Dean Devlin | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | August 27, 1962
Alma mater | University of Southern California |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1980–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Pilar Seurat Don Devlin |
Dean Devlin (born August 27, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and actor of film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with director Roland Emmerich, and for his work on the Librarian and Leverage television franchises. He is a co-founder of the production companies Centropolis Entertainment and Electric Entertainment.
Devlin was born in New York City, the son of actress Pilar Seurat and Don Devlin, a writer, actor, and producer. [1] His father was Jewish and his mother was Filipino. [2] He attended the University of Southern California.
Devlin appeared as an actor on numerous television shows throughout the 1980s. He also appeared in films including My Bodyguard , The Wild Life , Real Genius and Martians Go Home . Due to his youthful appearance, Devlin often played teenage characters despite being in his 20s.
Devlin gradually began writing scripts. His first produced screenplay was for Universal Soldier . He reached prominence as a writer/producer working alongside director Roland Emmerich, with whom he teamed after appearing in Emmerich's film Moon 44 . Together they cowrote and produced Stargate, the first movie to have a web site. [3] The team then produced Independence Day and Godzilla . They split following the 2000 Mel Gibson film The Patriot , but re-teamed to film Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016. [4] Devlin has also produced Cellular , Who Killed the Electric Car? , and Flyboys . [5]
Devlin's directorial debut was the action sci-fi film Geostorm for Warner Bros. [6] The film was set for a March 2016 release, [7] later rescheduled for October 2017. It starred Gerard Butler as the lead [6] with Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris and Andy García. [8] The film made $221 million on a $120 million budget. [9] In March 2018, Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost Warner Bros. $71.6 million when factoring in all other expenses and revenues. [10]
Devlin's second film as director was the 2018 thriller Bad Samaritan , starring Robert Sheehan and David Tennant. [11]
Devlin produced The Triangle miniseries, Leverage (of which he has directed twelve episodes), The Librarian franchise, and The Outpost . He also co-created The Visitor series. [12]
In 2019 Devlin began working with the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN to produce a new series called Almost Paradise (originally titled Off Tropic.) [13] The series premiered in the United States on May 30, 2020, on WGN America, and premiered on Kapamilya Channel in 2021. [14] It was filmed entirely in the Philippines and the majority of the cast members are Filipino, aside from the lead—played by Christian Kane, whom Devlin also worked with on the television shows Leverage and The Librarians. [15]
Delvin produced The Ark TV series for Syfy, which aired starting in February 2023. [16]
Devlin was an advisor to the video game company ZeniMax Media from 1999 to 2004. [17] Additionally Devlin was involved in video game projects The 10th Planet [18] and Godzilla Online. [19]
Devlin is married to actress Lisa Brenner.
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Universal Soldier | No | No | Yes | Co-writer with Richard Rothstein & Christopher Leitch |
1994 | Stargate | No | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Roland Emmerich |
1996 | Independence Day | No | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Roland Emmerich |
1998 | Godzilla | No | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Roland Emmerich; co-wrote story with Emmerich, Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott |
2000 | The Patriot | No | Yes | No | |
2002 | Eight Legged Freaks | No | Yes | No | |
2004 | Cellular | No | Yes | No | |
2006 | Who Killed the Electric Car? | No | Executive | No | Documentary |
Flyboys | No | Yes | No | ||
2011 | Shakespeare High | No | Executive | No | Documentary |
2013 | Transit | No | Executive | No | |
2015 | The Wannabe | No | Executive | No | |
2016 | Independence Day: Resurgence | No | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods & James Vanderbilt |
2017 | Geostorm | Yes | Yes | Yes | Directorial debut Co-writer with Paul Guyot |
2018 | Bad Samaritan | Yes | Yes | No | |
The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
Year | Title | Functioned as | Network | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creator | Director | Writer | Executive producer | ||||
1997–98 | The Visitor | Yes | No | Yes (3) | Yes | Fox | |
1998–2000 | Godzilla: The Series | No | No | No | Yes | Fox Kids | |
2004 | The Librarian: Quest for the Spear | No | No | No | Yes | TNT | Television film |
2005 | The Triangle | No | No | Story | Yes | Sci-Fi Channel | Miniseries |
2006 | Talk to Me | No | No | No | Yes | TNT | Unaired pilot |
2006 | The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines | No | No | No | Yes | Television film | |
2008 | Blank Slate | No | No | No | Yes | Television film | |
2008 | The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice | No | No | No | Yes | Television film | |
2008–12 | Leverage | No | Yes (16) | No | Yes | ||
2011 | Brain Trust | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | TBS | Unaired pilot |
2014–18 | The Librarians | No | Yes (6) | Yes (1) | Yes | TNT | |
2018–21 | The Outpost | No | No | No | Yes | The CW | |
2020–present | Almost Paradise | No | Yes (1) | Yes (2) | Yes | WGN America season 1, Amazon Freevee season 2 | |
2021–present | Leverage: Redemption | No | Yes (4) | Yes (1) | Yes | Amazon Freevee | |
2023 | The Ark | Yes | Yes (1) | Yes (1) | Yes | Syfy | [16] |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1984 | The Wild Life | Liquor Store Clerk |
City Limits | Ernie | |
1985 | Real Genius | Milton |
1989 | Martians Go Home | Joe Fledermaus |
1990 | Moon 44 | Tyler |
1991 | Total Exposure | Adult Bookstore Manager |
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | ||
1996 | Independence Day | Best Writer | Nominated | ||
1998 | — | George Pal Memorial Award | Won | ||
Golden Raspberry Awards | |||||
1996 | Independence Day | Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million | Nominated | ||
1998 | Godzilla | Worst Picture | Nominated | ||
Worst Screenplay | Nominated | ||||
2016 | Independence Day: Resurgence | Nominated | |||
Hugo Awards | |||||
1994 | Stargate | Best Dramatic Presentation | Nominated | ||
1996 | Independence Day | Nominated | |||
Online Film & Television Association | |||||
1996 | Independence Day | Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Picture | Nominated | ||
Sci-Fi Universe Magazine | |||||
1996 | Independence Day | Best Writing for a Genre Motion Picture | Won | ||
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | |||||
1998 | Godzilla | Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More than $100 Million Using Hollywood Math | Won |
Stargate is a 1994 science fiction action-adventure film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The film is the first entry in the Stargate media franchise and stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, and Viveca Lindfors. The plot centers on the titular "Stargate", an ancient ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole, enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe. The central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization.
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of which are English-language Hollywood productions, have made more than $3 billion worldwide, including just over $1 billion in the United States, making him the 17th-highest-grossing Hollywood director of all time.
Godzilla is a 1998 American monster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. Produced by TriStar Pictures, Centropolis Entertainment, Fried Films, and Independent Pictures, and distributed by TriStar, it is a reboot of Toho Co., Ltd.'s Godzilla franchise. It is also the 23rd film in the franchise and the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer. The film is dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka, the co-creator and producer of various Godzilla films, who died in April 1997. In the film, authorities investigate and battle a giant monster who migrates to New York City to nest its young.
Zilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju, in Toho Co., Ltd.'s Godzilla media franchise. The character first appeared in Godzilla (1998), released by TriStar Pictures. It was initially created as a reimagining of Godzilla but was later re-branded as a separate character appearing alongside Toho's Godzilla. Patrick Tatopoulos designed it after iguanas with a slim theropod appearance rather than the thick, bipedal designs of Toho's Godzilla. TriStar's Godzilla, both the film and character, were negatively received by fans and critics. In 2004, it was featured in Toho's Godzilla: Final Wars as "Zilla". Afterwards, Toho trademarked new incarnations as Zilla, with only the iterations from the 1998 film and animated series retaining the Godzilla copyright and trademark.
Terry Rossio is an American screenwriter and film producer. He co-wrote the films Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and all five of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. For Shrek, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He often collaborates with fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott.
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. In film, Cornish is known for her roles as Heidi in Somersault (2004), Fanny Brawne in Bright Star (2009), Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch (2011), Lindy in Limitless (2011), Clara Murphy in RoboCop (2014), and Sarah in Geostorm (2017). She worked with writer/director Martin McDonagh in Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). For the latter, Cornish won her first Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast. In 2018, she portrayed Cathy Mueller in the first season of Amazon Video series Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski, a role she reprised in the fourth and final season in 2023. She also played Dixy in the film The Virtuoso (2021) alongside Anthony Hopkins.
Daniel John Cannon is a British film and television producer, director and writer, known for executive producing the 15-season CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series franchise, and simultaneously executive producing the CSI: Miami and CSI: NY spin-offs.
James Anthony Sturgess is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His first major role was as Jude in the musical romance drama film Across the Universe (2007). He played the male lead role of Ben Campbell in 21 (2008), Gavin Kossef in Crossing Over (2009), The Way Back (2010), and co-starred in the epic science fiction film Cloud Atlas (2012).
Ellory Elkayem is a New Zealand film director.
Centropolis Entertainment is a German-American film production company founded in 1985 as Centropolis Film Productions by American film producer Dean Devlin and German film director Roland Emmerich. As of 2001, the company is a subsidiary of Das Werk AG.
Gareth James Edwards is a British film director and screenwriter. He gained recognition for Monsters (2010), an independent film in which he served as writer, director, cinematographer, and visual effects artist. He subsequently directed the big-budget adventure film Godzilla (2014) and the science fiction films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), The Creator (2023), and the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth (2025).
Geostorm is a 2017 American science-fiction disaster film directed, cowritten, and coproduced by Dean Devlin. The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It follows a satellite designer who tries to save the world from a storm of epic proportions caused by malfunctioning climate-controlling satellites.
Independence Day: Resurgence is a 2016 American science fiction action film co-written, directed, and co-produced by Roland Emmerich and co-written and co-produced by Dean Devlin, serving as a sequel to Independence Day (1996). It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Judd Hirsch. The film takes place twenty years after the events of the first film, during which the United Nations has collaborated to form the Earth Space Defense, an international military defense and research organization. Through reverse engineering, the world has fused the power of alien technology with humanity's and laid the groundwork to resist a second invasion.
The Monsterverse is an American multimedia franchise and shared universe featuring Godzilla and other sister characters owned and created by Toho Co., Ltd, as well as King Kong. The franchise consists of five films and two television series that have been produced by Legendary Pictures, with Warner Bros. Pictures distributing the films and the series being released for streaming on Netflix and Apple TV+.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a 2019 American monster film directed and co-written by Michael Dougherty. Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a sequel to Godzilla (2014) and the third film in the Monsterverse. It is also the 35th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the third Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O'Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi. In the film, eco-terrorists release King Ghidorah, who awakens other monsters known as "Titans" across the world, forcing Godzilla and Mothra to surface and engage Ghidorah and Rodan in a decisive battle.
Moonfall is a 2022 science fiction disaster film co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich. It stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Carolina Bartczak, and Donald Sutherland. It follows two former astronauts alongside a conspiracy theorist who discover the hidden truth about the Moon when it suddenly leaves its orbit. Shot in Montreal on a $138–146 million budget, it is one of the most expensive independently produced films ever made.
Almost Paradise is an American-Philippine crime drama television series produced by Dean Devlin and Gary Rosen. The series is the first American television series to be filmed entirely in the Philippines. It premiered on March 30, 2020, on WGN America in the United States. The series was renewed for a second season on Amazon Freevee, with all 10 episodes premiering on July 21, 2023.
The film industry and video game industry have a long and detailed common history – the two industries have collaborated many times since the 1980s. This includes collaboration between people from both industries and projects resulting in products such as video games, film adaptations of video games, among other things.
The following is a list of unproduced Roland Emmerich projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, German filmmaker Roland Emmerich has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these fell into development hell, were officially cancelled, or would see life under a different production team.