Hancock (film) Hancock (film) Hancock is a 2008 American superhero comedy film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith) from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock's public image for the better. The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996. It languished in "development hell" for years and had various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino before
Tony Hancock had not read any of the screenplays. The result of the break was that Hancock chose to separately develop something previously discussed, and the writers were ultimately commissioned to write a "Comedy Playhouse" series for the BBC, one of which, "The Offer", emerged as the pilot for "Steptoe and Son". That "something previously discussed" became "The Punch and Judy Man", for which Hancock hired writer Philip Oakes, who moved in with the comedian to co-write the screenplay. In "The Punch and Judy Man" (1962), Hancock plays a struggling seaside entertainer who dreams of a better life; Sylvia Syms plays his