Chris Weitz | |
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Born | Christopher John Weitz November 30, 1969 New York City, U.S. |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge University |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1998–present |
Notable work | Chuck & Buck American Pie About a Boy The Twilight Saga: New Moon Rogue One: A Star Wars Story |
Spouse | Mercedes Martinez (m. 2006) |
Children | 3 |
Parents |
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Relatives | Paul Weitz (brother) Lupita Tovar (grandmother) Paul Kohner (grandfather) |
Christopher John Weitz (born November 30, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother Paul on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy ; the latter earned the Weitz brothers a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. [1] Among his other main works, Weitz directed the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass and the film adaptation of New Moon from the series of Twilight books, wrote the screenplay for Disney's 2015 live-action adaptation of Cinderella , and co-wrote Rogue One with Tony Gilroy.
Weitz was born in New York City, the son of actress Susan Kohner and Berlin-born novelist/menswear designer John Weitz. [2] His brother is filmmaker Paul Weitz. Weitz is the grandson of Czech-born agent and producer Paul Kohner and actress Lupita Tovar on his maternal side. [3] [4] Tovar, who was from Oaxaca, Mexico, [5] starred in Santa , Mexico's first talkie, in 1932, as well as a Spanish language version of Drácula. [6] Weitz' paternal grandparents escaped Nazi Germany, before which his grandfather was a successful textile manufacturer, with the family being intimates of writer Christopher Isherwood and actress Marlene Dietrich. [4]
Weitz's father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] whereas his maternal grandmother was Catholic; he was raised in a nonreligious household. [12] [13] He has also described himself as a "lapsed Catholic crypto-Buddhist." [14]
As a young boy, Weitz attended Allen-Stevenson School with his brother and was a member of the Knickerbocker Greys, a long-standing New York City youth marching corps that has been in existence since 1881. [1]
When he was 14 years old, Weitz went to the boarding school St Paul's School in London, which his father had attended. [1] He graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge. [12]
Weitz' early career involved many collaborations with his brother. [15] [16] [17] Some of the work they have done as screenwriters has been both credited and uncredited. [18]
Weitz began his film career as a co-writer on the animated film Antz (1998). He followed this with work on various sitcoms such as Off Centre and the 1998 revival of the 1977 TV series Fantasy Island. In 1999, he and Paul directed and produced American Pie , which was written by Adam Herz, and became a major box office success. Weitz returned as executive producer on the film's two theatrical sequels. In 2001, along with his brother, he co-directed his second film, the Chris Rock comedy Down to Earth .
In 2002, the Weitz brothers co-wrote and co-directed About a Boy , the Hugh Grant film based on the book by Nick Hornby. [19] [20] The film was originally set up at New Line Cinema with Robert De Niro producing, and the main character as an American. The brothers felt that it was important that the character is British. Inspiration came from the 1960 film The Apartment. They were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. [6]
Weitz has produced a number of films including In Good Company and American Dreamz , both of which were directed by his brother, Paul.
In 2003, Weitz was hired to direct New Line Cinema's adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass , after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment. He was subsequently invited by director Peter Jackson to visit the set of King Kong , in order to gain insight into directing a big-budget film and advice on how to deal with New Line. In 2005, Weitz announced his departure from the film, citing the enormous technical challenges involved, and the fear of being denounced by both the book's fans and detractors; [21] he was subsequently replaced by British director Anand Tucker. Tucker left the project in 2006 over creative differences with New Line, and Weitz returned to the director's chair after receiving a letter from Pullman asking him to reconsider.
During post-production, New Line had Weitz's editor replaced, and the studio made the final cut with severe differences from Weitz's vision, trimming the originally unhappy ending and watering down the religious theme. [22] Weitz declared that
The film was released in 2007 and was met with mixed reviews. Its U.S. grosses have been described as disappointing [24] in relation to film's US$180 million budget, although it was a "stellar performer" outside the U.S. with a "stunning" box office likely to hit $250 million. [25] When questioned about a possible sequel, New Line studio co-head Michael Lynne said that "The jury is still very much out on the movie..." [26] The second and third screenplays have been written but because of the economic recession and the protest by the Catholic Church, the two sequels never got made and was later rebooted into a television series that was released in 2019. Its worldwide box office gross stands at $372,234,864. [27]
In December 2008, Weitz was announced as the director of the sequel to Twilight, the film adaptation of the novel New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. [28] Weitz said he felt a tremendous sense of responsibility to live up to the expectations of the passionate fan base. [29]
The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened in November 2009, one year after the first movie was released. New Moon set records as the biggest midnight opening in domestic box office history, grossing an estimated $26.3 million in 3,514 theaters, previously held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The film grossed $72.7 million on its opening day domestically, becoming the biggest single-day opening in domestic history, beating the $67.2 million tally of The Dark Knight.. This opening strongly contributed to another record: the first time that the top ten films at the domestic box office had a combined gross of over $100 million in a single day. [30]
The opening weekend of New Moon was the third-highest opening weekend in US domestic history with $142,839,137, and the sixth-highest worldwide opening weekend with $274.9 million total. [31] With an estimated budget of just under $50 million, New Moon is the least expensive movie to ever open to more than $200 million worldwide. Over Thanksgiving weekend, the film grossed $42.5 million, and including Wednesday and Thursday ticket sales it grossed $66 million. It earned $230.7 million in its first ten days, [30] $38 million more than the previous installment grossed in its entire theatrical run. Internationally, the film grossed roughly $85 million over Thanksgiving weekend, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $473.7 million in ten days. Weitz decided not to continue to direct the next film in the franchise. [32]
In June 2011, Summit Entertainment released his film A Better Life, written by Eric Eason about a Hispanic gardener and his son in Los Angeles searching for their stolen truck. [33] This film is unusual among Hollywood productions in that it is set in a Hispanic community and features an almost entirely Hispanic cast. [5] [34] Weitz said that working on the film allowed him to explore his Hispanic heritage—his grandmother is from Mexico—and learn Spanish. [15] The film was nominated for an Oscar.
In 2012, he worked with journalist Jose Antonio Vargas on a series of four documentary shorts directed by Weitz called Is This Alabama?, [35] about the effects of the state of Alabama's anti-immigration legislation, 2011's Alabama HB 56. [36] [37] [38] The project was a collaboration between Weitz, Vargas, the Center for American Progress think-tank, America's Voice Education Fund, and Vargas' Define American campaign, with Vargas doing the interviews. [39]
Weitz wrote the screenplay for Disney's 2015 live-action adaptation of Cinderella, which was released in theaters on March 13, 2015. Weitz said he went back to the many different versions of the story (Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, as well as the 1950 animated Disney original) as well as his own vision. [40]
Weitz scripted the first Star Wars stand-alone film, director Gareth Edwards' Rogue One (2016). Replacing Gary Whitta, [41] [42] Weitz shared writing duties with Tony Gilroy. In 2017, Weitz and J. Mills Goodloe co-wrote the script for Fox 2000's The Mountain Between Us , a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, by Charles Martin.
Weitz will be writing the screen adaptation of 21 Years to Midnight, a movie about same-sex marriage documented in the legal case Obergefell v. Hodges . [43] [44]
Weitz directed Operation Finale , a 2018 MGM historical drama thriller film, written by Matthew Orton, about the Mossad and Shin Bet teams that captured Adolf Eichmann. [45] The film starred Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Joe Alwyn.
Weitz has also occasionally worked as an actor, playing the lead role in the 2000 comedy film Chuck & Buck and a bland suburbanite in Mr. & Mrs. Smith .
Weitz has a production company with his brother Paul Weitz and producer Andrew Miano called Depth of Field. In March 2016, Weitz and his brother signed a two-year first look deal with Amazon Studios. [46]
Weitz wrote a young adult novel trilogy series [52] that began with The Young World, in 2014, [53] and was followed by The New Order, in 2015 and The Revival in 2016. The series follows a group of teenagers struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where a disease killed off all adults over the age of 18.
Weitz said that he used the concept of natural intelligence theories called Society of Mind created by Marvin Minsky to create the stories that were loosely autobiographical about growing up in New York City. [54]
Weitz is married to Mercedes Martinez, who is Cuban Mexican, and with whom he has one son, Sebastian Weitz [3] and a daughter, Athena Weitz. [55] Weitz said he met Martinez at the Burning Man festival. [54]
In 2004, Weitz was a co-investor with Paul Devitt in the Japanese restaurant and club called Tokio on N. Cahuenga in Los Angeles. [56] [57]
On November 11, 2016, after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Weitz tweeted, "Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization." [58] Although he had apologized and deleted the tweet, [59] several Trump supporters have used the hashtag #DumpStarWars and claimed that Rogue One contained an anti-Trump scene. [60]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | Antz | No | Yes | No | |
1999 | American Pie | Uncredited | No | Yes | Co-directed with his brother, Paul Weitz |
2000 | Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | No | Yes | No | |
2001 | Down to Earth | Yes | No | No | Co-director with his brother, Paul Weitz |
2002 | About a Boy | Yes | Yes | No | Co-director with his brother, Paul Weitz Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
2007 | The Golden Compass | Yes | Yes | No | |
2009 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | Yes | No | No | |
2011 | A Better Life | Yes | No | Yes | |
2015 | Cinderella | No | Yes | No | |
2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | No | Yes | No | |
2017 | The Mountain Between Us | No | Yes | No | |
2018 | Operation Finale | Yes | No | No | |
2022 | Disney's Pinocchio | No | Yes | Yes | |
2023 | The Creator | No | Yes | No | |
2024 | Afraid | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Producer only
| Executive producer
|
Acting roles
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1999 | American Pie | Male Voice in Porn Film | Uncredited; Voice role |
2000 | The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy | Director | |
Chuck & Buck | Charlie "Chuck" Sitter | ||
2004 | See This Movie | Panel Discussion Moderator | |
2005 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Martin Coleman | |
2006 | Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas | Sheldon Schmeckler | Voice role |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998–1999 | Fantasy Island | No | Yes | Yes | Story (2 episodes); Teleplay (1 episode) |
2000–2001 | Off Centre | No | Yes | Yes | Also creator |
2004–2006 | Cracking Up | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also consultant (11 episodes); Wrote and directed the Pilot |
Other credits
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Lone Star | Consultant producer | 2 episodes |
2020 | The George Lucas Talk Show | Himself | Episode "The George Lucas Talk Show May the 4th Marathon" |
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Paul John Weitz is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is the older brother of filmmaker Chris Weitz. Together they worked on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy; for the latter, they were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Weitz is also a writer, executive producer, and director of the Amazon Prime Video dramedy series Mozart in the Jungle.
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Susanna "Susan" Kohner is an American actress who worked in film and television. She played Sarah Jane, a young African-American woman, in Imitation of Life (1959), for which she was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. She won two Golden Globe awards for her performance.
Christopher Robert Evans is an American actor. He began his career with roles in television series such as Opposite Sex in 2000. Following appearances in several teen films, including 2001's Not Another Teen Movie, he gained attention for his portrayal of Marvel Comics character the Human Torch in Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Evans made further appearances in film adaptations of comic books and graphic novels: TMNT (2007), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and Snowpiercer (2013).
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The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a 2009 American romantic fantasy film directed by Chris Weitz from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2006 novel New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. The sequel to Twilight (2008), it is the second installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.
The Twilight Saga is a series of romance fantasy films based on the book series Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The series has grossed over $3.36 billion worldwide. The first installment, Twilight, was released on November 21, 2008. The second installment, New Moon, followed on November 20, 2009. The third installment, Eclipse, was released on June 30, 2010. The fourth installment, Breaking Dawn – Part 1, was released on November 18, 2011, while the fifth and final installment, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, was released on November 16, 2012.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a 2015 American action spy film written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a story by McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and the fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. It stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris and Alec Baldwin. It follows Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team, who, subsequent to their disbandment and Hunt's pursuit by the Central Intelligence Agency, must fight The Syndicate, an international group of rogue government agents.
Warcraft is a 2016 American action fantasy film based on the video game series of the same name. Directed by Duncan Jones, who co-wrote with Charles Leavitt, it stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, and Daniel Wu. The film follows Anduin Lothar of Stormwind and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan as heroes set on opposite sides of a growing war, as the warlock Gul'dan leads the Horde to invade Azeroth using a magic portal. Together, a few human heroes and dissenting Orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war and restore peace.
Jason Bourne is a 2016 American action-thriller film directed by Paul Greengrass and written by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse. It is the fifth installment of the Bourne film series and a direct sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Matt Damon reprises his role as the main character, former CIA assassin Jason Bourne. In addition, the film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, Scott Shepherd, with Julia Stiles reprising her role as Nicky Parsons.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. The screenplay was written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy inspired by a story idea from John Knoll and developed by Gary Whitta. The film was produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the first installment of the Star Wars anthology series, and an immediate prequel to Star Wars (1977). The main cast consists of Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker. Set a week before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, the plot follows a group of rebels who band together to steal plans of the Death Star, the ultimate weapon of the Galactic Empire. It details the Rebel Alliance's first effective victory against the Empire, first referenced in Star Wars' opening crawl.
The Fate of the Furious is a 2017 action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to Furious 7 (2015) and the eighth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell, and Charlize Theron. In the film, Dom has settled down with his wife Letty Ortiz, until cyberterrorist Cipher (Theron) coerces him into working for her and turns him against his team, forcing them to find Dom and take down Cipher.
Passengers is a 2016 American science-fiction romance film directed by Morten Tyldum, written by Jon Spaihts and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. The supporting cast features Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy García. The film follows two passengers on an interstellar spacecraft carrying thousands of people to a colony 120-years-traveling-distance from Earth, when the two are awakened 90 years early from their induced hibernation.
The Secret Life of Pets is a 2016 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. It was directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, from a screenplay written by Brian Lynch and the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. The film stars the voices of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan, and Albert Brooks.
Grandma is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Paul Weitz. It stars Lily Tomlin as Elle, a lesbian poet and widow whose teenage granddaughter visits her to ask for money for an abortion. Over the space of a day, they visit numerous people from Elle's past to call in favors in an effort to raise the money.
Sing is a 2016 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Universal. It was written and directed by Garth Jennings, co-directed by Christophe Lourdelet, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy. Set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, the film focuses on a struggling theater owner who stages a singing competition in an effort to prevent his theater from entering foreclosure, as well as how the competition interferes with the personal lives of its contestants.
Get Out is a 2017 American psychological horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Catherine Keener and Betty Gabriel. The plot follows a young black man (Kaluuya), who uncovers shocking secrets when he meets the family of his white girlfriend (Williams).