Christopher Weekes | |
---|---|
Born | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 22 March 1980
Occupation | Director, Writer, Actor, |
Years active | 2004–present |
Christopher Weekes (born 22 March 1980) is an Australian film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing, directing and acting in the 2008 film Bitter & Twisted [1] and for topping the 2009 Hollywood Blacklist with his spec screenplay "The Muppet Man". [2]
In 2008, Weekes wrote, directed, and acted in the feature Bitter & Twisted, which had its international premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. [3] It won the Australian Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress [4] as well as being nominated for two Australian Film Institute Awards, [5] an Independent Film Award [6] and three MIFF awards. [7]
In 2009, it was announced that Weekes would be rewriting the screenplay Waterproof for Legendary Pictures and director Kevin Lima. [8]
Also in 2009, his spec screenplay "The Muppet Man", [9] about the life and death of Jim Henson, topped the Hollywood Blacklist. [10] It is currently in development with Walt Disney Pictures and The Jim Henson Company. [11]
In 2011, it was announced that Weekes would be writing "Ponzi's Scheme", [12] based on the book of the same name by Mitchell Zuckoff, for director Miloš Forman. [13]
James Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter who scripted many award-winning films, including Roman Holiday (1953), Exodus, Spartacus, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of alleged Communist influences in the motion picture industry.
James Maury Henson was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and screenwriter who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and Fraggle Rock and director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). He was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland.
Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, as well as in other television series, feature films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. He served as a mascot of The Jim Henson Company and appeared in various Henson projects.
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise, now owned by The Walt Disney Company, that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters.
Frank Oz is an American actor, filmmaker, and puppeteer.
Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling. The two elderly men first appeared in The Muppet Show in 1975, where they consistently jeered the entirety of the cast and their performances from their balcony seats.
Charles Stuart Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York (2008), which film critic Roger Ebert called "the best movie of the decade" in 2009. Further directorial work includes the stop motion animated film Anomalisa (2015) and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). In 2020, Kaufman made his literary debut with the release of his first novel, Antkind.
Steven Lawrence Whitmire is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on The Muppets and Sesame Street. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire inherited the roles of Ernie and Kermit the Frog after Jim Henson's death in 1990; he performed the characters until 2014 and 2016, respectively. As part of the Muppet cast, he has appeared in multiple feature films and television series, performing a variety of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock and during such occupations has been employed by The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, and The Muppets Studio.
The Jim Henson Company is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of Kermit the Frog and the Muppets characters.
The Muppet Movie is a 1979 American musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley and produced by Jim Henson. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, it is the first theatrical film in The Muppets franchise. The film was written by The Muppet Show writers Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns. Produced between the first and second half of The Muppet Show's third season, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business.
The Muppets Take Manhattan is a 1984 American musical comedy film directed by Frank Oz. It is the third theatrical film in The Muppets franchise. In addition to the Muppet performance, the film features special appearances by Art Carney, James Coco, Dabney Coleman, Gregory Hines, Linda Lavin, and Joan Rivers. Filmed in New York City during the prior summer, it was released theatrically on July 13, 1984, by TriStar Pictures. A fantasy sequence in the film introduced the Muppet Babies, toddler versions of the lead Muppet characters.
Muppet*Vision 3D is a 3D film attraction located at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The attraction also formerly operated at Disney California Adventure. Directed by Jim Henson, the attraction consists of a pre-show which then leads into Kermit the Frog guiding park guests on a tour through Muppet Studios, while the Muppets prepare their sketch acts to demonstrate their new breakthrough in 3D film technology. The show, however, completely unravels when Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's experimental 3D sprite, Waldo, causes mayhem during the next portion of the show.
The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 British-American musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson. It is the second theatrical film in The Muppets franchise. In addition to the Muppet performers, the film stars Charles Grodin and Diana Rigg with special appearances by John Cleese, Robert Morley, Peter Ustinov, and Jack Warden. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company and distributed by Universal Pictures. In the plot, the Muppets are caught up in a jewel heist while investigating a robbery in London.
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a 2005 musical fantasy television film directed by Kirk R. Thatcher. It is the second film to be made for television in The Muppets franchise. The film stars Ashanti, Jeffrey Tambor, Quentin Tarantino, David Alan Grier, Queen Latifah, Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, and Eric Jacobson.
Michael Wilson was an American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood film studios during the era of McCarthyism for being a communist.
Bitter & Twisted is a 2008 drama film written, directed by and starring Christopher Weekes. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008 and has since screened at over eleven international and Australian festivals and been critically well received.
David Trottier is an American screenwriter, consultant, author and educator. He's best known for his screenwriting guide, The Screenwriter's Bible.
Bruce Anslie Evans is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his work on Stand by Me (1986), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and Mr. Brooks (2007).
The Muppets is a 2011 American musical comedy film directed by James Bobin and written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, and the seventh theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, and Rashida Jones, as well as Muppets performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz. Bret McKenzie served as music supervisor, writing four of the film's five original songs, while Christophe Beck composed the film's score. In the film, devoted Muppet fan Walter, his human brother Gary and Gary's girlfriend Mary help Kermit the Frog reunite the disbanded Muppets, as they must raise $10 million to save the Muppet Theater from Tex Richman, a businessman who plans to demolish the studio to drill for oil.
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