made the highest bid. The script was wonderful. Larry is an excellent writer. He writes the sort of material we haven't seen around here for a long time. He writes about the '30s and '40s in a fascinating, exciting way. He loves old movies and draws on them for his work. He's exploring new territory based on old ground."

The movie was eventually made several years later, starring John Belushi and Blair Brown and directed by Michael Apted. It came out on September 18, 1981, three weeks after the release of Kasdan's directorial debut, Body Heat.

According to Kasdan, the original script was "very different from the film which resulted. The script had a kind of Howard Hawksian speed, momentum, hopefully wit about it. I don't think the film turned out that way, which was one of those painful experiences I had early on."

Franchise writing (1980s-2010s)
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Spielberg's enthusiasm for Continental Divide led him to hire Kasdan to write Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he was developing with George Lucas. "I think that what they were looking for was someone who could write Raiders in the same way that Hawks would have someone write a movie for him—a strong woman character, a certain kind of hero," Kasdan said. In a now-famous meeting (with producer Frank Marshall also in the room), "George, Steven, and I talked for about 20 minutes. Then we stood up and shook hands, and George said, 'Let's make this movie.' I had just met the guy, and a few minutes later I'm in business with him."

"George said, 'We're going to do a movie that's like the old serials, Kasdan recalled. I don't know too much about it, but the hero is named after my dog, Indiana. I know the hero wears a fedora and a leather jacket and carries a whip. That the artifact would be the Biblical Ark of the Covenant was writer-director Philip Kaufman's idea. Kaufman got it from his orthodontist when he was 11 years old (at one point, Kaufman was going to be involved with the screenplay. He received a "story by" credit).

The rest of the plot was hashed out in a brainstorm session with Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan:

"We had a tape recorder going, and George essentially guided the story process and the three of us pitched the entire movie in about five days. And that's where the fantasy of all our pent-up, wet-movie dreams coalesced. Most of the time we were on our feet, trying to out-shout each other with ideas."

They wound up with a hundred-page transcript, and Kasdan wrote the screenplay in Spielberg's office while the director was making 1941. It took him six months.

For the character of Indiana Jones, Kasdan said he wanted to capture the essence of old Hollywood stars like Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, and Clark Gable. "One of my favorite actors is Steve McQueen," he said. "I loved the poetry in the way he moved—his stylized movement. I wanted Raiders to have that heightened reality. That's where I came together with George's love of serials and Steven's fascination with kinetic thrust."

Lucas wanted the character to be more like James Bond, so Kasdan had to write a different version of the scene where Brody goes to his house, he said. "George wanted Indy to be a playboy, so Jones was going to answer the door wearing a tuxedo. Then, when Brody went into the house, he would see a beautiful, Harlow-type blonde sipping champagne in Indy's living room. My feeling was that Indiana Jones' two sides (professor and adventurer) made him complicated enough without adding the playboy element."

The film came out on June 12, 1981, and made more than $390 million internationally, winning five Academy Awards out of nine nominations. Kasdan eventually warmed to the finished film. "I look at Raiders now and I'm very proud of it," he wrote in 1999. "I think it's a terrific movie and I think Steven did a magnificent job with it." He was later asked to write Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but declined because he didn't want to associate with the film; he perceived it as "horrible, mean and unpleasant" due to it being developed during a chaotic period in Spielberg's and Lucas's lives. Several elements from Kasdan's earlier Raiders draft found their way in the prequel. Kasdan semi-returned to the franchise in 2007 when he assisted David Koepp in writing some romantic dialogue for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back

Lucas initially hired Leigh Brackett, the sci-fi novelist who also wrote screenplays for Howard Hawks—including The Big Sleep (1946)—to write the sequel to Star Wars (1977). But Brackett died in March 1978, while the film was still in pre-production, and Lucas was dissatisfied with her script. He wrote the next draft himself, which established structure and twists close to the final film, but needed better dialogue. When Kasdan delivered his script for Raiders, Lucas asked him to rewrite The Empire Strikes Back. Kasdan suggested he read Raiders first, but Lucas reportedly said: "If I hate Raiders, I'll call you up tomorrow and cancel this offer, but basically I get a feeling about people."

Most of the plot elements and characters were already in place, but Kasdan made it darker than the first Star Wars. "George was open to it and ready to have it happen," he said. "Over the three Star Wars films, he saw a trajectory. The Empire Strikes Back was the second act, and traditionally, the second act is when things start to go bad. George had made his [most important] decision when he hired Irvin Kershner to direct, even though Kershner and I were acting as his tools."

When The Empire Strikes Back came out on May 21, 1980, it was the first time Kasdan's name appeared in a movie's credits. He felt his main contribution to Lucas's series was developing character. "George is one of the good guys," Kasdan said in 1981. "But he and I have some disagreements, too. George thinks if you play the commercial movie game, a very expensive game, you have to play for big stakes."

Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi

Kasdan launched his directing career after writing The Empire Strikes Back, and was uninterested in writing another Star Wars movie. But Lucas had supported him on Body Heat as an uncredited producer, so when Lucas asked him to write the screenplay for the third chapter (then titled Revenge of the Jedi), Kasdan felt obliged to repay him.

He spent the summer of 1981 co-writing the shooting script with Lucas (based on a story by Lucas). "In both the Star Wars movies it's really George's story," Kasdan said. "I came into Empire after there was already a draft. On Jedi, George had done a draft, which we changed radically. Then he and I really collaborated on the script."

Return of the Jedi came out on May 25, 1983, and made $475 million. Lucas had already publicly spoken about making both a prequel and sequel trilogy; the prequels he wrote and directed himself 20 years later, and the Walt Disney Company made episodes 7 through 9 after it purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. In 1981, Kasdan surmised that "they'll probably shoot the before-Luke trilogy next, about young Darth and young Ben. But with George, you can't be sure. For myself, I can only say this will be my last Star Wars movie. On the other hand, you never know. I didn't think I'd be working on this one." During the Star Wars prequels' development, Lucas constantly approached Kasdan to help him write them, but Kasdan resisted returning to the franchise, opining that Lucas should do the prequels as he wished given the creative clashes Lucas had with him, Kershner and Richard Marquand during the original trilogy's development. But Lucas thought it would be great for Kasdan to take a second pass at the screenplays.

Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens

When Disney bought Lucasfilm with plans to make more Star Wars films, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm's new president, asked Kasdan to be involved. "I said, 'I don't really want to ... I just feel like I've done this,'" he recalled. "They said, 'We want to do a movie about Han.' That got me. That was the only one that could possibly have gotten me."

Kennedy had hired Michael Arndt to write Episode VII, and she asked Kasdan if he would consult on that script as well. He always felt that "Han Solo is really the character that people find irresistible, not Luke," he said. "Luke is too good for people to invest in. Han is right out of the classic mold. He's William Holden. He's Jimmy Cagney. He's Humphrey Bogart. Han is the one who is compromised and reluctantly forced to be altruistic and heroic." He had wanted to kill Han off in Return of the Jedi. "We're closing off the trilogy," he said. "And we want to lose somebody important. It would give some stakes to this thing. And George did not like it." In The Force Awakens, he and actor Harrison Ford finally got their wish.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out on December 18, 2015. It made more than $2 billion internationally, breaking the North American record for top-grossing film of all time. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy wrote: "One notably feels the hand of Lawrence Kasdan, who ... co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and, perhaps more significantly, authored Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film this new one most resembles in terms of its incident and exuberance."

Kasdan, Abrams, and Arndt won the Saturn Award for Best Writing for The Force Awakens. This marked Kasdan's first win for a Star Wars film, after being nominated for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Despite not working in the following sequels, Kasdan later talked with Abrams, Lucas, and Rian Johnson about the story for the saga's last episode, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Kasdan wrote the screenplay for a Han Solo origin story—the one assignment with Disney and Lucasfilm he initially signed on for—with his son, Jonathan Kasdan, a writer and director. The younger Kasdan had had small roles in his father's movies since The Big Chill, but they had never written a script together.

Solo: A Star Wars Story details the character's backstory: how he got his name, how he met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, and the beginnings of his internal battle between self-interested scoundrel and hero. Alden Ehrenreich was cast in the role Ford originated. The production was plagued by drama; most notably, the original directors—Phil Lord and Christopher Miller—were fired during the shoot and replaced by Ron Howard. The film opened on May 25, 2018, and made just under $393 million worldwide (the lowest box-office returns for any live-action Star Wars movie to date). Kasdan later attributed Solo 's underperformance to Lucasfilm "blowing it", after which he left the Star Wars universe as promised, not responding to any of Lucasfilm's subsequent attempts to woo him back, even sending him a messenger with a new script.

Body Heat (1981)
After writing Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, Kasdan had the cachet to direct his own film.

Alan Ladd Jr., the head of 20th Century Fox and a key player on Star Wars, gave Kasdan the deal—but by the time the script was finished Ladd was no longer at Fox. The new president, Sherry Lansing, put many of the existing deals in turnaround, including Kasdan's. Ladd started The Ladd Company in 1979, and offered to produce Body Heat on one condition: that an established director would "sponsor" the untested Kasdan. So Kasdan reached out to George Lucas.

The producers wanted Kasdan to cast a star, but he insisted on William Hurt, a stage actor who had just made his film debut in Altered States (1980). Kasdan cast another unknown, Kathleen Turner, as Matty, and Ted Danson as one of Ned's colleagues. (Danson was offered the part of Sam Malone on Cheers while filming Body Heat. ) The heat-centric story was originally set in New Jersey, but an actors' strike delayed production until December, so the location was moved to Miami.

Body Heat opened on August 28, 1981. It made more than $24 million domestically on a $7 million budget and was praised by the majority of critics. Variety 's review called it "an engrossing, mightily stylish meller [ melodrama] in which sex and crime walk hand in hand down the path to tragedy, just like in the old days. Working in the imposing shadow of the late James M. Cain, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan makes an impressively confident directorial debut with a vehicle which could clinch star status for William Hurt."

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards nominated Kasdan for Best Director, and the Writers Guild of America nominated his screenplay for a WGA Award.

The Big Chill (1983)
While editing Body Heat Kasdan had the idea for a large ensemble film, partly in reaction to the "claustrophobic" experience of working with just two actors in intimate settings.

His lawyer's wife, Barbara Benedek, had begun writing screenplays (and was a story editor on two comedy TV series for ABC), and Kasdan proposed co-writing with her. She was "enormously influential on the tone" of the script, he said, and they wrote characters who were composites of real people they each knew—as well as "a little bit of ourselves".

Kasdan had trouble finding a buyer, because "no one believed that an ensemble film could be commercially successful. Hollywood always wanted you to have a protagonist, hopefully a white male who the audience could invest in, and possibly a sidekick or possibly a woman that he was involved with. When I presented them with a movie that had eight protagonists, they were only confused." He pitched it to "around seventeen different places," but they all passed. Johnny Carson had a deal to make movies at Columbia, and producer Marcia Nasatir convinced Carson to make The Big Chill.

The ensemble cast included Hurt and Kevin Kline, both of whom became regulars in Kasdan's directing career, as well as Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Tom Berenger, and JoBeth Williams. After four weeks of rehearsal, the film was shot in a real house in South Carolina, which had been used in The Great Santini. John Bailey, husband of editor Carol Littleton, was the cinematographer. The '60s pop soundtrack was curated by Kasdan's wife, Meg. The album sold more than six million copies and is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time.

The Big Chill came out on September 30, 1983. It ran in theaters for six months, making more than $56 million on an $8 million budget, and received mostly praise, with some mixed reviews.

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: for best original screenplay, best supporting actress (Close), and best picture. The screenplay was nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, and it won the WGA Award. Kasdan earned a DGA Award nomination by the Directors Guild of America. He later said:

"It was a kind of a lightning rod to controversy. I think I was surprised by everything that happened to The Big Chill because it was so personal. It was so much about my life, Barbara's life, and my wife's life that when it became very popular I was surprised."

Film critic F. X. Feeney wrote: "Kasdan fashioned a national conversation piece. People spoke thereafter of The Big Chill Generation.' Films made by later generations, about those generations ... would have to endure being dubbed 'The Little Chill' by critics. (So, in a sense, Kasdan founded a new genre.)"

Silverado (1985)
Kasdan co-wrote Silverado 's screenplay with his brother, Mark Kasdan. The story, set in 1880, is about a motley crew of cowboys who team up and set aside self-interest to protect a small town from a corrupt sheriff.

He cast Kevin Kline for the second time, as lead cowboy Paden, along with Scott Glenn, Danny Glover (who reunited with Kasdan in Grand Canyon), and Kevin Costner (who re-teamed with Kasdan for another western, Wyatt Earp). Brian Dennehy was cast as the sheriff, and Kasdan's son Jonathan and wife Meg both had bit parts.

The film shot in New Mexico during the winter of 1984, and an entire town set was built near Santa Fe that was later reused in several films, including Wyatt Earp. During production some of the cast developed hypothermia, and Kasdan had to contend with both blizzards and flash floods.

The film was so popular at its test screening in Seattle that Columbia rushed its release by several months, without arranging the usual marketing and merchandising efforts in time. It came out on July 10, 1985, and did decent business—$32 million on a $26 million budget—but Kasdan felt it would have done better with a more concerted release strategy. The reviews were largely positive.

The film earned Oscar nominations for best sound and best original score (composed by Bruce Broughton). Kasdan won the Young Venice Award—Special Mention at the Venice Film Festival.

The Accidental Tourist (1988)
After making Silverado, Kasdan passed on The Untouchables (1987) because he didn't like the script; it was directed by Brian De Palma. He had also been developing Man Trouble (1992), but disagreed with the producers over Carole Eastman's screenplay. Then he was offered The Accidental Tourist, a novel by Anne Tyler, and despite its surface similarities to Man Trouble—both stories are odd-couple romances with a character who trains dogs—he "fell in love with it".

John Malkovich had been developing the project, and hired theater director Frank Galati to write a script. When Kasdan took over, he wrote his own adaptation—ultimately sharing writing credit with Galati. Like many of Kasdan's own stories, this one was "about creating a new family to replace a dysfunctional one," he said. For the lead, he cast Hurt for the third time.

Kasdan and Hurt reunited with Body Heat's Kathleen Turner, playing Macon's estranged wife. For the eccentric dog trainer, Muriel, Kasdan cast Geena Davis, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The Accidental Tourist was a surprise hit when it came out on December 23, 1988. It made more than $32 million, and rode a wave of critical praise through the awards season. It won the New York Film Critics Award despite sharp criticism from several critics—including Pauline Kael, who felt the film had no voice.

The film earned two Golden Globe nominations (for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Score), a BAFTA nomination (Best Adapted Screenplay), and four Oscar nominations: Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. Davis won an Oscar for her supporting role.

"I have sometimes been frustrated by the size of my audience, but not on that movie," said Kasdan. "I'm amazed we got as many people in to see it as we did. It was one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had. I'm as proud of The Accidental Tourist as anything I've done."

I Love You to Death (1990)
Kasdan wanted to do something "light and irreverent" after the grief-heavy The Accidental Tourist, and John Kostmayer sent him a script based on a true story out of Pennsylvania: a woman tried to kill her husband multiple times over his infidelity, he survived all attempts, she and her accomplices went to prison, and when she got out the husband forgave her and took her back. "I was fascinated by that story," Kasdan said. "I thought it would make a wonderful film."

It was the first film he directed from another writer's script, and starred Kline as pizzeria owner and serial cheater Joey, and Tracey Ullman as his wife, Rosalie. The ensemble cast included Hurt, River Phoenix, Joan Plowright, and Keanu Reeves. The film was shot in Tacoma, Washington.

In 1999, Kasdan wrote:

"I have more regrets about I Love You to Death than anything I've done, because Kostmayer had written an odd and interesting script. It was very funny to me, but there were things in it that were ugly. In postproduction we started sneaking [test screening] it, and most of the sneak audiences hated the movie—despised it. They hated certain things, and I started taking those things out. We reshot the ending, added new scenes, and took out scenes that were difficult. I wanted to make the movie more popular, and that was weak, because it got worse and worse. As a result, I've never used those sneak preview cards since. It wasn't as if the studio was making me change things. I ruined the movie."

I Love You to Death came out on April 6, 1990. It made $16 million, and reviews were largely negative or mixed.

Grand Canyon (1991)
Now in his 40s, with his oldest son leaving for college, Kasdan began a screenplay about marriage and parenting. He said:

"Seeing your children grow throws your own life into relief. They're a daily reminder that you're moving on because they're so clearly coming up from behind. That driving lesson [in Grand Canyon] is about more than the difficulty of making left turns in Los Angeles. Giving your son the wheel is about letting go ... and the threat of disaster in the most mundane actions."

The screenplay, which he wrote with his wife, swelled into a larger canvas that dealt with race relations in Los Angeles and the existential crises of the era. On a $20 million budget, Kasdan cast two of his regular actors—Kline and Glover—along with Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Mary-Louise Parker, and Alfre Woodard. (The actors took smaller salaries in exchange for profit participation.) The film follows separate but intersecting stories of multiple characters across Los Angeles's social and racial divides, and deals with themes of fate, death, relationships, the ethics of violence in filmmaking, and more. The score is by James Newton Howard, who has worked with Kasdan on every film since.

Grand Canyon came out on December 25, 1991. The ensemble cast and social/generational commentary immediately drew comparisons to The Big Chill, and reviews were mostly positive.

The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a WGA Award. Some critics found the finale, which has the ensemble staring in awe at the actual Grand Canyon, to be a cop-out happy ending.

Within months of the film's release, the 1992 Los Angeles riots occurred. "There was an enormous amount of press about the fact that Grand Canyon had predicted the explosion of rage and violence," Kasdan said. "Anyone walking around L.A. at that time could feel it. The riots were a natural kind of explosion that anyone could have predicted."

Wyatt Earp (1994)
One of Kasdan's abandoned projects over the years was titled Pair-A-Dice, written by Blade Runner (1982) screenwriter David Webb Peoples, which he developed for four years, with Costner set to star. In 1992, Costner approached him with the script for a six-hour miniseries about Wyatt Earp's life. "I told him that I was about to commit to another picture," Kasdan said. "[Costner] said, 'Why are you doing that? Why don't you do Wyatt Earp? I said, 'I don't like the screenplay.' And he said, 'Well, then, write a new screenplay.'" Kasdan agreed on the condition that they shoot the following summer, which Costner accepted. Kasdan wrote a screenplay in three months.

Kasdan was pleased with his screenplay—but less so Costner, who was still attached to the original miniseries concept. "Kevin and I were visualizing a 'Western Godfather,'" said Dan Gordon, who wrote the miniseries script. "It was to be two movies, in fact, centering on three families: the Earps and two organized crime families. Mike Gray, a bizarro mirror image of Earp, managed to get Tombstone, the richest town west of the Mississippi, deeded to his private company. It was a land grab worth $10 million to $20 million in 1880 dollars—and the only thing between him and that money was Wyatt Earp."

Kasdan said:

"At that point we probably should have called the whole thing off, but we didn't. Instead, we reached a kind of compromise script. I had never had that experience before, because everything that I had ever written I had just gone out and shot as is. Here I had this kind of hybrid. It was my script plus elements from his previous script."

Kasdan ultimately shared writing credit with Gordon, who also served as an executive producer on the film.

"I think it confused the whole situation, and if I had my wits about me I probably would have said, 'Kevin, look, because we're very good friends let's preserve our friendship and not do this movie.' Well, we preserved our friendship, but unfortunately we did do the movie."

Surrounding Costner as Earp were Joanna Going, Catherine O'Hara, Tom Sizemore, JoBeth Williams, Mark Harmon, and Gene Hackman. Dennis Quaid lost 43 pounds on a supervised diet to play Doc Holliday, a performance that Kasdan called "the most satisfying part of the movie."

Wyatt Earp was a more ambitious production than Kasdan's previous western, Silverado. It was shot in the summer of 1993 over the course of 19 weeks (with an entire week of rehearsals), on location in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two massive sets portraying eight different Western towns, and a cast of more than 100 speaking roles and thousands of extras. It was shot on film in anamorphic format by Owen Roizman, the cinematographer on The French Connection.

"It's an epic film on an epic scale," Kasdan said. "It shows the building of the railroad and a span of Wyatt's life. So in many ways it presented the challenges I was looking for. It's a big bite of a movie and there are things in it that are as good as anything I've ever done."

The film suffered at the box office—making $20 million on a $60 million budget—in part because of Tombstone, the concurrent film starring Kurt Russell as Earp and Val Kilmer as Holliday. Tombstone's writer and original director, Kevin Jarre (who was eventually fired from the project), had actually planned to make an Earp story with Costner, but the two had different ideas about its tone and direction, and each went his own way. Tombstone was in production at the same time, but released on Christmas Eve, 1993—six months before Wyatt Earp.

"Tombstone hurt us," said editor Carol Littleton, "because it's a completely different kind of film, and it was a little more hip and it was not quite as serious."

Later films (1995-present)
Meg Ryan, who at the time was married to Wyatt Earp star Dennis Quaid, brought Kasdan a script she'd commissioned for herself. Written by Adam Brooks, it was about a woman who overcomes her fear of flying and goes to Paris to confront her cheating fiancé, and in the process falls for a French thief. Kasdan was drawn to the project, he said, because "I wouldn't have to write something new. I'd just done this really difficult movie and I thought, well, I'll go to France with my family for a while. I love France."

He cast Timothy Hutton as the cheating fiancé, Charlie, and Kline as Luc Teyssier, the thief.

French Kiss was released on May 5, 1995. It earned nearly $39 million in the U.S. and more than $101 million internationally.

Mumford (1999)

After French Kiss, Kasdan wrote a spec script for Disney called Sojourner—a large-scale fantasy film set in the 1930s about a father and son. "I love effects," he said, "but they very rarely are married to a story that interests me. So I wrote one of my kind of stories, one involving effects. It made for a very expensive project, requiring not just one but two movie stars." He went into pre-production on the film with Mel Gibson attached to star—but then pulled the plug, and instead wrote the screenplay for Mumford.

The story is about a psychologist named Mumford with a secret past, who moves to a town called Mumford and starts treating its troubled citizens. Kasdan cast Loren Dean in the title role, alongside Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Martin Short, and Ted Danson. It came out on September 24, 1999, and fared poorly at the box office, making only $4.5 million. Critical response was divided.

Dreamcatcher (2003)

Kasdan's most poorly received film was Dreamcatcher, an adaptation of Stephen King's 2001 book. Written during King's recovery from being hit by a van in 1999, the story is about four friends and a boy with special powers, involving aliens, telepathy, and extreme body horror. King later said he wrote much of it on Oxycontin.

Kasdan co-wrote the adaptation with William Goldman, screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride. "If you read the book," Kasdan said, "the pain is all over the book."

Dreamcatcher was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and shot in British Columbia. The cast included Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and Donnie Wahlberg. It came out on March 21, 2003, and made $82 million worldwide.

Darling Companion (2012)

Nine years passed between Dreamcatcher and Kasdan's next film, Darling Companion. During that time he adapted a script from Richard Russo's novel The Risk Pool, which he was developing with Tom Hanks as the lead, as well as a few other aborted projects. He eventually decided to make an independent film, based on an incident from his and Meg's own life, when their dog got lost in the mountains of Colorado.

Darling Companion was independently financed by his company, Kasdan Pictures, along with Werc Werk Works and Likely Story. Since it was made on a modest $5 million budget, the ensemble cast—which included Kline, Diane Keaton, Richard Jenkins, Dianne Wiest, and Mark Duplass—worked for scale. Kasdan shot the film on digital for the first time, on location in Utah. It came out on April 27, 2012.

Projects in development
As of 2020, Kasdan is working on a documentary about record label executive Mo Ostin, and the adaptation of a novel called November Road.

"Directing is the greatest job in the world, but the process is so hard," he said in 1991. "Each picture is like a child, a huge investment of heart and work. I decided that I want to work a lot while I have the interest in and the energy for it. Then if the time comes when I’m not having fun, I can walk away." As of 2022, Kasdan has directed only two feature films in 22 years.

Style and inspirations
As a screenwriter, Kasdan was influenced by classic English literature, plays, and the literary films of the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. He said:

"If you're trained the way I was, it's classical dramatic training, in which you learn how plays have been constructed since they started writing plays. I think that has served me very well in Hollywood, because a lot of the people writing screenplays don't have a literary background. Many young screenwriters today come from television. It's not that they worked in television; it's that they grew up on television and they think the way narrative is presented on television is narrative, but it ain't. And so, if anything, I believe in classic dramatic construction, and I believe in the force and momentum that good narrative creates as it builds on itself."

He said his scripts all begin with their characters:

"Characters present themselves, and the story follows. Alvin Sargent [screenwriter of Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980)] said a great thing to me. We were talking about how all of our inspiration always starts with character. Not plot. Not story. And that we wish it were otherwise; and that, in fact, the American movie tradition is about narrative. It's not about character. And he said, 'When I die, on my tombstone, it's going to say: 'Finally, a plot.' I identified with that very strongly."

Of his directing style, Kasdan said:

"I think that my personality is shy, reticent, in some ways; I'm conservative—I don't wear flashy clothes. I think that's true of my style, too, not that I don't like things that are startlingly innovative. ... For me, the idea is, is the camera where you want it to be, not are you showing it off? ... What I admire about Kurosawa is the Zen perfection of his camera placement, the rightness of it. That's the idea I'm striving for—but style is not something that drives my pictures."

On working with actors, he said:

"I'm drawn to a very strong, non-fussy, hopefully a non-absorbed, kind of acting. I want great listeners. They aren't in competition with the other actors in the frame. They're there to support and to make the other actor better. I'm interested in people who are interested in submitting themselves to roles, to a story, to knowing that sometimes the grander action is the wrong action, the showier action is the wrong action. Sometimes repose is the most appropriate response to something. My movies are cut and acted on the reactions, not the actions. I think that's where the secrets of life are revealed. Not necessarily in what we say, but how we react to what we hear."

In 2012, Kasdan participated in the Sight & Sound film polls. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Kasdan picked the following, in alphabetical order:

 * Army of Shadows (1969)
 * The Battle of Algiers (1966)
 * Dr. Strangelove (1963)
 * The Godfather (1972)
 * The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
 * Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
 * Out of the Past (1947)
 * The Rules of the Game (1939)
 * Seven Samurai (1954)
 * The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947)

Producer and onscreen parts
Kasdan has produced several films he did not direct: Cross My Heart (1987), Immediate Family (1989)—written by his The Big Chill co-writer Barbara Benedek—Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1991), Home Fries (1998), The TV Set (2006)—written and directed by Jake Kasdan—and In the Land of Women (2007), written and directed by Jonathan Kasdan.

He has made several cameo appearances in his own films: as River Phoenix's lawyer in I Love You to Death, a director in Grand Canyon, a gambler in Wyatt Earp, and a man walking a dog in Darling Companion. He played Jack Nicholson's psychiatrist in As Good as It Gets (1997), directed by James L. Brooks.

Executive producer

 * Immediate Family (1989)
 * Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1991)
 * The TV Set (2006)
 * In the Land of Women (2007)

Awards and honors
In addition to his four Oscar nominations, Kasdan received the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award in 2001, and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 2006. He has three honorary doctorates: in Humane Letters from the University of Michigan (1983) and from West Virginia University (1999), and in Fine Arts from the American Film Institute (2015).

On May 22, 2016, he was honored by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and ArtsATL.org as the inaugural recipient of their ICON Award for Contributions to the Cinematic Arts in a ceremony held at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Personal life
Kasdan has been married to Meg Kasdan (née Mary Ellen Goldman) since November 28, 1971. They met at the University of Michigan, where they were both English majors. Their two sons, Jake Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan, are both involved in film as actors, writers, producers, and directors. He has three grandchildren.

title: Lawrence Kasdan