Adam Simon

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Adam Simon
Adam Simon.jpg
Adam Simon at the 2015 WonderCon promoting Salem
Born (1962-02-06) February 6, 1962 (age 61)
OccupationDirector • screenwriter • producer
Years active1989–present

Adam Simon (born February 6, 1962) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. His directing credits include Brain Dead (1990), Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger (1992), and Carnosaur (1993). Simon, along with producer Brannon Braga, co-created the television series Salem . As a screenwriter, Simon is known for Bones (2001), The Haunting in Connecticut (2009), and Books of Blood (2020).

Contents

Career

He plays a humorous version of himself, pitching a project and getting barred from the studio lot, in the famous opening-shot of Robert Altman's The Player (1992). He previously appeared, thinly veiled, as a fictional character in Christopher Guest's film The Big Picture (1989) and would reappear in Kim Newman's novel Johnny Alucard (2013), where he again pitches a project and becomes the only person in Hollywood standing up to a particularly sinister studio executive. [1]

Kim Newman has noted that Adam Simon has "become one of the most oft-cited figures in contemporary Hollywood satire, and those in the know have begun to play the game of Simon-spotting. [...] Remarkable look- and act-alikes for Adam Simon have appeared in a couple of sinister Hollywood satires: Adam Rafkin (Jarrad Paul) on the cancelled-too-soon TV series Action, who ruins his emotional and physical health on successive drafts of Beverly Hills Gun Club for sleazy überproducer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr); and Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, who finds his entire life - and film project - jeopardised when he considers going against the wishes of backers who represent either organised crime or Hell." [2]

Filmography

Film

TitleYearCredited asNotes
DirectorProducerWriter
Lock Up 1989NoCo-No
Brain Dead 1990YesNoYes
Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger1992YesNoNo
Carnosaur 1993YesNoYes
The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera1996YesNoYes Documentary film
The American Nightmare 2000YesNoYesDocumentary film
John Landis on: An American Werewolf in London2001YesNoNo Featurette
Bones 2001NoNoYes
The Spectre of Hope2002NoYesNoDocumentary film
The Haunting in Connecticut 2009NoNoYes
Captive State 2019NoExecutiveNo
Books of Blood 2020NoExecutiveYes

Television

TitleYearCredited asNotes
CreatorDirectorWriterExecutive
producer
Directors on Directors1997NoYes (1)NoNo Docuseries, Episode "Simon - Corman"
BlackBoxTV2012NoNoYes (1)No Anthology series
Salem [3] 2014–17YesNoYes (21)Yes
Next 2020NoNoYes (3)Co-executiveCo-executive producer (9 episodes)

Actor

TitleYearRoleNotes
The Unborn 1991Priest
Bob Roberts 1992Cutting edge head writer
The Player 1992Adam Simon
Directors on Directors1997Himself Docuseries, Episode "Simon - Corman"
Digging Up Bones2002HimselfFeaturette documentary
Urban Gothic: Bones and Its Influences2002HimselfFeaturette documentary
The Brains Behind the Nightmare2020HimselfFeaturette documentary
Tales from the Cranium2020HimselfFeaturette documentary

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References

  1. Excerpt from "Johnny Alucard"
  2. "Who Let Adam Simon on the Lot?" by Kim Newman
  3. "Q&A: Executive Producer Adam Simon on "SALEM" and a Lovecraftian Second Season". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-30.