Denise Di Novi

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Denise Di Novi
Born (1956-03-21) March 21, 1956 (age 68)
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, U.S.[ citation needed ]
Occupation(s)Film producer, director

Denise Di Novi is an American film producer and director.

Contents

Early life

Denise Di Novi is one of the most prominent producers in Hollywood, producing dozens of films for most of the Hollywood studios. Her most popular include Heathers, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Practical Magic, as well as Little Women starring Winona Ryder and Little Women starring Saoirse Ronan. She is the daughter of jazz musician Gene DiNovi, [1] when Di Novi was three years old her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father had been a prominent Bebop jazz musician in many of the Big Bands, as well as serving as Musical Conductor for Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, Anne Margaret and Dinah Shore. In the 70's, the family moved to Toronto, Canada. Her mother Patricia McNeil Di Novi, who was a dancer in New York City on Broadway.

Career

Di Novi studied communications at Simmons College in Massachusetts, and received a degree in journalism. After working as a copy editor at the National Observer and staff writer for Canada AM, she became a reporter for Toronto's Citytv, but left to take a job as a unit publicist for Final Assignment . She became a principal in the Montreal-based production company Filmplan International, acting in various production capacities on nine major studio releases, including films with David Cronenberg. In 1983, Filmplan relocated to Los Angeles and merged with Arnold Kopelson's Film Packages.[ citation needed ]

Di Novi joined New World Pictures as Executive Vice President of production. She later shifted into an overall deal as an independent producer, producing Heathers (1988) starring Winona Ryder. Di Novi then headed Tim Burton Productions and was responsible for producing several films. She set up her own production company, Di Novi Pictures, in 1993, at Columbia Pictures. She then entered into a producing deal with Warner Brothers Pictures.

Di Novi has produced over 40 films. These include six from her partnership with Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Cabin Boy (1994), Ed Wood (also 1994) and James and the Giant Peach (1996). She produced four films based on books by Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), Nights in Rodanthe (2008) and The Lucky One (2012).

For four years, Di Novi was executive producer of The District , a CBS primetime series created by Terry George. Di Novi made her directorial debut on the thriller Unforgettable (2017), for Warner Bros. [2]

Most recently Di Novi completed a series for FX , The Veil, starring Elisabeth Moss to air in 2024.

Filmography

She was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

YearFilmCredit
1983 Going Berserk Associate producer
For Those I Loved Associate producer
1988 Heathers
1990 Meet the Applegates
Edward Scissorhands
1992 Batman Returns
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas
1994 Cabin Boy
Ed Wood
Little Women
1996 James and the Giant Peach
1998 Almost Heroes
Practical Magic
1999 Message in a Bottle
2001 Happy Campers
Original Sin
2002 A Walk to Remember
2003 What a Girl Wants
2004 New York Minute
Catwoman
2005 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
2007 Lucky You
2008 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Nights in Rodanthe
2010 Ramona and Beezus
Life as We Know It Executive producer
2011 Monte Carlo
Crazy, Stupid, Love
2012 The Lucky One
2014 If I Stay Executive producer
You're Not You
The Best of Me
2015 Focus
Danny Collins Executive producer
2017 Unforgettable
2019 Little Women
2022 The Sky Is Everywhere
TBA The Selection
As director
YearFilm
2017 Unforgettable
Miscellaneous crew
YearFilmCredit
1980 The Lucky Star Unit publicist
Final Assignment Unit publicist
1983 Videodrome Creative consultant
Of Unknown Origin Assistant to director
1985 Fraternity Vacation Production executive
Script and continuity department
YearFilmCredit
1981 Gas Script coordinator
1982 Visiting Hours Script coordinator
Thanks
YearFilmCredit
1995 Live Nude Girls Special thanks
2015 The Intern Special thanks

Television

As executive producer
YearTitleNotes
2000The '70sTelevision film
2002JoTelevision film
2003 Eloise at the Plaza Television film
Eloise at Christmastime Television film
Hotel Television pilot
2000−2004 The District Television series
2004SudburyTelevision film
2017 Beaches Television film
2021Ways & MeansTelevision pilot
TBAUntitled Sarah Cooper/Cindy Chupack projectTelevision pilot
TeachableTelevision pilot
As director
YearTitle
2017 Bones
2018 Sneaky Pete
Outlander
Ray Donovan
Thanks
YearTitleCredit
2015The Veronica ExclusiveDedicated to

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References

  1. Schneller, Johanna (October 25, 2005). "The Player". The Globe & Mail. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  2. McNary, Dave (June 22, 2015). "Producer Denise Di Novi to Direct Thriller 'Unforgettable'".