The Towering Inferno The Towering Inferno The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American drama disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. The picture was directed by John Guillermin. A co-production between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., it was the first film to be a joint venture by two major Hollywood studios. It was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from a pair of novels, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. The film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture
Earthquake (1974 film) film's enormous box office receipts, Universal Studios put pre-production on "Earthquake" back into high gear, hiring writer George Fox to continue work with Puzo's first draft. Fox was principally a magazine writer and had never written a screenplay before, so director Mark Robson worked with him to narrow the scope of the script down to fit into the budgetary constraints. After eleven drafts, "Earthquake" went before the cameras in February 1974. While "The Towering Inferno" featured a larger "all star" cast, Universal was able to land Charlton Heston in the lead role. Rounding out the top billing were Ava Gardner,