THE BEST blockbuster directors & producers. You know them, you love them, so keep supporting them.
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A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school were in the music video business. He created music videos for Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Lionel Richie, Wilson Phillips, Donny Osmond and Divinyls. His work won him recognition and a number of MTV award nominations. He also filmed advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Miller Lite. He won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron Burr" commercial. At Cannes, he has won the Gold Lion for The Best Beer campaign for Miller Lite, as well as the Silver for "Got Milk". In 1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year. That same year, he also directed his first feature film, Bad Boys (1995), starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which grossed more than $160 million, worldwide. His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, was also hugely successful, making Bay the director du jour.The master of the action genre. Simply the best. And that's a FACT.
A lot of pathetic movie nerds/bloggers/wannabe critics on the web and IMDB in particular (like this desperate stalker Jaime Rebanal a.k.a. The One And Only - seriously kid, get a life) tend to criticize Bay exactly because the man is so big and successful. These smelly nerds are extremely angry because their favorite small-time/mid-level directors will NEVER, NEVER be able to achieve the Bay-level of success and popularity.
So cry me a river, militant movie buffs. Bitch and whine all you want. Great thing is - you're not changing anything. Bay is still one of the biggest filmmakers in the world and his fans will keep supporting him for years and years and years.
The End.- Producer
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One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, producer or writer since launching the summer blockbuster with Jaws (1975), and he has done more to define popular film-making since the mid-1970s than anyone else.
Steven Allan Spielberg was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Leah Frances (Posner), a concert pianist and restaurateur, and Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer who worked in computer development. His parents were both born to Russian Jewish immigrant families. Steven spent his younger years in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Phoenix, Arizona, and later Saratoga, California. He went to California State University Long Beach, but dropped out to pursue his entertainment career. Among his early directing efforts were Battle Squad (1961), which combined World War II footage with footage of an airplane on the ground that he makes you believe is moving. He also directed Escape to Nowhere (1961), which featured children as World War Two soldiers, including his sister Anne Spielberg, and The Last Gun (1959), a western. All of these were short films. The next couple of years, Spielberg directed a couple of movies that would portend his future career in movies. In 1964, he directed Firelight (1964), a movie about aliens invading a small town. In 1967, he directed Slipstream (1967), which was unfinished. However, in 1968, he directed Amblin' (1968), which featured the desert prominently, and not the first of his movies in which the desert would feature. Amblin' also became the name of his production company, which turned out such classics as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Spielberg had a unique and classic early directing project, Duel (1971), with Dennis Weaver. In the early 1970s, Spielberg was working on TV, directing among others such series as Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1969), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) and Murder by the Book (1971). All of his work in television and short films, as well as his directing projects, were just a hint of the wellspring of talent that would dazzle audiences all over the world.
Spielberg's first major directorial effort was The Sugarland Express (1974), with Goldie Hawn, a film that marked him as a rising star. It was his next effort, however, that made him an international superstar among directors: Jaws (1975). This classic shark attack tale started the tradition of the summer blockbuster or, at least, he was credited with starting the tradition. His next film was the classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), a unique and original UFO story that remains a classic. In 1978, Spielberg produced his first film, the forgettable I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), and followed that effort with Used Cars (1980), a critically acclaimed, but mostly forgotten, Kurt Russell/Jack Warden comedy about devious used-car dealers. Spielberg hit gold yet one more time with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), with Harrison Ford taking the part of Indiana Jones. Spielberg produced and directed two films in 1982. The first was Poltergeist (1982), but the highest-grossing movie of all time up to that point was the alien story E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Spielberg also helped pioneer the practice of product placement. The concept, while not uncommon, was still relatively low-key when Spielberg raised the practice to almost an art form with his famous (or infamous) placement of Reese's Pieces in "E.T." Spielberg was also one of the pioneers of the big-grossing special-effects movies, like "E.T." and "Close Encounters", where a very strong emphasis on special effects was placed for the first time on such a huge scale. In 1984, Spielberg followed up "Raiders" with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), which was a commercial success but did not receive the critical acclaim of its predecessor. As a producer, Spielberg took on many projects in the 1980s, such as The Goonies (1985), and was the brains behind the little monsters in Gremlins (1984). He also produced the cartoon An American Tail (1986), a quaint little animated classic. His biggest effort as producer in 1985, however, was the blockbuster Back to the Future (1985), which made Michael J. Fox an instant superstar. As director, Spielberg took on the book The Color Purple (1985), with Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, with great success. In the latter half of the 1980s, he also directed Empire of the Sun (1987), a mixed success for the occasionally erratic Spielberg. Success would not escape him for long, though.
The late 1980s found Spielberg's projects at the center of pop-culture yet again. In 1988, he produced the landmark animation/live-action film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The next year proved to be another big one for Spielberg, as he produced and directed Always (1989) as well as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Back to the Future Part II (1989). All three of the films were box-office and critical successes. Also, in 1989, he produced the little known comedy-drama Dad (1989), with Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson, which got mostly mixed results. Spielberg has also had an affinity for animation and has been a strong voice in animation in the 1990s. Aside from producing the landmark "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", he produced the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures (1990), Animaniacs (1993), Pinky and the Brain (1995), Freakazoid! (1995), Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998), Family Dog (1993) and Toonsylvania (1998). Spielberg also produced other cartoons such as The Land Before Time (1988), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Casper (1995) (the live action version) as well as the live-action version of The Flintstones (1994), where he was credited as "Steven Spielrock". Spielberg also produced many Roger Rabbit short cartoons, and many Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons specials. Spielberg was very active in the early 1990s, as he directed Hook (1991) and produced such films as the cute fantasy Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991). He also produced the unusual comedy thriller Arachnophobia (1990), Back to the Future Part III (1990) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). While these movies were big successes in their own right, they did not quite bring in the kind of box office or critical acclaim as previous efforts. In 1993, Spielberg directed Jurassic Park (1993), which for a short time held the record as the highest grossing movie of all time, but did not have the universal appeal of his previous efforts. Big box-office spectacles were not his only concern, though. He produced and directed Schindler's List (1993), a stirring film about the Holocaust. He won best director at the Oscars, and also got Best Picture. In the mid-90s, he helped found the production company DreamWorks, which was responsible for many box-office successes.
As a producer, he was very active in the late 90s, responsible for such films as The Mask of Zorro (1998), Men in Black (1997) and Deep Impact (1998). However, it was on the directing front that Spielberg was in top form. He directed and produced the epic Amistad (1997), a spectacular film that was shorted at the Oscars and in release due to the fact that its release date was moved around so much in late 1997. The next year, however, produced what many believe was one of the best films of his career: Saving Private Ryan (1998), a film about World War Two that is spectacular in almost every respect. It was stiffed at the Oscars, losing best picture to Shakespeare in Love (1998).
Spielberg produced a series of films, including Evolution (2001), The Haunting (1999) and Shrek (2001). he also produced two sequels to Jurassic Park (1993), which were financially but not particularly critical successes. In 2001, he produced a mini-series about World War Two that definitely *was* a financial and critical success: Band of Brothers (2001), a tale of an infantry company from its parachuting into France during the invasion to the Battle of the Bulge. Also in that year, Spielberg was back in the director's chair for A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), a movie with a message and a huge budget. It did reasonably at the box office and garnered varied reviews from critics.
Spielberg has been extremely active in films there are many other things he has done as well. He produced the short-lived TV series SeaQuest 2032 (1993), an anthology series entitled Amazing Stories (1985), created the video-game series "Medal of Honor" set during World War Two, and was a starting producer of ER (1994). Spielberg, if you haven't noticed, has a great interest in World War Two. He and Tom Hanks collaborated on Shooting War: World War II Combat Cameramen (2000), a documentary about World War II combat photographers, and he produced a documentary about the Holocaust called Eyes of the Holocaust (2000). With all of this to Spielberg's credit, it's no wonder that he's looked at as one of the greatest ever figures in entertainment.The man who created the modern blockbuster. That's all you need to know.
Always respect him!- Writer
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James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his screenwriting ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and had his first experience as a director with a two week stint on Piranha II: The Spawning (1982) before being fired.
He then wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton. It was a low budget independent film, but Cameron's superb, dynamic direction made it a surprise mainstream success and it is now regarded as one of the most iconic pictures of the 1980s. After this came a string of successful, bigger budget science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). In 1990, Cameron formed his own production company, Lightstorm Entertainment. In 1997, he wrote and directed Titanic (1997), a romance epic about two young lovers from different social classes who meet on board the famous ship. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned eleven Academy Awards. It became the highest grossing movie of all time until 12 years later, Avatar (2009), which invented and pioneered 3D film technology, and it went on to beat "Titanic", and became the first film to cost two billion dollars until 2019 when Marvel took the record.
James Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. In 2000, he married actress Suzy Amis, who appeared in Titanic, and they have three children.- Producer
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Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The Return of the King receiving his most impressive collection of awards. This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Viewers' Choice), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.
As a follow up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005, Jackson directed, wrote, and produced King Kong, for Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®.
Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay. Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit.
Jackson directed the Academy Award®-nominated The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold and produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9. He was a producer on Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2011, with two more films set to come out in the future.
His most recent films include producer of 2018's action film Mortal Engines, based on a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. Following Mortal Engines, he produced They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I with never-before-seen footage. BAFTA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing from the Motion Picture Sound Editors.
Jackson's next project is the music documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which he directed and produced, due to be released August, 2021.
Jackson works closely with partner Dame Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family. Jackson has a special interest in WWI memorabilia and is the proud owner of several aircraft from that era.- Writer
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George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar driver. However, a terrible car accident just after his high school graduation ended that dream permanently. The accident changed his views on life.
He decided to attend Modesto Junior College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film school. As a film student, he made several short films including Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967) which won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. In 1967, he was awarded a scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe the making of Finian's Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas and Coppola became good friends and formed American Zoetrope in 1969. The company's first project was Lucas' full-length version of THX 1138 (1971). In 1971, Coppola went into production for The Godfather (1972), and Lucas formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd.
In 1973, he wrote and directed the semiautobiographical American Graffiti (1973) which won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. This gave him the clout he needed for his next daring venture. From 1973 to 1974, he began writing the screenplay which became Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He was inspired to make this movie from Flash Gordon and the Planet of the Apes films. In 1975, he established ILM. (Industrial Light & Magic) to produce the visual effects needed for the movie. Another company called Sprocket Systems was established to edit and mix Star Wars and later becomes known as Skywalker Sound. His movie was turned down by several studios until 20th Century Fox gave him a chance. Lucas agreed to forego his directing salary in exchange for 40% of the film's box-office take and all merchandising rights. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned seven Academy Awards. It redefined the term "blockbuster" and the rest is history.
Lucas made the other Star Wars films and along with Steven Spielberg created the Indiana Jones series which made box office records of their own. From 1980 to 1985, Lucas was busy with the construction of Skywalker Ranch, built to accommodate the creative, technical, and administrative needs of Lucasfilm. Lucas also revolutionized movie theaters with the THX system which was created to maintain the highest quality standards in motion picture viewing.
He went on to produce several more movies that have introduced major innovations in filmmaking technology. He is chairman of the board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. In 1992, George Lucas was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement.
He reentered the directing chair with the production of the highly-anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy beginning with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) . The films have been polarizing for fans and critics alike, but were commercially successful and have become a part of culture. The animated spin-off series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was supervised by Lucas. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.- Producer
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Stephen Sommers was born on March 20, 1962 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Raised in St. Cloud, Minnesota, he attended St. John's University and the University of Seville in Spain. Afterward, Sommers spent the next four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe.
From there, he relocated to Los Angeles and attended the USC School of Cinema-Television for three years, earning a Masters Degree, where he wrote and directed an award winning short film called "Perfect Alibi". With independent funding, he wrote and directed his first motion picture Catch Me If You Can (1989) which was filmed on location in his hometown St. Cloud, Minnesota. Sommers then went on to write and direct The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) as well as the latest version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) both for Walt Disney Pictures. Sommers also wrote the screenplays for the grade-B action flick Gunmen (1993) and the Disney adventure Tom and Huck (1995) which he also executive produced. He also wrote and directed the suspense-thriller Deep Rising (1998), and the latest version of The Mummy (1999). For television, Sommers wrote and executive produced Oliver Twist (1997) for director Tony Bill.
Most recently, he wrote and directed the sequel to The Mummy (1999), titled The Mummy Returns (2001), as well as the horror-thriller-action epic Van Helsing (2004), and the live-action adaptation G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).- Producer
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Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Chris Columbus was first inspired to make movies after seeing "The Godfather" at age 15. After enrolling at NYU film school, he sold his first screenplay (never produced) while a sophomore there. After graduation Columbus tried to sell his fourth script, "Gremlins", with no success, until Steven Spielberg optioned it; Columbus moved to Los Angeles for a year during rewrites on the project in Spielberg's bungalow at Universal. After writing two more scripts for Spielberg, "The Goonies" and "Young Sherlock Holmes", Columbus' own directing career was launched a few years later with "Adventures in Babysitting". He is best known to audiences as the director of the runaway hit "Home Alone", written and produced by John Hughes its sequel "Home Alone 2", and most recently "Mrs. Doubtfire".- Director
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Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema's most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of all time ($135,600,000) and grossed over $1 billion dollars worldwide.
He was born Gregor Verbinski on March 16, 1964 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to Laurette Ann (McGovern) and Victor Vincent Verbinski, a nuclear physicist who worked at the Oak Ridge Lab. His paternal grandparents were Polish. In 1967, the family moved to California, and young Gregor grew up near San Diego. His biggest influences as a kid were Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality. He started his professional career as a guitarist for punk-rock bands, such as The Daredevils and The Little Kings, and also made his first films together with friends. After having developed a passion for filmmaking, he sold his guitar to buy a Super-8mm camera. Then Verbinski attended the prestigious UCLA Film School, from which he graduated in 1987 with his BFA in Film. His first professional directing jobs were music videos for alternative bands, such as L7, Bad Religion, and Monster Magnet. Then he moved to advertising and directed commercials for Nike, Canon, Skittles, United airlines and Coca-Cola. In 1993 he created the renowned Budweiser advertising campaign featuring croaking frogs, for which he was awarded the advertising Silver Lion at Cannes and also received four Clio Awards.
Verbinski made his feature directorial debut with Mousehunt (1997), a remarkably visual cartoonish family comedy. His next effort, The Mexican (2001), came to a modest result. However, Verbinski bounced back with a hit thriller The Ring (2002), grossing over $230 million dollars worldwide. His biggest directorial success came with the Disney theme park ride based Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with a brilliant acting ensemble, grossing over $650 million dollars, and bringing five Oscar nominations and many other awards and nominations. Disney ordered two more films which Verbinski shot one after another on location in the Caribbean islands, for which he had to endure both tetanus and typhoid immunization shots. After having survived several hurricanes, dealing with sick and injured actors, and troubleshooting after numerous technical difficulties of the epic-scale project, Verbinski delivered. He employed the same stellar cast in the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and the third installment of the 'Pirates' franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
Gore Verbinski does not like publicity. He has been enjoying a happy family life with his wife and his two sons. He resides with his family in Los Angeles, California.- Producer
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Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was especially fond of films with Vincent Price). When he was in the ninth grade, his artistic talent was recognized by a local garbage company, when he won a prize for an anti-litter poster he designed. The company placed this poster on all of their garbage trucks for a year. After graduating from high school, he attended California Institute of the Arts. Like so many others who graduated from that school, Burton's first job was as an animator for Disney.
His early film career was fueled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. He worked on such films as The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985), but had some creative differences with his colleagues. Nevertheless, Disney recognized his talent, and gave him the green light to make Vincent (1982), an animated short about a boy who wanted to be just like Vincent Price. Narrated by Price himself, the short was a critical success and won several awards. Burton made a few other short films, including his first live-action film, Frankenweenie (1984). A half-hour long twist on the tale of Frankenstein, it was deemed inappropriate for children and wasn't released. But actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw Frankenweenie (1984), and believed that Burton would be the right man to direct him in his first full-length feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). The film was a surprise success, and Burton instantly became popular. However, many of the scripts that were offered to him after this were essentially just spin-offs of the film, and Burton wanted to do something new.
For three years, he made no more films, until he was presented with the script for Beetlejuice (1988). The script was wild and wasn't really about anything, but was filled with such artistic and quirky opportunities, Burton couldn't say no. Beetlejuice (1988) was another big hit, and Burton's name in Hollywood was solidified. It was also his first film with actor Michael Keaton. Warner Bros. then entrusted him with Batman (1989), a film based on the immensely popular comic book series of the same name. Starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, the film was the most financially successful film of the year and Burton's biggest box-office hit to date. Due to the fantastic success of his first three films, he was given the green light to make his next film, any kind of film he wanted. That film was Edward Scissorhands (1990), one of his most emotional, esteemed and artistic films to date. Edward Scissorhands (1990) was also Burton's first film with actor Johnny Depp. Burton's next film was Batman Returns (1992), and was darker and quirkier than the first one, and, while by no means a financial flop, many people felt somewhat disappointed by it. While working on Batman Returns (1992), he also produced the popular The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), directed by former fellow Disney Animator Henry Selick. Burton reunited with Johnny Depp on the film Ed Wood (1994), a film showered with critical acclaim, Martin Landau won an academy award for his performance in it, and it is very popular now, but flopped during its initial release. Burton's subsequent film, Mars Attacks! (1996), had much more vibrant colors than his other films. Despite being directed by Burton and featuring all-star actors including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Michael J. Fox, it received mediocre reviews and wasn't immensely popular at the box office, either.
Burton returned to his darker and more artistic form with the film Sleepy Hollow (1999), starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Casper Van Dien. The film was praised for its art direction and was financially successful, redeeming Burton of the disappointment many had felt by Mars Attacks! (1996). His next film was Planet of the Apes (2001), a remake of the classic of the same name. The film was panned by many critics but was still financially successful. While on the set of Planet of the Apes (2001), Burton met Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he has two children. Burton directed the film Big Fish (2003) - a much more conventional film than most of his others, it received a good deal of critical praise, although it disappointed some of his long-time fans who preferred the quirkiness of his other, earlier films. Despite the fluctuations in his career, Burton proved himself to be one of the most popular directors of the late 20th century. He directed Johnny Depp once again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), a film as quirky anything he's ever done.- Director
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Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker. He started directing over sixty music videos before he directed the cult classic Keanu Reeves film Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. He also directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, and Red Sparrow, which all starred Jennifer Lawrence.- Producer
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Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard made his directorial debut in 1978 with the comedy Grand Theft Auto (1977). He began his career in film as an actor. He first appeared in The Journey (1959) and The Music Man (1962), then as Opie on the long-running television series The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Howard later starred in the popular series Happy Days (1974) and drew favorable reviews for his performances in American Graffiti (1973) and The Shootist (1976).
Howard and long-time producing partner Brian Grazer first collaborated on the hit comedies "Night Shift" and "Splash." The pair co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 to create independently produced feature films.
Howard's portfolio includes some of the most popular films of the past 20 years. In 1991, Howard created the acclaimed drama "Backdraft", starring Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell and William Baldwin. He followed it with the historical epic Far and Away (1992), starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Howard directed Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise and Delroy Lindo in the 1996 suspense thriller Ransom (1996). Howard worked with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Kathleen Quinlan on "Apollo 13," which was re-released recently in the IMAX format.
Howard's skill as a director has long been recognized. In 1995, he received his first Best Director of the Year award from the DGA for "Apollo 13." The true-life drama also garnered nine Academy Award nominations, winning Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It also received Best Ensemble Cast and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Screen Actor's Guild. Many of Howard's past films have received nods from the Academy, including the popular hits Backdraft (1991), "Parenthood" and Cocoon (1985), the last of which took home two Oscars.
Howard directed and produced Cinderella Man (2005) starring Oscar winner Russell Crowe, with whom he previously collaborated on "A Beautiful Mind," for which Howard earned an Oscar for Best Director and which also won awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. The film garnered four Golden Globes as well, including the award for Best Motion Picture Drama. Additionally, Howard won Best Director of the Year from the Directors Guild of America. Howard and producer Brian Grazer received the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign for their work on the film.
Howard was honored by the Museum of Moving Images in December 2005, and by the American Cinema Editors in February 2006. Howard and his creative partner Brian Grazer, were honored by the Producers Guild of America with the Milestone Award in January 2009, NYU's Tisch School of Cinematic Arts with the Big Apple Award in November 2009 and by the Simon Wiesenthal Center with their Humanitarian Award in May 2010. In June 2010, Howard was honored by the Chicago Film Festival with their Gold Hugo - Career Achievement Award. In March 2013, Howard was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In December 2015, Howard was honored with a star in the Motion Pictures category, making him one of the very few to have been recognized with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Howard also produced and directed the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's critically acclaimed play Frost/Nixon (2008). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was also nominated for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the PGA.
Howard has also served as an executive producer on a number of award-winning films and television shows, such as the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Fox's Emmy Award winner for Best Comedy, Arrested Development (2003), a series which he also narrated, Netflix's release of new episodes of "Arrested Development," and NBC's "Parenthood."
Howard's recent films include the critically acclaimed drama Rush (2013), staring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, written by Peter Morgan; and Made in America (2013), a music documentary he directed staring Jay-Z for Showtime.
Howard's other films include In the Heart of the Sea (2015), based on the true story that inspired Moby Dick; his adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novels Angels & Demons (2009), and The Da Vinci Code (2006) staring Oscar winner Tom Hanks; the blockbuster holiday favorite "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)" starring Jim Carrey; "Parenthood" starring Steve Martin; the fantasy epic Willow (1988); Night Shift (1982) starring Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton and Shelley Long; and the suspenseful western, The Missing (2003), staring Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.
Recently, Howard directed Inferno (2016), the third installment of Dan Brown 's Robert Langdon franchise and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016), a documentary about the rock legends The Beatles. He also produced the second season of Breakthrough (2015), Mars (2016), and directed the first episode of Genius (2017), based on the life of Albert Einstein, all for NatGeo.- Producer
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A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect vehicles (Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Back to the Future (1985)). His later films have become more serious, with the hugely successful Tom Hanks vehicle Forrest Gump (1994) and the Jodie Foster film Contact (1997), both critically acclaimed movies. Again, these films incorporate stunning effects. Robert has proved he can work a serious story around great effects.- Director
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A controversial film maker, Wolfgang Petersen has at once been lauded for his professionalism and attention to detail and decried for turning out a string of standard commercial Hollywood blockbusters. The son of a naval officer, Petersen held a lifelong fascination with the sea and naval subjects. He was born in Emden and attended drama school in Hamburg. Having already made some 8 mm films while at school, he proceeded to direct as well as act at the Junges Theater in Hamburg (later renamed the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater). In 1966, he joined the newly formed Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) where he made several short films while simultaneously directing plays in Hamburg. Having caught the eye of German television networks, Petersen went on to direct a string of TV movies which often dealt with such contentious issues as environmental pollution and underage sex. An early success and also his first cinematic release was the taut psychological thriller One or the Other (1974), which starred Jürgen Prochnow and Elke Sommer. This led to more regular assignments on the ever-popular detective series Tatort (1970) for which Petersen directed six episodes.
In 1980, Petersen was commissioned by Bavaria Studios to direct Das Boot (1981), based on a 1971 novel by Lothar G. Buchheim. Filmed on a budget of 32 million DM, it became the most realistic and harrowing portrayal of life aboard a submarine in wartime filmed to date, the action of 'Das Boot' being set during the battle of the North Atlantic and culminating in an abortive attempt to cross the British-controlled strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. The film concluded with a bitterly ironic climax. 'Das Boot' (re-released as a miniseries in 1985) starred Petersen's long-standing collaborator Jürgen Prochnow (who became an international star as a result) and was nominated for six Academy Awards (including Best Director and Best Writing). In its wake, Petersen directed and co-wrote a children's fantasy --again filmed at the Bavaria facilities near Munich-- The NeverEnding Story (1984). Though successful at the box-office (especially in Germany), it did not attract universal critical appeal. By contrast, his second English-language film, the science fiction drama Enemy Mine (1985) was only a modest financial success but rated better in reviews over the years, the Los Angeles Times describing it as "surprisingly coherent, surprisingly enjoyable".
In 1987, Petersen moved to Santa Monica, California. For a while, he was part of an A-list of directors tasked with helming mega-budget blockbusters starring big name actors like Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Most were palpable box-office hits, especially In the Line of Fire (1993) (often cited as his best Hollywood enterprise), Air Force One (1997) and the historical epic Troy (2004), which grossed $497.4 million worldwide. Reviewer reception for Troy tended to be lukewarm to cool, even more so with the disaster movies Outbreak (1995) and The Perfect Storm (2000), the latter criticized as suffering from "a lack of any actual drama or characterization". Attracting even lower critical esteem was Petersen's remake of Irwin Allen 's original 1972 disaster movie, Poseidon (2006). It ended up both a box office and a critical flop in the U.S. with only the superior CGI special effects gaining plaudits. Poseidon was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake. Following this debacle, Petersen withdrew from Hollywood and had a decade-long hiatus before directing his final picture, the German heist drama Vier gegen die Bank (2016).
Petersen's second wife was the assistant director and script supervisor Maria-Antoinette Borgel with whom he had a son. Petersen died from pancreatic cancer on August 12 2022 in Brentwood, California.- Producer
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Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom and Europe before they eventually returned to Teesside. Scott wanted to join the British Army (his elder brother Frank had already joined the Merchant Navy) but his father encouraged him to develop his artistic talents instead and so he went to West Hartlepool College of Art and then London's Royal College of Art where he helped found the film department.
In 1962, he joined the BBC as a trainee set designer working on several high profile series. He attended a trainee director's course while he was there and his first directing job was on an episode of the popular BBC police series Z Cars (1962), Error of Judgement (1965). More TV work followed until, frustrated by the poor financial rewards at the BBC, he went into advertising. With his younger brother, Tony Scott, he formed the advertising production company RSA (Ridley Scott Associates) in 1967 and spent the next 10 years making some of the best known and best loved TV adverts ever shown on British television, including a series of ads for Hovis bread set to the music of Dvorak's New World Symphony which are still talked about today ("'e were a great baker were our dad.")
He began working with producer David Puttnam in the 1970s developing ideas for feature films. Their first joint endeavor, The Duellists (1977) won the Jury Prize for Best First Work at Cannes in 1977 and was nominated for the Palm d'Or, more than successfully launching Scott's feature film career. The success of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) inspired Scott's interest in making science fiction and he accepted the offer to direct Dan O'Bannon's low budget science fiction horror movie Alien (1979), a critical and commercial success that firmly established his worldwide reputation as a movie director.
Blade Runner (1982) followed in 1982 to, at best, a lukewarm reception from public and critics but in the years that followed, its reputation grew - and Scott's with it - as one of the most important sci-fi movies ever made. Scott's next major project was back in the advertising world where he created another of the most talked-about advertising spots in broadcast history when his "1984"-inspired ad for the new Apple Macintosh computer was aired during the Super Bowl on January 22, 1984. Scott's movie career has seen a few flops (notably Legend (1985) and 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)), but with successes like Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001) to offset them, his reputation remains solidly intact.
Ridley Scott was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire at the 2003 Queen's New Year Honours for his "substantial contribution to the British film industry". On July 3, 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Art in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2018. BAFTA described him as "a visionary director, one of the great British film-makers whose work has made an indelible mark on the history of cinema. Forty years since his directorial debut, his films continue to cross the boundaries of style and genre, engaging audiences and inspiring the next generation of film talent."- Producer
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Jerry Bruckheimer is a film and television producer born on September 21, 1943 in Detroit. He graduated from high school in 1961 before it was moving to Arizona. He started his career in 1968 to produce television commercials and advertising for the firm BBD&O in New York.
He left the commercial industry, and branched out into film production and served as associate producer for Dick Richards on the films The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972) and Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975). He started out his production company Jerry Bruckheimer & Associates and then served as producer on the following two films Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and March or Die (1977) before the duo broke up.
He then became an independent producer, serving his job on his films American Gigolo (1980), Defiance (1980), Thief (1981), Cat People (1982) and Young Doctors in Love (1982) throughout the early 1980s, for one of their major studios.
In 1979, Don Simpson met Bruckheimer while working on "American Gigolo" for Paramount. In 1982, Simpson left Paramount Pictures to start out its own independent company with a deal at Paramount, and weeks later, Simpson's production services were merged with Bruckheimer's. During his lifetime, he produced films in the 80s and 90s for Paramount like Flashdance (1983), Thief of Hearts (1984), Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and its sequel Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Top Gun (1986) and Days of Thunder (1990), most of them met with success.
After the minor failure of "Days of Thunder", Simpson and Bruckheimer severed its ties with Paramount, and signed a deal with The Walt Disney Studios. In the mid 90s, both Simpson and Bruckheimer produced The Ref (1994), Bad Boys (1995), Crimson Tide (1995), Dangerous Minds (1995) and The Rock (1996). In 1995, Simpson and Bruckheimer terminated its relationship, and the next year Simpson died.
Bruckheimer expanded its activity on television with a deal at Touchstone Television. He produced two shows Dangerous Minds (1996) for ABC and Soldier of Fortune, Inc. (1997) for Rysher Entertainment and TV affiliates and two telepics Max Q (1998) and Swing Vote (1999), both for ABC.
The next few Bruckheimer productions after Simpson died in the late 90s and the early 2000s were Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), Enemy of the State (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) and Coyote Ugly (2000). In 1998, he established Technical Black Films to produce the film Remember the Titans (2000). In 1999, his Bruckheimer production company signed a deal with Ridley Scott and Tony Scott's Scott Free Productions to produce films over a two year period.
In 2000, Bruckheimer hit big with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000). The success of the show led to spinoffs CSI: Miami (2002), CSI: NY (2004) and CSI: Cyber (2015). He followed the franchise up with the reality show The Amazing Race (2001), of which it is also an success made Bruckheimer a major producer for the CBS network. In 2001, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television to produce TV shows. He followed up his TV career with Without a Trace (2002) and Cold Case (2003).
In 2001, he produced two war films Pearl Harbor (2001) and Black Hawk Down (2001). The former received negative critical reaction, and the latter gained them critical acclaim. He followed up in 2002 with Bad Company (2002). Throughout the 2000s, Bruckheimer was an active entertainment producer, working on the films Kangaroo Jack (2003), Veronica Guerin (2003), King Arthur (2004), Glory Road (2006), Deja Vu (2006), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) and G-Force (2009) for Disney Studios, and the TV shows Profiles from the Front Line (2003), Skin (2003), E-Ring (2005), Just Legal (2005), Close to Home (2005), Justice (2006), Eleventh Hour (2008), Dark Blue (2009) and The Forgotten (2009).
He is the creative force for franchise films. In 2003, he made a sequel to his "Bad Boys", Bad Boys II (2003) and Bad Boys for Life (2020), and he launched the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, starting with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and spawning sequels like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) and the "National Treasure" franchise, comprising of two films National Treasure (2004) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007).
In 2007, he had to partner with MTV to create a game studio, and joined the ZeniMax board of directors. In 2009, he launched Jerry Bruckheimer Games, and by 2011 rumored to be worked on three titles, before it was shut down in 2013.
By the 2010s, he was in declining force, and his films Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), The Lone Ranger (2013), 12 Strong (2018) and Gemini Man (2019) are turned out to be box office disappointments, and his TV shows Miami Medical (2010), Chase (2010), The Whole Truth (2010), Hostages (2013), Training Day (2017) and Council of Dads (2020) turned out to be failures after one season.
In 2013, he signed a deal with Paramount Pictures to produce follow-up films to "Top Gun" and "Beverly Hills Cop" and their deal with Disney ended. Three years later, he terminated its deal with Warner Bros. Television and a year later signed with CBS Television Studios. His minor box office success rolled in with Deliver Us from Evil (2014). His only big TV hits came in from the decade were Lucifer (2016) and L.A.'s Finest (2019).
Bruckheimer was named as one of the investors of a proposed sports arena in Las Vegas, and had been rumored to be the leading choice by the National Hockey League (NHL) to own an expansion hockey team that would play in the arena. Bruckheimer was also named as one of the investors of a proposed Seattle-based NHL expansion team whose application was submitted in early 2018. The NHL Board of Governors voted to approve the team, named the Seattle Kraken, on December 4, 2018, which will start play in the 2021-22 season. Jerry Bruckheimer was part of an investment group that also included Tim Leiweke (Oak View Group) and David Bonderman (minority owner NBA's Boston Celtics).
He is currently on post-production on the sequel to his 1986 film "Top Gun", Top Gun: Maverick (2022) for Paramount Pictures.- Producer
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Arnold Kopelson has produced 29 motion pictures. He has been honored with a Best Picture Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and an Independent Spirit Award, all for his production of Platoon (1986). He received a Best Picture Academy Award nomination for his production of The Fugitive (1993). Kopelson's films have been collectively responsible for 17 Academy Award nominations and over $3 billion in worldwide receipts.
Kopelson was named Producer of the Year by The National Association of Theatre Owners, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement in Filmmaking Award from Cinema Expo International, received the Motion Picture Showmanship Award from the Publicist Guild of America, and was inducted into Variety's Show Biz Expo Hall of Fame. He has also received other awards for his productions of Outbreak (1995), Se7en (1995), and The Devil's Advocate (1997) and was further honored by the Deauville Film Festival with its highest award for his significant contribution to the entertainment industry.
Kopelson's latest production was Twisted (2004), starring Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, and Andy Garcia, and directed by Philip Kaufman for Paramount Pictures. He recently produced Don't Say a Word (2001), starring Michael Douglas for 20th Century Fox, and Joe Somebody (2001), starring Tim Allen for 20th Century Fox.
Kopelson also produced A Perfect Murder (1998), starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow; U.S. Marshals (1998), starring Tommy Lee Jones; the Costa-Gavras-directed film, Mad City (1997), starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta; and The Devil's Advocate (1997), starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves.
His other films include Eraser (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; Se7en (1995), starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman; Outbreak (1995), starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, and Morgan Freeman; Falling Down (1993), starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall; Out for Justice (1991), starring Steven Seagal; Triumph of the Spirit (1989), starring Willem Dafoe; and Murder at 1600 (1997), starring Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane.
Kopelson was also an Executive Producer of the television series The Fugitive (2000) and Thieves (2001).
After earning a Doctorate in Jurisprudence from New York Law School, Kopelson practiced entertainment and banking law, specializing in motion picture financing, and for many years acted as counsel to numerous banks and financial institutions serving the motion picture industry.
Kopelson later formed Inter-Ocean Film Sales, Ltd. with Anne Kopelson (nee Feinberg), who would become his wife, to represent independent motion picture producers in licensing their films throughout the world and also to finance motion picture production. The Kopelsons now produce films together.
For many years, Kopelson has served on the Executive Committee of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a member of the Board of Mentors of the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.
He has lectured on filmmaking at Harvard Business School, American Film Institute, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, New York Law School, the Writers Guild of America, the Independent Feature Project West, The Kagan Seminar, University of Southern California, and University of California at Los Angeles, among other places, and has also written several articles about motion picture financing. In 1998, Kopelson received the New York Law School Distinguished Alumnus Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is also a member of the board of directors of CBS Corporation.- Producer
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Neal H. Moritz is an American film and television producer who was born on June 6, 1959. After graduating from college at Westwood, he earned a master's degree in 1985, which led to a startup of his own production company Neal Moritz Productions. He had a production deal with Paramount Pictures. The first movie he produced is Framed (1990)
In 1990, Moritz partnered with ex-United Artists employee David Heyman to start out Moritz-Heyman Productions. The two men have collaborated on films Juice (1992), The Stöned Age (1994) and Blind Justice (1994). Additionally, it partnered with commercial producer Bruce Mellon to start out Original Film in 1993, to produce commercials and music videos. After Heyman left, he signed a production deal with Columbia Pictures in 1996, after a brief deal with 20th Century Fox expired.
Through his Original Film company, he produced two films in 1997, the disaster film Volcano (1997) and the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The success of the latter saw him producing a sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), as well as various slashers like Urban Legend (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), as well as Soul Survivors (2001).
In 1998, he produced the TV movie The Rat Pack (1998) for HBO, which marked for the first time seeing him working with director Rob Cohen. On the same year, his Original Film company signed a deal with Newmarket Capital Group to produce lower budget films. Through his deal with Newmarket, he oversaw the teen fins Cruel Intentions (1999) and The Skulls (2000), both of them received two direct-to-video sequels. In 1999, his first foray on TV was the show Shasta McNasty (1999), and at the same time he made its foray onto the comedy market with the films Blue Streak (1999) and Held Up (1999).
In 2001, after years of making teen films, he made its first foray by producing the action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), which marked the first time he ever met him with star Vin Diesel. The success of the film spawned many sequels and many imitators like xXx (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003) and Torque (2004). In 2002, he partnered with agent Marty Adelstein in launching the management company Original, and they spawned a division Original Television, of which signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television. His venture produced Tru Calling (2003), Point Pleasant (2005) and the most successful of all time, Prison Break (2005) and it went defunct in 2004.
He continued making films from the time period, including Stealth (2005), Gridiron Gang (2006), Click (2006) (with friend and rival Columbia affiliated producer Adam Sandler), I Am Legend (2007), Vantage Point (2008), The Bounty Hunter (2010) and The Green Hornet (2011) (with friend and the up and coming team of writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg), while working on "Fast & Furious" sequels. In 2006, Original Film reactivated TV production by signing a deal with Sony Pictures Television, and the following year he made its first foray onto family films, Evan Almighty (2007). In 2012, he worked with MGM and Columbia on 21 Jump Street (2012) and it's sequel 22 Jump Street (2014).
His TV work with Sony Pictures Television included the shows The Big C (2010) and Save Me (2013). In 2015, he produced the most successful family film of all time, Goosebumps (2015) with Sony Pictures Animation, which was followed up in 2018 by Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018). On the same year, he acquired the rights to Valiant Comics, resulting in the creation of Bloodshot (2020). In 2017, Moritz signed a film production deal with Paramount Pictures (which Moritz worked with it back in the 1980s). His first film with Paramount was Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). He continued to produce TV shows for Sony, like Preacher (2016), S.W.A.T. (2017) and The Boys (2019), and for Universal, the show Happy! (2017).
He was currently in post-production on the film F9: The Fast Saga (2021), which is scheduled for release on Memorial Day 2021, which changed from release dates many times during the COVID-19 pandemic.- Producer
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As flamboyant as any character in his movies, Joel Silver can be credited along with Jerry Bruckheimer as practically reinventing the action film genre in the 1980s. Born in New Jersey, he attended the New York University Film School. After college, he worked at Lawrence Gordon Pictures, earning his first onscreen credit as associate producer of The Warriors (1979). He eventually became president of the motion picture division of Gordon Pictures. Together with Gordon, Silver produced 48 Hrs. (1982) and Streets of Fire (1984). In 1983 he formed Silver Pictures and initially set up shop at Universal Pictures to produce Brewster's Millions (1985) before going to Fox and continued producing hit action films such as Commando (1985), the "Lethal Weapon" franchise, the first two films of the "Die Hard" franchise and the three films of "Matrix" franchise of action films. He had then subsequently joined Warner Bros. in 1987 after leaving Fox. Despite these successes, he has hit some rough spots and has been banned from working on several studio lots. He was unable to produce the "48 Hrs" sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990), the third "Die Hard" film, Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and the fourth "Matrix" installment The Matrix Resurrections (2021) because of past run-ins with studio executives. Because of his habit of wearing sport shirts and talking loudly and quickly, he has been parodied in several films, even spoofing himself in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) by playing the frustrated cartoon director in the film's opening sequence. In order to perform in that role, he had to use an alias to get onto the Walt Disney lot, and his onscreen credit was not revealed to Disney executives until the very last minute. He had worked in television, setting up his own television branch with his first project Parker Kane (1990), a project that would eventually never made to series, and then worked at HBO for many years, until he found a home at Warner Bros. Television in 1998, where he had developed two UPN shows The Strip (1999) and Freedom (2000) before finding commercial success with the hit Veronica Mars (2004). In 1999, Silver Pictures had teamed up with film director/producer Robert Zemeckis to set up Dark Castle Entertainment to produce genre and horror films with the first film under Dark Castle being House on Haunted Hill (1999). Joel Silver pioneered the practice of shooting action movies in Australia with the "Matrix" films, and has been credited with either inventing or reinventing the careers of Eddie Murphy, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steven Seagal. He was mentioned in Halle Berry's Academy Award acceptance speech. Other credits include non-action pictures, ranging from Xanadu (1980), Weird Science (1985) and Fred Claus (2007) to HBO's long-running TV series, Tales from the Crypt (1989). He had resigned from his founding production company in 2019.- Producer
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Alex Kurtzman is an American filmmaker and screenwriter. He directed People Like Us and the panned 2017 reboot The Mummy starring Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella. He wrote Transformers 1 and 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek, The Island and Cowboys & Aliens. He also created the TV show Fringe.As a producer.- Producer
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Roberto Orci was born on 20 July 1973 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a producer and writer, known for Star Trek (2009), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Fringe (2008). He has been married to Adele Heather Taylor since 6 June 2020. He was previously married to Melissa Blake.As a producer.- Producer
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Jon Landau is an American film producer from New York City who produced a lot of films that James Cameron made since 1997's Titanic. He produced the 2009 hit film Avatar, Solaris, Alita: Battle Angel directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-produced Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Dick Tracy. Titanic and Avatar are two of the highest grossing films of all time. He won several awards for producing Titanic.- Producer
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Gale Anne Hurd was born on October 25, 1955 in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Stanford University, she joined New World Pictures as executive assistant to Roger Corman, the company president. She worked her way up through various administrative positions and eventually became involved in production. She formed her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, in 1982 and went on to produce a number of box-office hits including The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989). All were directed by James Cameron, whom she later married and divorced. She also later married and divorced Brian De Palma. She is currently the recording secretary for the Producers Guild of America.- Producer
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Laura Ziskin was an American film producer and screenwriter who is known for producing the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man. She also produced Pretty Woman, What About Bob?, As Good as It Gets, Hero, Stealth, No Way Out, The Rescue and The Butler. She was married to Julian Barry and later Alvin Sargent. She passed away in 2011 due to breast cancer.RIP, Laura.- Producer
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Mr. Simpson was an extravagant movie producer whose blockbusters Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Top Gun (1986) helped define the pop culture of the 1980s. Mr. Simpson teamed with Jerry Bruckheimer in 1983 to produce these hits. In 1985 and 1988, the duo were named producers of the year by the National Association of Theater Owners. In 1991, their films had generated more than $2 billion in sales from theater tickets, videocassettes and record albums. Mr. Simpson also received 10 Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, and two People's Choice best picture awards. The soundtracks from his pictures have received 18 Grammy nominations. Mr. Simpson worked at Paramount Pictures from 1975 through 1991, leaving to join Walt Disney Studios.
In the summer of 1995, his personal physician, Dr. Stephen W. Ammerman, was found dead from a multiple drug overdose in the pool house on Mr. Simpson's estate. Simpson himself died of heart failure the following year, and the coroner's report lists his death as a result of natural causes.- Producer
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Chad Oman was born on 15 May 1965 in Wichita Falls, Texas, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Remember the Titans (2000), Armageddon (1998) and Deja Vu (2006).- Producer
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Kevin Feige is an American film producer who has produced every Marvel Cinematic Universe film since Iron Man. He got his start as an associate and executive producer for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, Daredevil, The Punisher, Ang Lee's Hulk, the original X-Men trilogy, Blade: Trinity and Tim Story's Fantastic Four films. Avengers: Endgame, one of his produced films is one of the highest grossing superhero films.- Producer
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Jon Jashni is a media investor and content producer who operates through his company Raintree Ventures. Prior to founding Raintree, Jashni was President and Chief Creative Officer of Legendary Entertainment where, as an aspect of his duties, he oversaw the development and production of content such as Kong: Skull Island (2017), Warcraft (2016), Godzilla (2014), The Great Wall (2016), Crimson Peak (2015), the Jackie Robinson biopic '42 (2013)', Lost in Space (2018) and Pacific Rim (2013) .
He co-founded the company in January 2006 and was integrally involved over the following ten years in evolving the company from a film-financing entity into a diversified, multi-platform media company. Prior to joining Legendary, Jashni was President of Hyde Park Entertainment, a production and financing company with output deals at 20th Century Fox, Disney and MGM. While there, he oversaw the production of Shopgirl (2005), Dreamer (2005), Walking Tall (2004) and Premonition (2007).
Before joining Hyde Park, Jashni produced the romantic comedy hit Sweet Home Alabama (2002) for Disney/Touchstone. He also co-produced two films that received a total of three Academy Award® nominations: the critically acclaimed drama The Hurricane (1999), which garnered a "Best Actor" nomination for Denzel Washington, and Anna and the King (1999), which starred Jodie Foster, and earned two Oscar nominations. He also, while a senior production executive at 20th Century Fox, oversaw the development and production of the fairy-tale success Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998).
Jashni was earlier partnered with media power broker Irving Azoff at the Warner Bros. -based Giant Pictures. Together they produced The Hurricane (1999), Jack Frost (1998) and The Inkwell (1994). Jashni joined Azoff after serving as a production executive at Columbia Pictures, where he was involved with such films as Groundhog Day (1993) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Jashni began his career at Daniel Melnick's The IndieProd Company, where he was involved in the production of Roxanne (1987), Air America (1990), Mountains of the Moon (1990), and Punchline (1988).
Jashni is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America in addition to being a Trustee Emeritus of the American Film Institute. He holds a BS from the University of Southern California and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management.- Producer
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Thomas Tull was born on 9 June 1970 in Endwell, New York, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for 42 (2013), Inception (2010) and Watchmen (2009).- Producer
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Richard D. Zanuck was born on 13 December 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a producer and production manager, known for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Cocoon (1985) and Jaws (1975). He was married to Lili Fini Zanuck, Linda Harrison and Lili Gentle. He died on 13 July 2012 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Producer
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Duncan Henderson was born on 19 July 1949 in Culver City, California, USA. He was a producer and assistant director, known for The Way Back (2010), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He was married to Michele P. Henderson. He died on 21 June 2022 in Valencia, California, USA.- Bruce Berman is Chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures. The company has a successful joint partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures to co-produce a wide range of motion pictures, with all films distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
Under the Village Roadshow Pictures banner, Berman has executive produced such wide-ranging successes as Clint Eastwood's Oscar® nominated "American Sniper," starring Bradley Cooper; the animated adventure "The Lego Movie," directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller; director Baz Luhrmann's box office hit "The Great Gatsby," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire; director Guy Ritchie's hit action-adventure "Sherlock Holmes," starring Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law and its sequel "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,"; the "Ocean's," series starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney; the acclaimed drama "Gran Torino," directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; the blockbuster "I Am Legend," starring Will Smith; and George Miller's Oscar® winning animated adventure "Happy Feet."
Berman's upcoming credits include George Miller's post-apocalyptic action-adventure "Mad Max: Fury Road," starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron; Brad Peyton's action-thriller "San Andreas," and starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; Ron Howard's action-adventure "In the Heart of the Sea," based on the Nathaniel Philbrick's bestseller about the dramatic true journey of the whaling ship Essex starring Chris Hemsworth; and "Concussion," a National Football League sports drama starring Will Smith.
Berman was named Chairman and CEO of VRP in February 1998. Previously, he spent 14 years at Warner Bros., joining the company in 1984 as Production Vice President and then serving as Senior Vice President of Production. In September 1989, he was named President of Theatrical Production and two years later, Worldwide President of Theatrical Production. During his tenure at Warner Bros. he produced and distributed numerous films including "Twister," "A Time to Kill," "Batman Forever," "The Fugitive," "The Client," "Outbreak," "Disclosure," "Dave," "The Bodyguard," "Under Siege," "Malcolm X," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Goodfellas," "Presumed Innocent," and the Oscar®-winning Best Picture "Driving Miss Daisy." In May of 1996, Berman started Plan B Entertainment, an independent motion picture company based at Warner Bros.
Berman graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 1975 with a degree in United States History. He also attended Cal Arts Film School and Bennington College. Berman got his start in the motion picture business working with Jack Valenti at the MPAA while attending Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C. After earning his law degree, he landed a job at Casablanca Films in 1978. Moving to Universal, he worked his way up to a production vice president in 1982. - Producer
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She is one of the entertainment industry's most successful female producers. Barbara Broccoli was born to legendary filmmaker Albert R. Broccoli, affectionately known as Cubby, and Dana Broccoli on June 18, 1960. Not long after, Cubby Broccoli and his new partner, Harry Saltzman, secured studio backing for an ambitious series of films inspired by the popular James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming.
Ms. Broccoli grew up in the behind-the-scenes world of James Bond, traveling with her family around the world to various exotic locations. As a child, she liked to play with the photocopy machines in the offices of Eon Productions, Ltd., her father's company responsible for the Bond films. During location shooting in Japan for You Only Live Twice (1967), young Barbara caught a fever from the Japanese custom of sleeping on the floor. Sean Connery, whose star status provided him with a comfortable bed, generously relinquished it so Barbara could properly fight her illness.
She graduated from Loyola University in Los Angeles, California with a degree in motion picture and television communications. Her first official credited job on the Bond films was for 1983's Octopussy (1983) in which she served as an executive assistant. But, as with any family business, one helps out where one can. For instance, in her father's autobiography "When The Snow Melts", she recalls a nightmarish situation involving A View to a Kill (1985) star Grace Jones. Later, for the two Timothy Dalton Bond films, she was promoted to associate producer, a post she shared with veteran Bond associate producer Tom Pevsner.
The August 8, 1990 issue of Variety (weekly) reported that aging Cubby Broccoli had turned control of Eon Productions Ltd. over to Barbara and her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson (Dana's son, who had been an invaluable help to Cubby and the Bond franchise in various capacities since the mid-1970s). Due to some unfortunate business dealings with then-MGM ownership (the studio that bankrolled Bond and held significant interest in the series), production of the Bond films was put on what would become a six year hiatus.
When the litigation was settled, "Bond 17" (eventually named GoldenEye (1995)) was on track and Barbara Broccoli, now a full producer alongside Michael G. Wilson, was faced with the challenge of bringing Bond back to the big screen. She has earned a reputation as being tough when she has to be and for volunteering for the toughest jobs, such as overseeing the Russian location unit. GoldenEye (1995) was a world-wide smash, and each of the succeeding Bond films were also enormously popular. This is a testament to the talent of Cubby Broccoli, who passed his knowledge of high-stakes film production on to Michael and later Barbara. The benefit of Cubby's experience is obvious when viewing the newest Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan.
Her non-Bond producing credits include Crime of the Century (1996), which deals with the murder trial from the famous Lindberg kidnapping, and the popular London Stage production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", which was co-produced by her mother Dana Broccoli and half-brother Michael G. Wilson. Both productions carried a personal interest for Ms. Broccoli. Charles Lindberg was her father's favorite hero, and "Chitty" was adapted from the film produced by her father, which was based upon the children's novel by Ian Fleming.- Producer
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Ian Bryce is known for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Almost Famous (2000) and Transformers (2007). He is married to Taylor Gilbert. They have two children.- Producer
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Peter Chernin is a Co-founder and Partner at TCG. Peter also founded The Chernin Group, LLC in 2010 and serves as its Chairman and CEO. In addition to his investment business, Peter produces television programs and feature films through Chernin Entertainment, which is well known for hits including New Girl, Planet of the Apes, Hidden Figures, Greatest Showman, and Ford v Ferrari.
Prior to founding The Chernin Group, Peter served as President and COO of News Corp and Chairman and CEO of the Fox Group from 1996-2009. During his tenure at Fox and News Corp, Peter oversaw Fox Filmed Entertainment as the #1 studio and greenlit the two highest grossing films of all time - Titanic and Avatar. Notable television hits during Peter's tenure as CEO of Fox Group include 24, Modern Family, and Glee, which helped 20th Century Fox Television achieve the #1 ranking in television production. He also established Fox Network as the #1 broadcast network across nearly all demos with iconic series including The Simpsons and American Idol. Peter was responsible for launching 15+ cable networks domestically, most notably FX and Fox Sports nets. He also launched 150+ international channels and oversaw the growth of the largest MVPD in the world with Star, Sky, Sky Italia, and DirecTV. With Fox as a co-owner, Peter also launched Hulu.
Peter currently sits on the board of American Express and serves as a Co-Chairman of the University of California, Berkeley's Board of Visitors. He is also a Co-founder and Co-Chairman of Malaria No More, a non-profit dedicated to the global eradication of malaria.- Producer
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Patrick Crowley is known for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022). He is married to Cathleen Summers.- Actor
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In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history.
Tom is the only son (among four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. His parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish, and English ancestry. Young Tom spent his boyhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the U.S. and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, Tom wanted to become a priest but pretty soon he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.
With handsome movie star looks and a charismatic smile, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top-grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s he was one of the highest-paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996), for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. Tom Cruise's biggest franchise, Mission Impossible, has also earned a total of 3 billion dollars worldwide. Tom Cruise has also shown lots of interest in producing, with his biggest producer credits being the Mission Impossible franchise.
In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth to become one of the biggest movie stars ever.As a producer.- Producer
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As Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.'s, (MGM's) Motion Picture Group Chairman Michael De Luca steers all aspects of the studio's global film operation including oversight of development, production, marketing and distribution of MGM's film slate, including Orion Motion Pictures. Additionally, De Luca oversees MGM's On-Stage production division. In his role as Chairman of MGM's Motion Picture Group, he is also on the board of United Artists Releasing, the studio's domestic theatrical distribution joint venture with Annapurna Pictures.
An esteemed and prolific producer with three decades in the film business, De Luca has been nominated three times for an Academy Award® for Best Picture of the Year (for David Fincher's The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, Bennett Miller's Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, and Paul Greengrass's Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi); and three times for an Emmy Award (for producing both the 89th and the 90th Academy Awards® and most recently for producing Ben Stiller's award-winning Escape At Dannemora for Showtime). Additionally, he has been nominated four times for a Producer's Guild of America Award. De Luca also produced the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as its two sequels - Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, for Universal Pictures. The trilogy was a global phenomenon and a box office sensation that grossed over $1 billion internationally.
Over the course of his career, De Luca has held several key positions in the film industry. At age 27, De Luca served as one of the youngest heads of production in Hollywood history when he was appointed President and COO of New Line Productions, where he helped to launch lucrative franchises including Friday, Blade, Austin Powers and Rush Hour. During his tenure, he championed such groundbreaking sleeper hits as Seven, Wag the Dog, Pleasantville, Magnolia, I Am Sam and Boogie Nights, and helped to launch the directing careers of Jay Roach, Gary Ross, Alan and Albert Hughes, F. Gary Gray, the Farrelly brothers, David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson. From New Line, De Luca went on to serve as DreamWorks's Head of Production from 2001 to 2004, overseeing the live-action division and the production of such films as Old School and Anchorman, which continued the rise of both Will Ferrell and Todd Phillips.
Beginning in 2004, De Luca launched his own production company, Michael De Luca Productions, which had a development and production agreement with Columbia Pictures that brought the studio three Academy Award® Best Picture nominees - The Social Network, Moneyball and Captain Phillips -- as well as mainstream success with films such as Ghost Rider and 21. As an independent producer, De Luca focused on developing provocative specialized films with visionary filmmakers, as well as elevated genre films with franchise potential. Prior to launching a multi-year production deal at Universal Pictures, De Luca served as President of Production for Columbia Pictures where he revitalized the studio's slate with commercial fare and filmmakers including the thriller The Shallows starring Blake Lively and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, and western Magnificent Seven starring Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington and directed by Antoine Fuqua.
De Luca is originally from Brooklyn, New York.- Producer
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Tom DeSanto is the founding writer/producer behind some of the biggest franchises in movie history (Transformers, X-Men). DeSanto's films have grossed almost $6 billion dollars worldwide with billions more in licensing, merchandising, and video games.
The proud owner of more than 40,000 comic books and a self-described pop culture junkie, DeSanto dreamed of bringing the characters he loved as a kid to life in Hollywood, X-Men was first on his list. With comic book films failing at the box office in the late 90's and Marvel in bankruptcy, DeSanto saw the potential in the stable of characters he grew up with becoming films. DeSanto contacted 20th Century Fox and pushed the film out of a long stalled development and into production. Besides producing, DeSanto co-wrote the story and did several rewrites of the screenplay including the drafts that greenlit the film. X-men spawned a billion dollar franchise for Fox and starting Marvel's rise out of bankruptcy.
After the success of X-Men, DeSanto pulled another undervalued property, Battlestar Galactica out of mothballs and developed Galactica for Universal Television. Battlestar Galactica found a home on Sci-Fi Channel and was the number one rated mini-series for all of cable in 2003 and helped brand the network. Much of DeSanto's vision were the backbone of the show including human Cylons, female president, and many designs including the new Vipers.
Mr. DeSanto returned as part of the guiding creative team for "X2: X-Men United", including the continuation of the Phoenix storyline which DeSanto set up in the first film. X-men was used by Marvel as the template for larger storylines and interconnected characters that has been the foundation of their success. That same year Mr. DeSanto went after Transformers another dormant property that he was a fan of since childhood. DeSanto reached out to his friend producer Don Murphy about partnering on the project and they set meetings with Hasbro. Based on DeSanto's pitch and understanding of the universe, Hasbro gave them the rights for free, hoping DeSanto would do for Transformers and Hasbro what he did for X-men and Marvel. .
Transformers was a tough sell for those running the studios who did not grow up with the property and therefore did not understand its potential. After being rejected by every studio in town Mr. DeSanto made a second pass at DreamWorks and after Steven Spielberg read his treatment, he decided his studio would do the film and was an early champion of the idea. Mr. DeSanto set the project up with DreamWorks and Paramount, selling his storyline and attaching as Producer.
The first film grossed over $700 million dollars worldwide and Mr. DeSanto gave birth to another franchise. Transformers was the first live action franchise for DreamWorks and Paramount's largest moneymaking series in its history. Mr. DeSanto returned as Producer of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 and the film became the biggest moneymaker of 2009 with over $800 million in box office alone. DeSanto also produced the billion dollar grossing Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction. DeSanto returned in 2017 for Transformers: The Last Knight and to produce, Bumblebee, a solo Transformers film of the beloved character released December 2018.
As well as franchise films, DeSanto has done several documentaries involving various social causes. Kidnapped For Christ, a documentary about abuse of children at religious education camps, won numerous awards including the Audience Award at SlamDance Film Festival and was sold to Showtime. His next documentary, Lost In America, deals with the problems of youth homelessness and how politics has gotten in the middle finding a solution to getting these kids off the street. It was released to critical acclaim in February 2020 and scores 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In addition to filmmaking, Mr. DeSanto is also an activist, having spoke at the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center at Harvard, and the United Nations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic DeSanto co- founded Facts2Health in partnership with the CDC Foundation to activate Hollywood to help in messaging in the battle against the virus. DeSanto created the Heroes Wear Masks campaign which enlisted pop culture heroes to join the global battle against COVID-19. The website and social media program helped change the narrative on wearing masks helping people, especially children and young adults, understand that you wear a mask to protect others. The campaign was cited for excellence in social media in 2021.
DeSanto's world building continues into the world of digital medicine as he is a Co-Founder of NeuroAnimation. The company uses computer animation and virtual reality to help people recover from stoke and other neurological medical issues. The cutting edge technology is twice current standard of care for stroke recovery.
DeSanto returned to produce Transformers : Rise of the Beasts which released June 9, 2023 and a Transformers feature animated film titled Transformers One for summer 2024. Transformers continues to be Paramount/Viacom most profitable franchise in studio history, employing thousands of people around the globe.- Producer
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Although born in Hollywood, John and his twin sister Johanna were raised in Whittier near Los Angeles. His parents were Jewell Mae (Risley), an art teacher, and Paul Eual Lasseter, a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. His mother's profession contributed to his interest in animation and particularly the Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons which he would watch on television. It was when he was in High School that he realized that he could have a career in animation and he wrote to the Walt Disney Studios but nothing happened then In 1975 the Disney company started an animation course at Calarts - The California Institute of the Arts- and John, with encouragement from his mother, was one of the first to sign up. He and his class mates, who included the future animators and directors Brad Bird, and Tim Burton were taught by some of Disney's veteran animators such as Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. During his time there John produced two animated shorts - Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980) - which both won the Student Academy Award for Animation. On graduating in 1979 John was taken on as an animator at the Disney Studios. In 1983, while working on Mickey's Christmas Carol some friends invited him to see some footage of Tron that they were working on using CGI and he immediately saw the potential of it to enhance animated films. John and a colleague made a short test film and satisfied with the result and full of enthusiasm started work on a feature without consulting their superiors who when they found out about it canceled it and sacked John. Having made contacts in the computer industry he was quickly taken on by Lucasfilm which was bought by Steve Jobs for $5 million with a further $5 million invested as working capital and the company renamed Pixar. John soon convinced Steve that the future lay in computer animation by bringing his desk lamp to life in the short 'Luxor Jr' which was shown at a computer graphics conference and got a standing ovation. The first computer animated feature soon followed in the form of 'Toy Story' winning John an Oscar for Special Achievement to go with one he got for Animated Short Film - Tin Toy. He's also had Oscar nominations for Animated Feature - Monster Inc and Cars, Original Screenplay -Toy Story, Animated Short Story - Luxor Jr while the short Knick Knack was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the best 10 animated films of all time. In 2008, he was honored with the Winsor McCay Award, - the lifetime achievement award for animators. He oversees 3 animation studios - Pixar, Disney Animation and DisneyToon He spent 9 year (2005 - 2014) on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only relinquishing his seat due to term limits. He was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in November 2011.- Additional Crew
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Susan Downey was born on 6 November 1973 in Schaumburg, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and executive, known for RocknRolla (2008), The Book of Eli (2010) and Unknown (2011). She has been married to Robert Downey Jr. since 27 August 2005. They have two children.- Writer
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Ted Elliott was born on 4 July 1961 in Santa Ana, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Shrek (2001), The Lone Ranger (2013) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).- Writer
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Terry Rossio was born on July 2, 1960 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is a writer, known for Godzilla VS. Kong (2021), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Aladdin (1992), and Shrek (2001). Additional credits for Rossio include Deja Vu, G-Force, Lovestruck, The Long Ranger and Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.- Producer
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Larry Franco was born on 5 April 1949 in Sonora, California, USA. He is a producer and assistant director, known for The Thing (1982), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Anonymous (2011). He has been married to Cindy Leung since 29 June 1991. He was previously married to Jill Russell.- Producer
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Akiva Goldsman was born on 7 July 1962 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Batman & Robin (1997) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022).- Producer
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Emmy and Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer has been making movies and television programs for more than 25 years. As both a writer and producer, he has been personally nominated for four Academy Awards, and in 2002 won the Best Picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind (2001). In addition to winning three other Academy Awards, "A Beautiful Mind" also won four Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture Drama) and earned Grazer the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign.
Over the years, Grazer's films and TV shows have been nominated for 43 Oscars and 198 Emmys. At the same time his movies have generated more than $15 billion in worldwide theatrical, music and video grosses. Reflecting this combination of commercial and artistic achievement, the Producers Guild of America honored Grazer with the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. His accomplishments have also been recognized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which in 1998 added Grazer to the short list of producers with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On March 6, 2003. ShoWest celebrated Grazer's success by honoring him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. On November 14, 2005, Grazer was honored in Los Angeles by the Fulfillment Fund. In May 2007 he was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." On January 24 Grazer, along with his partner Ron Howard, was honored with the Milestone Award by the Producers Guild of America.
In addition to "A Beautiful Mind", Grazer's films include Apollo 13 (1995), for which Grazer won the Producers Guild's Darryl F. Zanuck Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture of 1995; and Splash (1983), which he co-wrote as well as produced and for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1986.
Grazer also produced the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's critically acclaimed play "Frost/Nixon" (Frost/Nixon (2008)), directed by Ron Howard. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was also nominated for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the PGA.
Grazer also produced Angels & Demons (2009), the adaptation of Dan Brown's bast-selling novel, and Robin Hood (2010), directed by Ridley Scott and with Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Max von Sydow.
Some more of Grazer's feature film credits include the drama The Changeling (2006), directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie; the Ridley Scott-directed drama American Gangster (2007), staring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington; The Da Vinci Code (2006), the film adaptation of Dan Brown's international best-seller, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Oscar-winner Ron Howard; the tense drama The Inside Man (2005), directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster; Flightplan (2005); Cinderella Man (2005); the Sundance acclaimed documentary Inside Deep Throat (2005); the TV series Friday Night Lights (2006); 8 Mile (2002); Blue Crush (2002); Intolerable Cruelty (2003); How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000); The Nutty Professor (1996); Liar Liar (1997); Ransom (1996); My Girl (1991); Backdraft (1991); Kindergarten Cop (1990); Parenthood (1989); Clean and Sober (1988); and Spies Like Us (1985).
Grazer's television productions include Fox's hit Golden Globe and Emmy award winning Best Drama Series 24 (2001), NBC's Peabody Award-winning series "Friday Night Lights" and Fox's Lie to Me (2009), starring Tim Roth, which premiered in January 2009. He is also working on additional television projects including Parenthood (2010), based on his 1989 film, and Wonderland (2000), directed by Peter Berg. His additional television credits include Fox's Emmy award winning-Best Comedy Arrested Development (2003), CBS' Shark (2006), NBC's Miss Match (2003), WB's Felicity (1998), ABC's Sports Night (1998), as well as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon (1998), for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Mini-Series.
Grazer began his career as a producer, developing television projects. It was while he was executive-producing TV pilots for Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s that Grazer first met Ron Howard, soon to become his friend and business partner. Their collaboration began in 1985 with the hit comedies Night Shift (1982) and Splash (1983), and in 1986 the two founded Imagine Entertainment, which they continue to run together as chairmen.- Producer
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Brad Grey was born on 29 December 1957 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Departed (2006), The Sopranos (1999) and The Larry Sanders Show (1992). He was married to Cassandra Huysentuyt and Jill Gutterson. He died on 14 May 2017 in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
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David Heyman was born on 26 July 1961 in London, England, UK. He is a producer and actor, known for Gravity (2013), Marriage Story (2019) and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). He is married to Rose Batstone Uniacke. They have one child.- Producer
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Jeffrey Katzenberg was born on 21 December 1950 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and production manager, known for Shrek (2001), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Just Like Heaven (2005). He has been married to Marilyn Katzenberg since 1975. They have two children.- Producer
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Eight-time Academy Award®-nominated, Kathleen Kennedy is one of the most successful and respected producers and executives in the film industry today. As President of Lucasfilm, she oversees the company's three divisions: Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. In 1992, she co-founded the production company The Kennedy/Marshall Company with director/producer Frank Marshall, and in 1982 she co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Marshall and Steven Spielberg. Altogether, Kennedy has further produced or executive produced more than 70 feature films, which have collectively garnered 120 Academy Award nominations and 25 wins.
For much of the past 20 years, Kennedy served as a governor and officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. She also sits on the boards of numerous educational, arts, and philanthropic organizations.- Producer
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Anne Kopelson was born on 18 April 1946 in the USA. She is a producer and executive, known for Murder at 1600 (1997), Se7en (1995) and Outbreak (1995). She was previously married to Arnold Kopelson.- Producer
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Roy Lee was born on 23 March 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and executive, known for Barbarian (2022), It (2017) and The Ring (2002).- Producer
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Frank was born in Glendale, California to musician Jack Marshall. He entered the film world when his parents invited him to a birthday party for the daughter of directing legend John Ford in 1966. There, he met Peter Bogdanovich and soon agreed to work on his first film, Targets (1968), later followed by collaborating on The Last Picture Show (1971) and many other films.
Continuing to branch out into the industry, he served as line producer on Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz (1978) and associate producer on Walter Hill's crime thriller, The Driver (1978). Marshall first worked as executive producer on Hill's cult classic The Warriors (1979). While producing the iconic Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), he met Steven Spielberg and their future wife Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank himself was hired to join the Amblin Productions company in 1980.
He continued producing memorable films with Spielberg including Poltergeist (1982) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (while Kennedy separately produced E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)). He worked as executive producer on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy.
He married Kathleen Kennedy in 1987, and after producing numerous films, he made his feature directing debut with Arachnophobia (1990). Reacting to the success of his directorial debut, he left Amblin in 1991. In 1992, The Kennedy/Marshall Company was formed, and the next year they released its first film Alive (1993), directed by Marshall. Both Kennedy and Marshall signed deals with Paramount in 1992, at the same time the company was formed. His productivity has only increased since then, as he took over primary duties of the production company since Kennedy was named president of Lucasfilm in 2012.- Producer
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Arnon Milchan (PRODUCER) is widely renowned as one of the most prolific and successful independent film producers of his time, with over 100 feature films to his credit. Born in Israel, Milchan was educated at the University of Geneva. His first business venture was transforming his father's modest business into one of his country's largest agro-chemical companies. This early achievement was a harbinger of Milchan's now-legendary reputation in the international marketplace as a keen businessman.
Soon, Milchan began to underwrite projects in areas that had always held a special interest for him - film, television and theater. Early projects include Roman Polanski's theater production of "Amadeus," "Dizengoff 99," "La Menace," "The Medusa Touch" and the mini-series "Masada." By the end of the 1980s, Milchan had produced such films as Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy," Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America" and Terry Gilliam's "Brazil."
After the incredible successes of his films "Pretty Woman" and "The War of the Roses," Milchan founded New Regency Productions and went on to produce countless critical and box office successes including "J.F.K," "A Time to Kill," "Free Willy," "The Client," "Tin Cup," "Under Siege," "The Devil's Advocate," "The Negotiator," "City of Angels," "Entrapment," "Fight Club," "Big Momma's House," "Don't Say a Word," "Daredevil," "Man on Fire," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Alvin and the Chipmunks," "What Happens in Vegas," "Love and Other Drugs," "Noah" and "Gone Girl."
In 1998, Milchan received an Academy Award® nomination for producing the film "LA Confidential." He served as producer of back-to-back Academy Award® Best Picture winners "12 Years A Slave" (2013) and "Birdman" (2014), 2015's multiple Oscar® winners "The Revenant" (2015) and "The Big Short" (2015) and 2019's Golden Globe® and Oscar® winning "Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)".
Along the way, Milchan partnered with Twentieth Century Fox and has taken advantage of the growing television and new media marketplace. Milchan has also successfully diversified his company's activities within the sphere of entertainment, most specifically in the realm of television through Regency Television ("Malcom in the Middle" and "The Bernie Mac Show"), and sports where the company was once the largest shareholder of PUMA, the worldwide athletic apparel and show conglomerate based in Germany, which was later sold after a successful re-branding in 2003.- Producer
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Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British military, his family moved around a lot. Their mother loved the going to the movies and instilled a love of cinema in her children. At age 16, Tony made his first appearance on screen as 'the boy' in his brother's directorial debut, the short film Boy and Bicycle (1965). In 1969, Tony directed his own short film One of the Missing (1969) about a soldier in the American civil war.
Tony had a talent for art and painting. He spent a year in Leeds College of Art and Design and went on to study for a fine arts degree at the School of Art at the University of Sunderland. He won a scholarship to study for his Masters of fine arts at the Royal College of Art. Following university, he spent several years as a painter. But life as a painter proved a struggle, so he decided to forge a different career path and partnered with Ridley in advertising at Ridley Scott Associates. It was there that he began shooting commercials. In 1971 he wrote, produced and directed Loving Memory however his vampire movie The Hunger (1983) starring Susan Sarandon, David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve wasn't a critical success but it attracted attention from Hollywood. He was asked by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to direct Top Gun (1986) starring Tom Cruise. He would work again with Cruise on another high adrenaline film Days of Thunder (1990), which proved less successful. He followed the success of Top Gun with the sequel Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) with Eddie Murphy, which was well received.
In 1993, he directed True Romance (1993), which was written by emerging director Quentin Tarantino. Scott had a lot of control over the film and received some great reviews.
Tony has worked five times with actor Denzel Washington with Crimson Tide (1995), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Deja Vu (2006), Man on Fire (2004) and Scott's final film in the director's chair Unstoppable (2010).
Tony Scott passed away at age 68 on August 19, 2012 in California, USA.- Producer
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Tadross, has played a pivotal role as a leading figure in the film industry for the last thirty years. He has most recently produced Ocean's 8, the Warner Bros. film starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna. Other Warner Bros. films Tadross has produced include Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law; Run All Night, starring Liam Neeson; Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan; Winter's Tale, starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe; Arthur, starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, and Greta Gerwig, and I Am Legend starring Will Smith, one of the highest-budgeted science fiction movies to be entirely filmed in New York City. Earlier in his career, for Warner Bros., he produced The Devil's Advocate, with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves; Jack Frost starring Michael Keaton, and Eraser, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams and James Caan.
Tadross' producing credits also include Hitch for Columbia Pictures with Will Smith and Kevin James; Basic for Columbia Pictures with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson; Rollerball for M.G.M. with Chris Klein, L.L. Cool J and Jean Reno; The Thomas Crown Affair, for M.G.M. with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo; Indecent Proposal, for Paramount Pictures with Robert Redford and Demi Moore; School Ties, for Paramount Pictures with Brendan Frazier, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck; Brenda Starr, for Sony Pictures with Brook Shields and Timothy Dalton; and Die Hard: With A Vengeance, for 20th Century Fox with Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson - the highest grossing worldwide film of 1995.
During his tenure as Executive Vice President of Feature Production at Paramount Pictures, Tadross oversaw such blockbusters as Forrest Gump, Naked Gun 33 1/3, The Firm, Clear & Present Danger, the Wayne's World franchise, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Beverly Hills Cop III, Coneheads, and Sliver, to name a few.
Tadross's made-for-television producing credits include When Will I Be Loved? for CBS with Stephanie Powers; and Deadly Illusion for Columbia Television, with Billy Dee Williams.
He was Unit Production Manager for Ghost, Coming To America, Black Rain, Trading Places and Death Wish III, and was First Assistant Director on Cocktail with Tom Cruise and Masquerade with Rob Lowe, also to name a few. He's also been awarded one gold and two platinum records.
He began his film career as a camera trainee and assistant film editor. He is now a member of the Producer's Guild of America, the Director's Guild of America, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
He was nominated for the NAACP Image Award and received The Movie Guide Award for best family-oriented film of 2006 (Hitch). He is also cited in the Who's Who of Executives and Professionals.
Michael Tadross graduated with a B.A. from Wagner College and received the Wagner College Distinguished Graduate Award. In 2018, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Long Island University.
Along with serving on the Board of Victory Memorial Hospital and Wagner College, his many honors include being made a member of the Honor Legion of the New York City Police Department, being given the State Achievement Award by Florida, The Governor's Appreciation Award by Nevada, having The City of Yonkers declare The Michael Tadross Day (June 12), and receiving the key to more than eight cities!
Tadross was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.- Producer
- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
As Chairman and CEO of Hasbro, Inc., Brian Goldner led the company's transformation from a toy and game company into a global play and entertainment leader. As the architect of the company's strategic Brand Blueprint, he led the expansion of Hasbro brands and capabilities into new categories and markets around the world.
Goldner pioneered and oversaw Hasbro's omni-channel storytelling. In 2019, he led the acquisition of eOne, an independent entertainment studio, which expanded the company's storytelling capabilities and adding beloved franchises like Peppa Pig and PJ Masks to the Hasbro brand portfolio.
He played a key role in securing and expanding Hasbro's relationships with some of the most valuable properties in the industry, including Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Princess and Disney Frozen with The Walt Disney Company, and Beyblade.
He was appointed as CEO in 2008. Hasbro's market capitalization nearly tripled, and the Company's total shareholder return has increased nearly 300%. Under his leadership, Hasbro was consistently recognized for its commitment to corporate citizenship and been named among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media and one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for the past decade.
He joined Hasbro in 2000 and served in several leadership roles, including Chief Operating Officer. Previously, he held senior management positions at Bandai America, J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett. He served on the boards of Hasbro and ViacomCBS, Inc., and is a trustee for The Paley Center for Media. He was a member of the Producers Guild of America, and had previously served on the boards of Molson Coors Brewing and the GAP Inc.
Goldner graduated from Dartmouth College and received his graduate degree from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business (Executive Education Program).- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
- Actor
Jim Van Wyck graduated from the University of Oregon with a mathematics degree, and played eight years of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. He then entered the film industry through the Directors Guild Training Program. His first job was a production assistant on the telefilm "Elvis", starring Kurt Russell, who was his former teammate. He has now executive produced many films, including "Lethal Weapon 4", "Free Willy", and "Conspiracy Theory"; while associate producing such films as "Dick Tracy" and "Murphy's Romance". He currently lives in Newbury Park, California, USA, with his wife and family.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Paula Wagner has worked in the top ranks of the entertainment industry as a talent agent, film producer, and studio executive. She develops and produces film, theatre, and television projects through her production company Chestnut Ridge Productions (CRP).
Wagner began her career as an agent at Creative Artists Agency where she spent 15 years representing some of some of Hollywood's top actors, directors, and writers. In 1993 she began a new phase of her career as a producer when she launched Cruise/Wagner Productions with Tom Cruise, her former CAA client. For more than a decade, C/W produced critically acclaimed films with international appeal, including the Mission: Impossible franchise films I, II, and III, Without Limits, The Others, The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky and Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, which Wagner executive produced.
Wagner was co-owner and CEO of United Artists Entertainment from 2006 to 2008. During her tenure, UA released the Robert Redford political thriller Lions for Lambs and the World War II thriller Valkyrie.
Wagner's current film projects include Marshall (2016), starring Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad and directed by Reggie Hudlin, based on a crucial case in the early career of U.S Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Also in development under the CRP banner is Sylvia Robinson: The Story of the Mother of Hip-Hop, which is being set up at Warner Bros., as well as the China/US co-production Moon Flower of the Flying Tigers, an epic WWII romantic drama based on a true story.
Wagner's producing credits for Broadway include TONY Award-nominated The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain & David Strathairn, Grace starring Paul Rudd & Michael Shannon and Terrence McNally's TONY Award-nominated play Mothers and Sons.
Wagner is a member of the PGA, the AMPAS, and the Broadway League. She serves on the boards for Film Forum in NY, the American Cinematheque, and the National Film Preservation Foundation. She travels the world as a visiting guest artist, and has lectured at Universities around the country, including the Harvard Business School and UCLA's School of Theatre, Film and Television. She is an adjunct faculty member and Lifetime Trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, her alma mater.
Wagner is married to Rick Nicita, CEO of management and production company RP Media. They have two sons, Zachary and Jesse.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Walter F. Parkes was born on April 15, 1951 in Bakersfield, California. He attended Yale University and it was graduated cum laude in 1973. He made its first film project The California Reich (1975), which was made in 1975.
He met Laurie MacDonald in 1982 and the next year, wrote the script for the film WarGames (1983) with Lawrence Lasker, of which received a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The success led to a deal with Paramount Pictures, with no films coming out. In 1985, he produced Volunteers (1985) with Richard Shepherd, and in 1987 reunited with Lasker on the film Project X (1987), of which Lasker become a full time partner for four years. Both of them continue its success with True Believer (1989), Awakenings (1990) and Sneakers (1992). Both of them tried to sign a deal with Columbia when its deal with Paramount ended. Both of them produced the TV show Eddie Dodd (1991) with Clyde Phillips.
In 1991, both Lasker and Parkes part ways, in order that Parkes to partner with MacDonald, who left Columbia in the establishment of a production company Aerial Pictures. Aerial had a two year deal at Columbia Pictures, and it was briefly transferred to 20th Century Fox in 1993. Aerial's only product was a little known TV show Birdland (1994) for ABC.
In 1993, both Parkes and MacDonald was approached by Steven Spielberg to run Amblin Entertainment, thus completely shuttering Aerial Pictures down. He oversaw production of Little Giants (1994), Twister (1996) and Men in Black (1997), the latter of which was originated at Aerial.
In 1994, Parkes and MacDonald was approached to start up the DreamWorks studio and served as co-heads of film production. He oversaw more than a few films during his tenure, serving his positions as producer or executive producer, like The Peacemaker (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Gladiator (2000), The Ring (2002) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).
In 2005, while Parkes and MacDonald completed production on a few DreamWorks films like The Island (2005) and Just Like Heaven (2005), the duo started up Parkes/MacDonald Productions with a deal at DreamWorks. At that time, Parkes and MacDonald produced these leftover projects originated by DreamWorks like The Lookout (2007) and The Kite Runner (2007) as well as Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), the Asian film remake The Uninvited (2009) and the comedy Dinner for Schmucks (2010).
In 2009, Parkes and MacDonald partnered with Image Nation, and in 2010, signed a television deal with NBCUniversal to produce its television shows. The duo's contributions were the two Men in Black installments: Men in Black³ (2012) and Men in Black: International (2019), the third installment in the "Ring" franchise, Rings (2017) and original projects like Flight (2012) and Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) as well as television shows like Crossbones (2014) and The Slap (2015).
In 2016, he was a founding partner and chairman in the virtual reality studio Dreamscape Immersive, with Kevin Wall, Caecila Charbonnier, Sylvian Chaugé and Ronald Menzel.
Both Parkes and MacDonald were currently working on future projects like "Gladiator 2" and "Barbie".- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Douglas Wick is known for Gladiator (2000), The Great Gatsby (2013) and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). He has been married to Lucy Fisher since 1986.- Producer
- Writer
Laurie MacDonald began her career as a documentary and news producer at KRON, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She later joined Columbia Pictures, where she served as a Vice President of Production. After four years, MacDonald started her own production company with her husband, screenwriter, and producer Walter Parkes. Together they have produced the Men In Black series, Gladiator, Flight, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Ring, The Mask of Zorro, Twister and Amistad, as well as the screen adaptations of The Kite Runner and Steven Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and many others. In total, films produced or executive produced by MacDonald and Parkes have grossed over $6B globally.
MacDonald and Parkes became the co-heads of Amblin Entertainment in 1994 and just two years later were named co-presidents for the feature division of newly formed DreamWorks Studios. During their tenure, the fledgling studio won, for only the second time in Academy history, three consecutive Best Picture Oscars: American Beauty, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind, the latter two in partnership with Universal Studios.
In 2008, they left their executive positions at DreamWorks Studios for an overall producing deal under their namesake company Parkes + MacDonald where they produced The Trial of Chicago 7, written by Aaron Sorkin. Two years later MacDonald and Parkes formed a partnership with ImageNation Abu Dhabi for the development and production of films in the international market. Under this alliance, they produced films along with two feature length documentaries, He Named Me Malala and Free Solo, the latter of which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.- Producer
- Production Manager
- Editorial Department
- Producer
- Production Manager
- Executive
Lorenzo di Bonaventura was born on 13 January 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and production manager, known for Four Brothers (2005), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and Transformers (2007).