I actually wrote an article about how the script developed, because it was honestly fairly interesting, but I'm waiting for Hicks to read it and publish it
I didn't realise Cerasini was doing that either until going through the older drafts and re-reading early script reviews. Everyone's name is slightly different in the earlier drafts, but accurate in the novel. The whole Cambodia opening was abandoned by September 26, 2003. The 1904 whaling scene originally featured a character named Jimmy, not Karl, who was "all of 19" and not the "bearded, strapping whaler" in the production draft.