Formerly a commercial fisherman in his native New England, Brian Helgeland changed his career path by moving to L.A. and inaugurated his screenwriting career by collaborating on the scripts for two horror movies: Renny Harlin's "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988), starring Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Englund's "976-EVIL" (1988). Sticking with the same genre, Helgeland received his first solo screenwriting credit for "Highway to Hell" (1992) before beginning his relationship with Richard Donner as co-writer of the simple-minded action-thriller "Assassins" (1995) and
