Akiva Goldsman

Last updated

Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Goldsman at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
Born (1962-07-07) July 7, 1962 (age 61)
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • writer
Years active1994–present
Spouses
(m. 2004;died 2010)
Joann Richter
(m. 2014)
Children2
Awards Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker.

Contents

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

In 2002, Goldsman received the Oscar 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. He also wrote the screenplay for its 2009 sequel Angels & Demons .

Goldsman is also known for co-developing the DC Comics TV series Titans and the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard , a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Nemesis . He is also the co-creator of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series .

Early life

Goldsman was born in New York City to Jewish parents and raised in Brooklyn Heights. His parents, Tev Goldsman and Mira Rothenberg, were both clinical child psychologists who ran a group home for emotionally disturbed children. [1] He graduated from Saint Ann's School, also in Brooklyn Heights, where he says he made many friends with whom he later worked in the entertainment industry. He received his bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and attended the graduate fiction-writing program at New York University.

Career

Goldsman has a production company at Warner Bros. named Weed Road Pictures. [2]

He 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. It starred Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Taylor Kitsch, and was released in 2013. [3]

Goldsman made his feature film directing debut with Winter's Tale , a film adaptation of the Mark Helprin novel, starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, Will Smith and William Hurt. [4] It was released on February 14, 2014. He also directed the horror thriller film Stephanie (2017) [5] with Frank Grillo in the leading role. [6] He co-wrote and produced the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, released on August 4, 2017, which was one of Goldsman's post-Apotheosis films. [7]

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. In 2017, his Weed Road company was signed with Paramount. [8]

Goldsman was revealed in September 2018 to have been on the writing staff for Star Trek: Picard , a series focusing on the later years of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. [9] In 2020, he was signed as creator and co-showrunner of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

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". [10] [11] In its fifth season, Goldsman remained a consulting producer. Episodes he contributed to included:

Personal life

Goldsman's first wife, film producer Rebecca Spikings-Goldsman, died of a heart attack on July 6, 2010, at the age of 42. [12] Rebecca was the daughter of producer Barry Spikings.

In 2012, Akiva met his second wife, Joann Richter. Married in 2014, they now have two daughters. The family divides its time between Los Angeles and New York. [13]

Weed Road Pictures

Weed Road Pictures
Company type Independent Company
IndustryMotion Pictures
Founded2004
FounderAkiva Goldsman
Headquarters
United States
Products Films
OwnerAkiva Goldsman

In 2004, Goldsman founded Weed Road Pictures as an independent production company to produce, develop and finance films and other forms of entertainment properties. Weed Road has financed or cofinanced 13 films including Firestarter (2022), directed by Keith Thomas and starring Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, and Kurtwood Smith.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorProducerWriterNotes
1994 The Client NoNoYes
Silent Fall NoNoYes
1995 Batman Forever NoNoYes
1996 A Time to Kill NoNoYesNominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Written Film
Grossing Over $100 Million
1997 Batman & Robin NoNoYesNominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
1998 Lost in Space NoYesYes
Practical Magic NoNoYes
2001 A Beautiful Mind NoNoYes Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2004 I, Robot NoNoYes
2005 Cinderella Man NoNoYesNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
2006 The Da Vinci Code NoNoYes
2007 I Am Legend NoYesYes
2009 Angels & Demons NoNoYes
2014 Winter's Tale YesYesYes Directorial debut
2015 The Divergent Series: Insurgent NoNoYes
2016 The 5th Wave NoNoYes
2017 Rings NoNoYes
Transformers: The Last Knight NoNoStoryNominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
The Dark Tower NoYesYes
Stephanie YesNoNo
TBA Untitled Constantine Sequel NoYesYes [14]

Producer only

Executive producer

Undated films

Release DateTitleDistributorNotesProduction StatusRef.
TBA Monument Valley Paramount Pictures co-production with Ustwo In development [15]
Rainbow Six co-production with Outlier Society and 87North Productions [16]

Television

YearTitleDirectorExecutive
Producer
WriterNotes
2008-2013 Fringe YesYesYes1 episode (director);
18 episodes (writer);
2 episodes (executive producer)
2017 Star Trek: Discovery YesYesYes3 episodes (writer);
2 episodes (director)
2018–2019 Titans YesYesYes2 episodes (writer);
2 episodes (director)
2018–2020 Star Trek: Short Treks NoYesNo
2020–2022 Star Trek: Picard YesYesYes5 episodes (writer);
2 episodes (director)
2022 [17] Star Trek: Strange New Worlds YesYesYes1 episode (writer);
1 episode (director)
2023 The Crowded Room NoYesYesCreator

Acting credits

YearTitleRole
2008 Hancock Executive
2009 Star Trek Vulcan Council Member
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness Starfleet Admiral

Upcoming works

In 2016, it was announced that Goldsman would script an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. [18] 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. [19]

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References

  1. "A Beautiful Journey to Professional Nirvana". Los Angeles Times . March 10, 2002.
  2. "The Toxic Avenger Mops Up in Redo Deal". Deadline.
  3. 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.
  4. Fleming, Mike (August 1, 2012). "William Hurt Joins Akiva Goldsman's 'Winter's Tale'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  5. Fleming, Mike (January 27, 2015). "Frank Grillo to Star in Akiva Goldsman's Horror-Thriller 'Stephanie'". The Wrap . Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  6. Fleming, Mike (January 27, 2015). "Frank Grillo to Court Stephanie". Dread Central . Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  7. "Sony Sets a Date For Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'". Bloody Disgusting . January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  8. McNary, Dave (July 12, 2017). "Akiva Goldsman Signs First-Look Deal With Paramount, Leaves Warner Bros". Variety. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  9. 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.
  10. "IMDB Filmography of Akiva Goldsman". IMDb .
  11. "Fringe: The Definitive and Exhaustive Chat with John Noble". Los Angeles Times . September 2009.
  12. "Producer Spikings-Goldsman dies of heart attack". Variety . July 7, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  13. http://www.zimbio.com/Akiva+Goldsman+Joann+Goldsman/pictures/pro http://guestofaguest.com/directory/akiva-goldsman/217301
  14. Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 16, 2022). "Warner Bros Sets 'Constantine' Sequel; Keanu Reeves & Francis Lawrence To Reunite, Akiva Goldsman Scripting & Producing With Bad Robot's JJ Abrams & Hannah Minghella". Deadline. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  15. Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 21, 2018). "Paramount, Weed Road Tap Patrick Osborne For 'Monument Valley' Mobile Game Movie". Deadline. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  16. Grobar, Matt (January 17, 2023). "'John Wick's Chad Stahelski Tapped To Helm Michael B. Jordan-Led 'Rainbow Six' For Paramount". Deadline. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  17. Sperling, Nicole (August 1, 2021). "Can Paramount+ Succeed? One Producer Hopes to Make It So". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  18. LESNICK, SILAS (July 26, 2016). "Akiva Goldsman to Script The Caves of Steel Movie". ComingSoon. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  19. Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 11, 2017). "Akiva Goldsman Moves To Paramount; 'Rainbow Six,' 'Ologies' & 'Avengelyne' On Menu". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 12, 2017.

Further reading