Darren Lemke | |
---|---|
Born | 1969or1970(age 53–54) |
Alma mater | School of Visual Arts |
Occupation | |
Years active | 1997–present |
Darren Lemke (born 1969or1970) is an American screenwriter who has been active in the film industry since the late 1990s. With his work on the films Shrek Forever After (2010), Turbo (2013), Goosebumps (2015), Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018), Shazam! (2019), and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024), The Hollywood Reporter called Lemke "a known player in the family feature space". [1]
Lemke was born in 1969or1970. Raised in Carlstadt, New Jersey, he went to Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, New Jersey. After high school, he attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York to study screenwriting. [2] In 1997, he sold two pitches to Touchstone Pictures for Tony Scott to direct; [3] one of the pitches became Gemini Man , which was released in 2019. [4] In 2004, Lemke wrote and directed the thriller film Lost . [5] In the following year, Lemke pitched the idea of adapting the English fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" with computer-generated imagery. By 2013, Jack the Giant Slayer was directed by Bryan Singer. [6]
Lemke's first major screenwriting credit was for Shrek Forever After (2010), which he wrote with Josh Klausner. [5] Since then, he wrote and helped write for mostly family-oriented feature films. [1] He also became one of the executive producers for the TV series The Wheel of Time (2021–present). [7]
In 2024, Disney hired Lemke to write a script for a detective film set in Disneyland's private dining club Club 33. [1]
Year | Title | Medium | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Lost | Film | Wrote, also directed |
2010 | Shrek Forever After | Film | Writing credit with Josh Klausner |
2013 | Jack the Giant Slayer | Film | Story credit with David Dobkin; screenplay credit with Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney |
2013 | Turbo | Film | Screenplay credit with Robert D. Siegel and David Soren; story credit for Soren |
2015 | Goosebumps | Film | Screenplay credit; story credits for Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski |
2018 | Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween | Film | Story credit with Rob Lieber; screenplay credit for Lieber |
2019 | The Parts You Lose | Film | Writing credit |
2019 | Shazam! | Film | Story credit with Henry Gayden; screenplay credit for Gayden |
2019 | Gemini Man | Film | Story credit with David Benioff; screenplay credit with Benioff and Billy Ray [nb 1] |
2021–present | The Wheel of Time | Television | Executive producer; 16 episodes (two seasons) |
2024 | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Film | Writing credit with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger [8] |
Thomas Jacob Black is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards.
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Mike Mitchell is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and animator. He has directed the films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), Trolls (2016), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
Goosebumps is a 2015 American horror comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and written by Darren Lemke, based on R. L. Stine's children's horror book series of the same name. The film stars Jack Black as a fictionalized version of Stine, who teams up with his neighbor and his teenage daughter, to save their hometown after all the monsters from the Goosebumps franchise escape from his works, wreaking havoc in the real world. It also stars Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee and Jillian Bell in supporting roles.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the film is the sequel to Kung Fu Panda (2008), and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. It stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Jackie Chan reprising their roles from the first film, with Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber voicing new characters. In the film, Po and his Furious Five allies travel to Gongmen City to stop the evil peacock Lord Shen from conquering China, while also rediscovering Po's forgotten past.
Kung Fu Panda is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated film of the same name produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
Kung Fu Panda Holiday, also known as Kung Fu Panda: Po's Winter Wonderland, is a 2010 American animated Christmas comedy drama television special produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Tim Johnson. A spinoff of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, the special stars the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu, James Hong and Jack McBrayer. The special premiered on NBC November 24, 2010, and its premiere broadcast drew 5.9 million viewers.
Jack the Giant Slayer is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney, from a story by Lemke and David Dobkin. The film, based on the British fairy tales "Jack the Giant Killer" and "Jack and the Beanstalk", stars Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, Eddie Marsan and Ewan McGregor. The film tells the story of Jack, a young farmhand who must rescue a princess from a race of giants after inadvertently opening a gateway to their land in the sky.
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Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, China Film Group Corporation, Oriental DreamWorks and Zhong Ming You Ying Film, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The film was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.
Alessandro Carloni is an Italian film director, writer, animator, and art director, best known for his work with DreamWorks Animation in general, particularly the Kung Fu Panda films. He co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3, alongside Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
Gemini Man is a 2019 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Ang Lee. It stars Will Smith in the main dual role, alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong. The film follows a retiring Force Recon Marine scout sniper who is targeted by a much younger clone of himself while on the run from a corrupt private military company.
DreamWorks Theatre is a motion simulator attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that opened on June 15, 2018, in the Universal City area of Los Angeles, California. The Theatre is themed around characters featured in films from DreamWorks Animation and features the use of projection mapping. It replaced the Shrek 4-D attraction, which closed on August 13, 2017.
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Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight is an American CG-animated television series, developed by Mitch Watson and Peter Hastings for Netflix. It is the third TV series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, following Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny. Produced by DreamWorks Animation Television, the series premiered on Netflix on July 14, 2022. A second season was released on January 12, 2023. A third and final season was released on September 7, 2023.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016). The film was directed by Mike Mitchell, co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, written by Darren Lemke and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and produced by Rebecca Huntley. It features Jack Black, Ian McShane, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, and Bryan Cranston reprising their roles from the previous films, with Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis joining the cast as new characters. In the film, Po (Black), who must find and train his successor as the new Dragon Warrior, teams up with fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina) to defeat evil sorceress The Chameleon (Davis), before she steals the kung-fu abilities of all masters in China.