Edward Zwick | |
---|---|
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | October 8, 1952
Alma mater | Harvard University (AB) AFI Conservatory (MFA) |
Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter |
Years active | 1979–present |
Notable work | About Last Night , Glory , The Last Samurai , Blood Diamond , Defiance , Love & Other Drugs |
Spouse |
Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and epic historical film genres and has received nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
He made his film debut with the comedy About Last Night (1986), followed by Glory (1989), Legends of the Fall (1994), Courage Under Fire (1996), The Siege (1998), The Last Samurai (2003), Blood Diamond (2006), and Defiance (2008). His later films include Love & Other Drugs (2010), Pawn Sacrifice (2014), and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016). He won the Academy Award for Best Picture for Shakespeare in Love (1998) as a producer.
He is also the co-creator of the ABC family drama series thirtysomething from 1987 to 1991 and Once and Again from 1999 to 2002.
Zwick was born on October 8, 1952, into a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ruth Ellen (née Reich) and Allen Zwick. [1] [2] [3] [4] He attended New Trier High School, received an A.B. at Harvard in 1974, and attended the AFI Conservatory, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1975.
Despite sharing a surname and profession, Edward is unrelated to fellow director Joel Zwick. He has been married to actress Liberty Godshall since 1982, and they have two grown children. [4]
His films include Glory (1989), Legends of the Fall (1994), The Siege (1998), The Last Samurai (2003), Blood Diamond (2006), and Defiance (2008). Along with Marshall Herskovitz, Zwick runs a film production company called The Bedford Falls Company (inspired by the name of the town featured in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life ). This company has produced such notable films as Traffic and Shakespeare in Love and the TV shows thirtysomething , Relativity , Once and Again , and My So-Called Life .
Zwick's body of work has earned numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Picture as a producer, and Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series, and Outstanding Dramatic Special. He was one of the recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture for Shakespeare in Love ; he was also nominated in the same category for Traffic . He has additionally been nominated for multiple Golden Globe Awards.
In 2024, Zwick released his memoir, Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood. [5]
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | About Last Night... | Yes | No | No |
1989 | Glory | Yes | No | No |
1992 | Leaving Normal | Yes | No | No |
1994 | Legends of the Fall | Yes | Yes | No |
1996 | Courage Under Fire | Yes | No | No |
1998 | The Siege | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2003 | The Last Samurai | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2006 | Blood Diamond | Yes | Yes | No |
2008 | Defiance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2010 | Love & Other Drugs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2014 | Pawn Sacrifice | Yes | Yes | No |
2016 | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back | Yes | No | Yes |
The Great Wall | No | No | Story | |
2017 | American Assassin | No | No | Yes |
2018 | Trial by Fire | Yes | Yes | No |
Producer only
| Executive producer
|
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Creator | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1979–80 | Family | Yes | Yes | No | No | Also producer; 5 episodes (written); Directed episode "Ballerina" |
1985 | The Insiders | Yes | No | No | No | Pilot episode |
1987–91 | thirtysomething | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 episodes (directed); 8 episodes (written) |
1999–2002 | Once and Again | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 episodes (directed); 4 episodes (written) Also actor (as Dr. Daniel Rosenfeld) |
2008 | Quarterlife | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Web series; 2 episodes (written) |
2016–18 | Nashville | No | Yes | Yes | No | Wrote episode "The Wayfaring Stranger" |
2020 | Away | Yes | No | Yes | No | Directed episode "Go" |
Television films
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Paper Dolls | Yes | No | No |
1982 | Having It All | Yes | No | No |
1983 | Special Bulletin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
1990 | Extreme Close-Up | No | Story | executive |
2009 | A Marriage | No | Yes | executive |
2020 | Thirtysomething(else) | Yes | Yes | No |
Executive producer only
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1987 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Episode "Sawdust" |
1989 | Dream Street | |
1994-95 | My So-Called Life | |
1998 | Relativity | |
2000 | The Only Living Boy in New York | TV movie |
2002 | Women vs. Men | |
Year | Title | Award/Nomination |
---|---|---|
1989 | Glory | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Director |
1994 | Legends of the Fall | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Director |
1998 | Shakespeare in Love | Academy Award for Best Picture BAFTA Award for Best Film Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical Nominated - Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture |
2000 | Traffic | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Picture |
2003 | The Last Samurai | National Board of Review Award for Best Director Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Director Nominated - Producers Guild of America Award for Best Picture |
2006 | Blood Diamond | Nominated - St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Award for Best Director |
Year | Title | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
1989 | Glory | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |
1994 | Legends of the Fall | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||
2003 | The Last Samurai | 4 | 3 | ||||
2006 | Blood Diamond | 5 | 1 | ||||
2008 | Defiance | 1 | 1 | ||||
2010 | Love & Other Drugs | 2 | |||||
Total | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench. The film depicts a fictional love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare (Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow) while Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on historical figures, and many of the characters, lines, and plot devices allude to Shakespeare's plays.
Edward Dmytryk was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Crossfire (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who refused to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in their investigations during the Red Scare of the McCarthy era. They all served time in prison for contempt of Congress. In 1951, Dmytryk testified to the HUAC and named individuals, including Arnold Manoff, whose careers were then destroyed for many years, to rehabilitate his own career. First hired again by independent producer Stanley Kramer in 1952, Dmytryk is likely best known for directing The Caine Mutiny (1954), a critical and commercial success. The second-highest-grossing film of the year, it was nominated for Best Picture and several other awards at the 1955 Oscars. Dmytryk was nominated for a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.
Glory is a 1989 American epic historical war drama film directed by Edward Zwick about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the Union Army's earliest African American regiments in the American Civil War. It stars Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's commanding officer, and Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman as fictional members of the 54th. The screenplay by Kevin Jarre was based on the books Lay This Laurel (1973) by Lincoln Kirstein and One Gallant Rush (1965) by Peter Burchard and the personal letters of Shaw. The film depicts the soldiers of the 54th from the formation of their regiment to their heroic actions at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner.
James Newton Howard is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards.
Legends of the Fall is a 1994 American epic Western drama film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas. Based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison, the film is about three brothers and their father living in the wilderness and plains of Montana in the early 20th century and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love. The film's time frame spans nearly 50 years from the early 20th century; World War I, through the Prohibition era, and ending with a brief scene set in 1963. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography. Both the film and book contain occasional Cornish language terms, the Ludlows being a Cornish immigrant family.
Kenneth Edward Olin is an American actor, television director, and producer. As an actor, Olin is known for his role as Michael Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination in 1990. Olin later began working behind the scenes, as a director and producer. His credits as a producer include Alias (2001–2006), Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011), and This Is Us (2016–2022). Olin is married to actress Patricia Wettig.
Thirtysomething is an American drama television series created by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz for United Artists Television and aired on ABC from September 29, 1987, to May 28, 1991.
Patricia Anne Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for her role as photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama thirtysomething for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1989, and was nominated for same award in 1990 and 1991. In 2018, the Santa Fe Film Festival honored Mayron for her outstanding contributions to film and television.
John Toll, ASC is an American cinematographer and television producer. Toll's filmography spans a wide variety of genres, including epic period drama, comedy, science fiction, and contemporary drama. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in both 1994 and 1995 for Legends of the Fall and Braveheart respectively, and has also won numerous BAFTA, ASC, and Satellite Awards. He has collaborated with such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Edward Zwick, Terrence Malick, Mel Gibson, Cameron Crowe, The Wachowskis, and Ang Lee.
Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz is an American film director, writer, and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and Dangerous Beauty. Herskovitz was a creator and executive producer of the television shows thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again, and also wrote and directed several episodes of all three series.
Flash Film Works is a computer graphics company that provides visual effects for films, television shows and commercials. It is owned by director William Mesa and is located in Los Angeles, California.
Winnie Holzman is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and producer. She is best known for writing the book of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Wicked, and for co-writing the screenplays for the two films based on the musical, Wicked and Wicked: For Good. She also created the television series My So-Called Life. Holzman's other television work includes the series Thirtysomething and Once and Again. Her other stage work includes short plays and the full-length drama, Choice.
Blood Diamond is a 2006 American political war thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies around the world.
Steven Rosenblum is an American film editor with over twenty feature film credits dating from 1987. He has had an extended, notable collaboration with the director Edward Zwick, and has edited all of his films since Glory (1989).
Defiance is a 2008 American war film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski, Jamie Bell as Asael Bielski, and George MacKay as Aron Bielski. Set during the occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany, the film's screenplay by Clayton Frohman and Zwick was based on Nechama Tec's 1993 book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, an account of the eponymous group led by Polish Jewish brothers who saved and recruited Jews in Belarus during World War II.
Bedford Falls Productions or The Bedford Falls Company is an American production company founded in 1985 by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick. Under the banner, they created television shows like Thirtysomething and Once and Again, produced television shows Legends of the Fall, Blood Diamond and My So-Called Life and the Academy Award-winning films Shakespeare in Love and Traffic.
Pieter Jan Brugge is a Dutch film producer.
Pawn Sacrifice (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score soundtrack / extended play composed by James Newton Howard for the 2014 biographical psychological drama film Pawn Sacrifice directed by Edward Zwick based on the life of chess grandmaster and 11th world champion Bobby Fischer, and starred Tobey Maguire as Fischer. The film score was released through Lakeshore Records on September 11, 2015, five days ahead of the film's theatrical release.