Ed Solomon

Last updated

Ed Solomon
Born
Edward James Solomon

(1960-09-15) September 15, 1960 (age 64)
Occupation(s) Screenwriter, director, producer
Spouse
Cynthia Cleese
(m. 1995;div. 2011)
Children2

Edward James Solomon (born September 15, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing the screenplays to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Men in Black (1997), and Now You See Me (2013).

Contents

Career

Solomon grew up in suburban Boston, until his family moved to California. He went to UCLA and majored in Economics while beginning his career as a joke writer, stand up comedian, and playwright. [1] While still in college, he was a staff writer for Laverne & Shirley – making him (at the time) the youngest member of the Writers Guild of America. He then spent three years writing the cult Showtime TV series, It's Garry Shandling's Show , before venturing into feature films in the 1980s. He helped create and co-write the critically acclaimed comedies Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (with Chris Matheson). Solomon also worked on a number of hit franchise films, including Men in Black , Charlie's Angels , and then writing the Now You See Me films.

Solomon worked on an early version of a Universal The Invisible Man remake, [2] with Johnny Depp. In March 2016 he completed production on Mosaic , a 12-hour long-form TV project for HBO in collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh. [3] This production would mark the first in a series of collaborations with Soderbergh, including the neo-noir film No Sudden Move in 2021, and more recently, the crime series Full Circle, which premiered July 13, 2023. [4]

Personal life

He married Cynthia Cleese, daughter of Connie Booth and John Cleese, in 1995. [5] [6] They have two children and divorced in 2011.

Solomon is Jewish. [7]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleWriterProducerDirector
1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure YesNo Stephen Herek
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey YesCo-producer Peter Hewitt
1992 Leaving Normal YesAssociate Edward Zwick
Mom and Dad Save the World StoryNo Greg Beeman
1993 Super Mario Bros. YesNo Rocky Morton
Annabel Jankel
1997 Men in Black YesNo Barry Sonnenfeld
2000 What Planet Are You From? YesNo Mike Nichols
Charlie's Angels YesNo McG
2003 The In-Laws YesNo Andrew Fleming
Levity YesYesHimself
2009 Imagine That YesYes Karey Kirkpatrick
2013 Now You See Me YesNo Louis Leterrier
Rapture-Palooza NoYesPaul Middleditch
2016 Now You See Me 2 YesExecutive Jon M. Chu
2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music YesYes Dean Parisot
2021 No Sudden Move YesNo Steven Soderbergh

Acting credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Stupid Waiter
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey "Stupid" Seance Member
1992 Leaving Normal Jerk in BarAs Edward Solomon
Mom and Dad Save the World Destroyer #13
2010 Barry Munday Doctor #2
2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music Stupid Demon

Other credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1987 Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise SoundtrackLyrics: "No on Fifteen"
2000 The Prime Gig Special thanks
X-Men Uncredited revision
2005 Paradise Now Special thanks
2008 Choke

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
1982–1983 Laverne & Shirley NoYesNo3 episodes
1986–1989 It's Garry Shandling's Show NoYesNo8 episodes;
Also script consultant
1990 The Dave Thomas Comedy Show NoYesNo
1992 Arresting Behavior YesNoNo
1999The UnbelievablesYesYesYesTelevision pilot
2017–2018 Mosaic NoYesNo
2023 Full Circle NoYesYes

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References

  1. Siegel, Tatiana (August 27, 2020). "Ed Solomon's Excellent Hollywood Adventure". The Hollywood Reporter.
  2. Kit, Borys (February 9, 2016). "Johnny Depp to Star in Universal's "Invisible Man" Reboot". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  3. Jagernauth, Kevin (September 24, 2015). "Steven Soderbergh To Direct 'Mosaic' Film For HBO With Garrett Hedlund And Sharon Stone". Indiewire. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  4. Otterson, Joe (June 17, 2021). "Steven Soderbergh, Ed Solomon Re-Team for HBO Max Limited Series 'Full Circle' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  5. Cate, Hans ten (February 12, 1997). "NEWS 1997_02_12 – John Cleese Shoots Daughter Cynthia". Daily Llama. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  6. "THE SOCIAL SCENE – A Cleese Wedding Held Away From the 'Fawlty' Line / British comedian's daughter marries in the Napa Valley". SFGate. September 18, 1995. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  7. "Screenwriter Ed Solomon's Excellent Adventure". Jewish Journal. March 14, 2018.