Liman is on the advisory board of the Legal Action Center and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School.
Early life
Liman, who is Jewish, was born in New York City, the son of Ellen (née Fogelson), a painter and writer, and Arthur L. Liman, a lawyer.[3]
Liman began making short films while still in junior high school and studied at International Center of Photography in New York City. While attending Brown University, he helped to co-found the student-run cable television station BTV and served as its first station manager. He also co-founded the NACB, the first trade association geared to student-staffed radio and television stations, in 1988.
Liman's first major success was Swingers, released in 1996. The film, written by Jon Favreau and based on Favreau's life, is a comedy about struggling actors amid the L.A. club milieu. Liman raised the funding and the film was made on the cheap, starring Favreau and his friends (Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, and Patrick Van Horn), ultimately cost $250,000. The film was a critical success, and jump-started the careers of Liman and the featured actors. Liman sold the film to Miramax for $5.5 million.[5]
Liman next directed Go (1999), which tracks the events of a drug deal gone wrong through three different points of view as plot lines diverge and reconverge; Liman was also the film's cinematographer. The film was a modest success, grossing $28.4 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, and garnered positive reviews from critics.
In 1999, Liman shot a commercial for Nike featuring Tiger Woods.
Liman next directed the 2002 action thriller The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon, an adaptation of the 1980 Robert Ludlumnovel. The film was a box office success, earning over $200 million, and began a Bourne film franchise that has since included four additional films. Liman directed only the first Bourne film, after a notoriously "chaotic" shoot disrupted his relationship with the studio.[6] As he had personally acquired the rights to the franchise from Ludlum, he served as an executive producer for three of the four sequels (2004's The Bourne Supremacy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum and 2016's Jason Bourne).
Liman executive-produced and directed the first two episodes ("Premiere" and "The Model Home") of the successful Fox prime time drama The O.C. (2003–2007). Liman produced and directed a series of comedy shorts for the Chrysler Film Project and Cannes Film Festival entitled Indie Is Great.
Liman also directed Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), a comedic thriller about an increasingly distant married couple, both secretly assassins, who are hired to kill each other. The film was Liman's most commercially successful to date, and is well known for the off-screen romance that developed between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie after making the film.
In 2005, Liman signed on to direct the pilot episode of NBC's television series Heist, which is about a season-long attempt to rob three jewelry stores on Beverly Hills' swanky Rodeo Drive. Also that same year, the production company Hypnotic has struck a deal with NBC Universal Television Studio.[7] Shortly afterwards, he renamed the production company from Hypnotic to Dutch Oven.[8]
In 2009, he co-founded the website 30ninjas.com which is geared towards fans of action movies and television, gaming, extreme sports and viral videos. He also maintains a blog on the site.
In August 2016, Liman signed on to direct Dark Universe, a film set within the DC Extended Universe and based on superhero team Justice League Dark after leaving the adaptation of Gambit.[12] However, Liman has departed from the project due to schedule conflicts with the film Chaos Walking (2021), that Liman was working on that time.[13]
In January 2020, Liman announced that the Edge of Tomorrow sequel, Live Die Repeat and Repeat, was currently in its early planning stages.[14]
In May 2020, it was reported that Liman would be directing, writing, and producing a fictional movie shot in outer space. Tom Cruise was set to star and produce.[15] According to reports, they would fly to space and to the International Space Station as part of the SpaceX Axiom Space-2 mission.[16] As of 2022, no script had been finished and the film was described as "aspirational."[17][18]
In November 2021, it was reported that Liman was in talks to direct a remake of the 1989 film Road House, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring.[19]The film was officially greenlit on August 2, 2022, by Amazon Studios, with Liman and Gyllenhaal's involvement confirmed, with production beginning later that month in the Dominican Republic.[20][21] He later condemned Amazon's decision to release the film straight to streaming instead of a theatrical release and would boycott its SXSW premiere as a result.[22]
In December 2022, it was announced Liman would direct heist film The Instigators, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, for Apple Studios, marking Liman's first film with Damon since The Bourne Identity.[23] The film was released in select theatres on August 2, 2024, before premiering on Apple TV+ on August 9.[24]
In December 2024, Liman confirmed he was in early development of the supernatural thriller Deeper for Warner Bros. Pictures, with Tom Cruise attached to star.[27]
Matthew Paige Damon is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among Forbes' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 action-thriller film featuring Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne character. Although it takes the name of the second Bourne novel (1986), its plot is entirely different. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy. It is the second installment in the Bourne franchise, a direct sequel to The Bourne Identity (2002).
The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action-thriller film directed by Doug Liman and written by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron. Based on Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel of the same name, it is the first installment in the Bourne franchise, and the film stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. In the film, Jason Bourne (Damon) suffers from psychogenic amnesia and is forced to fight to unlock his identity and his mysterious connection to the CIA.
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist.
Joseph Aaron Carnahan is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor whose films include Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane; Narc; Smokin' Aces; The A-Team; The Grey; and Boss Level. He also wrote and directed several episodes for the NBC television series The Blacklist. He is the brother of screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan and producer Leah Carnahan.
The Bourne Identity is a 1988 American mystery action thriller miniseries adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel The Bourne Identity. The adaptation was written by Carol Sobieski, directed by Roger Young for Warner Bros. Television with Richard Chamberlain in the title role, along with Jaclyn Smith. It follows the storyline of the original novel, with a run-time of 185 minutes; with commercials added, the running time was extended to four hours, and was first shown on ABC in two 120 minute installments over two nights, making its first run count as a miniseries rather than a TV movie. As such, it was nominated in the Outstanding Miniseries category at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Bourne franchise consists of action-thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series. The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon.
American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck began his career as a child, appearing in several television shows, including the PBS educational program The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). He played an antisemite in the sports film School Ties (1992) and featured as a regular on the television drama Against the Grain (1993). He gained attention for playing the supporting part of a high-school senior in Richard Linklater's cult film Dazed and Confused (1993), after which he had his first leading role in Rich Wilkes's comedy Glory Daze (1995). In 1997, Affleck played a comics artist in Smith's art-house success Chasing Amy. He co-wrote the script and starred with Matt Damon in Gus Van Sant's drama film Good Will Hunting, for which they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
American actor Matt Damon made his film debut with a small role in Mystic Pizza (1988), after which he played several supporting roles. His first leading role was in the legal drama film The Rainmaker (1997). His breakthrough came later that year when he played the title role of an unrecognized genius in Good Will Hunting, which he also co-wrote with Ben Affleck. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Damon was nominated for Best Actor. He followed it by playing the title roles of a soldier in Steven Spielberg's war drama Saving Private Ryan (1998) and of the criminal Tom Ripley in the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), both of which gained critical and commercial success. Damon and Sean Bailey worked on the television series Project Greenlight since 2000, helping newcomers make their first film.
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.
Studio 8 is an American entertainment company founded in 2014, by Jeff Robinov, John Graham, and Mark Miner based in Culver City. It specializes in film and television production.
Sunday Night Productions is an American film and television production company founded by John Krasinski and Allyson Seeger in 2013. It has produced the television series Lip Sync Battle, Dream Corp LLC, and Jack Ryan, the YouTube streaming news show Some Good News (2020), and the films Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009), Promised Land (2012), The Hollars (2016), and A Quiet Place Part II (2020).
Apple Studios LLC is an American film, television and in-house production company that is a subsidiary of Apple Inc. It specializes in developing and producing original television series and films for Apple's digital video streaming service Apple TV+ as well as films that are intended for theatrical releases.
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Road House is a 2024 American action film, which is a remake of Road House and the third movie overall in the titular franchise. Directed by Doug Liman from a script written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry, the events of the story are similar to the original release. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys road house. Produced by Joel Silver, the movie also features Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, JD Pardo, Austin Post, and Conor McGregor in its supporting cast.
Artists Equity is an American production company founded by actors and filmmakers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in November 2022.
The Instigators is a 2024 American heist comedy film directed by Doug Liman and written by Chuck Maclean and Casey Affleck. The film stars Affleck and Matt Damon, with a supporting cast that includes Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones, Jack Harlow, and Ron Perlman.
The following is a list of unproduced Doug Liman projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American filmmaker Doug Liman has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially canceled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
RIP is an upcoming American crime thriller film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The film stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Nestor Carbonell, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kyle Chandler, Scott Adkins, and Lina Esco.
References
↑ "Doug Liman". The Film Daily. 127. Wid's Films and Film Folk Inc.: 37 1965.
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