Akiva Goldsman

Akiva Goldsman
Goldsman at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles, May 2011
Born (1962-07-07) July 7, 1962
New York City, U.S.
Occupation Director, producer, writer
Years active 1994–present
Spouse(s)
Rebecca Spikings
(m. 2004; her death 2010)

Joann Richter (m. 2014)
Children 2

Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American film and television writer, director, and producer known for his work on blockbuster motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.[1]

Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes Batman Forever and its sequel Batman & Robin, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Cinderella Man, and numerous rewrites both credited and uncredited. He also wrote more than a dozen episodes for the science fiction television series Fringe.

In 2002, Goldsman received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 2006, Goldsman re-teamed with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard to adapt Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code for Howard's film version, receiving mixed reviews for his work. He also penned the screenplay for its 2009 prequel Angels & Demons.

Early life

Akiva Goldsman was born in New York City, the son of Tev Goldsman, a therapist, and Mira Rothenberg, a child psychologist.[2] His family is Jewish. His parents ran a group home for emotionally disturbed children. Goldsman's parents were occupied with their work, and Goldsman said, "By the time I was 10 or 12, I realized they had taken my parents away from me. I wanted nothing more to do with that world. I wanted to be a writer. I had a fantasy that someday I'd see my name on a book." In 1983, Goldsman attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[3] After graduation, Goldsman studied creative writing at New York University and began writing screenplays.

Career

In 1994, he wrote the screenplay that would become the film Silent Fall.[2] Afterward, director Joel Schumacher hired Goldsman to write The Client.[3] In the late 1990s, Akiva Goldsman wrote screenplays for A Time to Kill and Batman & Robin, which were considered subpar quality and got him nominated for the Golden Raspberry Awards. Goldsman came to the realization, "I sort of got lost. I was writing away from what I knew. It's a little like a cat chasing its tail. Once you start making movies that are less than satisfying, you start to lose your opportunity to make the satisfying ones. People are not serving them up to you, saying, 'You're the guy we want for this.'" Goldsman appealed to producer Brian Grazer to write the screenplay for A Beautiful Mind and ultimately won an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The star of A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe, later invited Goldsman and director Ron Howard to film Cinderella Man, and Goldsman wrote the film's screenplay.[4]

Goldsman has a production company at Warner Bros. called Weed Road Pictures.[5]

Goldsman produced the Universal Pictures feature Lone Survivor, from writer/director Peter Berg, based on the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell. It tells the story of Luttrell's Navy SEAL team in 2005 Afghanistan, on a mission to kill a terrorist leader. The movie starred Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Taylor Kitsch, and was released in 2013.[6]

Goldsman made his feature film directing debut with Winter's Tale, a film adaption of the Mark Helprin novel. Goldsman worked for seven years on developing the project with Warner Bros. Pictures, finally getting a green light on the script (which he wrote). The principal cast consisted of Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, Will Smith and William Hurt.[7] The film was released on February 14, 2014. He also directed the horror thriller film Stephanie (2017),[8] with Frank Grillo in the leading role,[9] and co-wrote and produced the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, which was released on August 4, 2017.[10]

In June 2015, Paramount Pictures announced that Goldsman would head a team of writers and filmmakers to create a multifilm cinematic universe branching out from Hasbro's Transformers franchise.

Goldsman was revealed in September 2018 to have been on the writing staff for the new Star Trek series revolving around the character Jean-Luc Picard in his later years. [11]

Fringe

In 2008, Goldsman joined the first season crew of the Fox horror/mystery series Fringe as writer, director, and consulting producer. The first episode Goldsman directed and wrote was "Bad Dreams".[12][13] In its fifth season, Goldsman remained a consulting producer. Episodes he contributed to included:

Personal life

Goldsman's second wife, film producer Rebecca Spikings-Goldsman, died of a heart attack on July 6, 2010, at the age of 42.[14] Rebecca was the daughter of producer Barry Spikings.

In 2012, Akiva met his third wife, model/actress/equestrian Joann Richter. The couple were married in 2014 and have two daughters, and divide their time between Los Angeles and New York.[15]

Filmography

Year Film Credit Notes
1994 The Client writer co-wrote with Robert Getchell
Silent Fall writer
1995 Batman Forever writer co-wrote with Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler
1996 A Time to Kill writer
1997 Batman & Robin writer Nominated- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
1998 Lost in Space writer, producer
Practical Magic writer co-wrote with Robin Swicord and Adam Brooks
1999 Deep Blue Sea producer
2001 A Beautiful Mind writer Won Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2004 Starsky & Hutch producer
Mindhunters producer
I, Robot writer co-wrote with Jeff Vintar
2005 Constantine producer
Cinderella Man writer co-wrote with Cliff Hollingsworth
Mr. & Mrs. Smith producer
2006 I'm Reed Fish executive producer
Poseidon producer
The Da Vinci Code writer
2007 Brooklyn Rules executive producer
I Am Legend writer, producer co-wrote with Mark Protosevich
2008 Hancock producer, actor role: Executive
2009 Star Trek actor role: Vulcan Council Member
Angels & Demons writer co-wrote with David Koepp
Dark Country special thanks
2010 The Losers producer
Fair Game producer
Jonah Hex producer
Paranormal Activity 2 executive producer
2011 Paranormal Activity 3 executive producer
2012 Paranormal Activity 4 executive producer
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness actor role: Starfleet Admiral
Lone Survivor producer
2014 Winter's Tale director, writer, producer directorial debut
2015 The Divergent Series: Insurgent writer co-wrote with Brian Duffield and Mark Bomback
2016 The 5th Wave writer co-wrote with Susannah Grant and Jeff Pinkner
2017 Rings writer co-wrote with David Loucka and Jacob Aaron Estes
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword producer
Transformers: The Last Knight story screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan
Nominated- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
The Dark Tower writer, producer co-wrote with Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen and Jeff Pinkner
Stephanie director
Star Trek: Discovery teleplay "The Vulcan Hello"

Upcoming works

In 2016, it was announced that Goldsman would script an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel.[16] Its final release date is still unknown. In July 2017, Paramount Pictures announced plans to make a film adaptation of the novel Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy with Goldsman as producer.[17]

References

  1. ↑ McNary, Dave (July 12, 2017). "Akiva Goldsman Signs First-Look Deal With Paramount, Leaves Warner Bros". Variety. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Goldsman, Akiva". Current Biography. 65 (9): 36–40. September 2004.
  3. 1 2 Levine, Bettijane (March 31, 2002). "A book signing, a big moment". The Record.
  4. ↑ Covert, Colin (June 5, 2005). "Cinderella scribe". Star Tribune.
  5. ↑ "The Toxic Avenger Mops Up in Redo Deal". Deadline.
  6. ↑ Kroll, Justin (August 13, 2012). "Eric Bana circling 'Lone Survivor': Thesp in talks to join case of Peter Berg-helmed SEAL drama". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  7. ↑ Fleming, Mike (August 1, 2012). "William Hurt Joins Akiva Goldsman's 'Winter's Tale'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  8. ↑ Fleming, Mike (January 27, 2015). "Frank Grillo to Star in Akiva Goldsman's Horror-Thriller 'Stephanie'". The Wrap. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ Fleming, Mike (January 27, 2015). "Frank Grillo to Court Stephanie". Dread Central. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Sony Sets a Date For Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'". Bloody Disgusting. January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ Stewart, Patrick (September 24, 2018). "The journey has begun. Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, James Duff, and yours truly. #StarTrek". Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  12. ↑ "IMDB Filmography of Akiva Goldsman".
  13. ↑ "Fringe: The Definitive and Exhaustive Chat with John Noble". The Los Angeles Times. September 2009.
  14. ↑ "Producer Spikings-Goldsman dies of heart attack". Variety. July 7, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  15. ↑ http://www.zimbio.com/Akiva+Goldsman+Joann+Goldsman/pictures/pro http://guestofaguest.com/directory/akiva-goldsman/217301
  16. ↑ LESNICK, SILAS. "Akiva Goldsman to Script The Caves of Steel Movie". ComingSoon. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike. "Akiva Goldsman Moves To Paramount; 'Rainbow Six,' 'Ologies' & 'Avengelyne' On Menu". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 12 July 2017.

Further reading

  • Thane, Christopher (November 1999). "Swimming with sharks". Fade In. Vol. 5 no. 3. p. 17.
  • Divine, Christian (January 2002). "Peace of mind". Creative Screenwriting. Vol. 9 no. 1. pp. 69, 71–74.
  • Fleming, Michael (June 2006). "Good as Goldsman". Fade In. Vol. 9 no. 2. pp. [50]–52.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.