Matthew Robbins (screenwriter)

Last updated
Matthew Robbins
Matthew Robbins in 2005.jpg
Robbins in 2005
Born (1945-07-15) July 15, 1945 (age 77)
Education AFI Conservatory
Occupations
Years active1971–present
Known for The Sugarland Express
Dragonslayer
Batteries Not Included
Mimic
SpouseJanet Robbins
Awards Best Screenplay Award (Cannes Film Festival)
1974 The Sugarland Express

Matthew Robbins (born July 15, 1945) is an American screenwriter and film director [1] best known for his writing work within the American New Wave movement.

Contents

He collaborated with numerous filmmakers within the movement including George Lucas, Walter Murch and Steven Spielberg, on films like The Sugarland Express , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and Jaws. He has also worked frequently with Guillermo del Toro, writing his films Mimic, Crimson Peak and Pinocchio . Robbins has frequently worked with writer Hal Barwood.

Prior to attending USC School of Cinematic Arts, Robbins graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1965 where he was classmate and friends with Walter Murch and Caleb Deschanel. He is a graduate of the AFI Conservatory. In 2004, Robbins received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins. [2]

In 2011, he made his debut in Indian cinema by penning the screenplay for the Bollywood thriller 7 Khoon Maaf , along with Vishal Bhardwaj. [3] His second Indian film Rangoon , was helmed by the same director.

Filmography

YearTitle Director Writer Notes
1974 The Sugarland Express Yes
1976 The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings Yes
1977 MacArthur Yes
1978 Corvette Summer YesYes
1981 Dragonslayer YesYes
1985 Warning Sign YesAlso executive producer
The Legend of Billie Jean Yes
Amazing Stories YesEpisode: "The Main Attraction"
1987 Batteries Not Included YesYes
1989Mothers, Daughters and LoversYesTV movie
1991 Bingo Yes
1993"Off the Ground"YesMusic video by Paul McCartney
1997 Mimic Yes
2007 Blood Brothers StoryShort film
2009 Le Concert Collaboration
2010 Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Yes
2011 7 Khoon Maaf Yes
2013 Vijay and I Yes
Ek Thi Daayan Collaboration
2015 Crimson Peak Yes
Chatô: O Rei do BrasilYes
2017RangoonYes
MadameYes
2022 Pinocchio Story
TBDRay Gunn [4] Yes

Uncredited writer

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

<i>THX 1138</i> 1971 film by George Lucas

THX 1138 is a 1971 American social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, the film stars Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, with Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie and Ian Wolfe in supporting roles. The film is set in a dystopian future in which the populace is controlled through android police and mandatory use of drugs that suppress emotions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Wilder</span> Austrian-American filmmaker (1906–2002)

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-born filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and two Golden Globe Awards.

<i>American Graffiti</i> 1973 US film directed by George Lucas

American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, and Wolfman Jack. Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock 'n' roll cultures popular among Lucas's age group at the time. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a group of teenagers and their adventures over the course of a night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Barwood</span> American novelist, video game developer, and filmmaker

Hal Barwood is an American screenwriter, film producer, film director, game designer, game producer, and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Strong</span> American actor and screenwriter

Danny Strong is an American actor, film and television writer, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doyle McMaster in Gilmore Girls. He also wrote the screenplays for Recount, the HBO adaptation Game Change, Lee Daniels' The Butler, and co-wrote the two-part finale of The Hunger Games film trilogy, Mockingjay – Part 1 and Mockingjay – Part 2. Strong also is a co-creator, executive producer, director, and writer for the Fox series Empire and created, wrote and directed the award-winning Hulu miniseries Dopesick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Murch</span> American film editor and sound designer

Walter Scott Murch is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on THX 1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Ghost and The English Patient, with three Academy Award wins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Ivory</span> American film director (born 1928)

James Francis Ivory is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. All three were principals in Merchant Ivory Productions, whose films have won seven Academy Awards; Ivory himself has been nominated for four Oscars, winning one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Kurtz</span> American film producer (1940–2018)

Gary Douglas Kurtz was an American film producer whose list of credits includes American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Return to Oz (1985). Kurtz also co-produced the 1989 science fiction adventure film Slipstream, which reunited him with Star Wars star Mark Hamill.

<i>Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB</i> 1967 American film

Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB is a 1967 social science-fiction short film written and directed by George Lucas while he attended the University of Southern California's film school. Lucas reworked the short into the 1971 theatrical feature THX 1138.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Gottlieb</span> American actor

Carl Gottlieb is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian, and executive. He is best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws (1975) and its first two sequels, as well as directing the 1981 film Caveman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drew Goddard</span> American screenwriter and director

Andrew Brion Hogan Goddard is an American filmmaker. He began his career writing episodes for the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost. After moving into screenwriting in film, he wrote Cloverfield (2008), World War Z (2013), and The Martian (2015), the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2011, he made his directorial debut with The Cabin in the Woods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence Winter</span> American television and film writer

Terence Patrick Winter is an American writer and producer of television and film. He is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014). Before creating Boardwalk Empire, Winter was a writer and executive producer for the HBO television series The Sopranos, from the show's second to sixth and final season (2000–2007).

A. Scott Frank is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Frank has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for Out of Sight (1998) and Logan (2017). His film work, credited and uncredited, extends to dozens of films. In recent years, he has worked for Netflix on television miniseries, most prominently writing and directing The Queen's Gambit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Boal</span> American screenwriter (born 1973)

Mark Boal is an American journalist, screenwriter, and film producer. Boal initially worked as a journalist, writing for outlets like Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Salon, and Playboy. Boal's 2004 article "Death and Dishonor" was adapted for the film In the Valley of Elah, which Boal also co-wrote.

The Dirty Dozen is the nickname for a group of filmmaking students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts within the University of Southern California during the mid-late 1960s. The main group consisted of budding directors, screenwriters, producers, editors, and cinematographers. Through innovative techniques and effects, they ended up achieving great success in the Hollywood film industry.

Lewis John Carlino was an American screenwriter and director. His career spanned five decades and included such works as The Fox, The Brotherhood, The Mechanic, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Resurrection, and The Great Santini. Carlino was nominated for many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

<i>Crimson Peak</i> 2015 film by Guillermo del Toro

Crimson Peak is a 2015 gothic romance film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver. The story, set in Edwardian-era England, follows an aspiring author who travels to a remote Gothic mansion in Cumberland, England with her new husband and his sister. There, she must decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home.

Vernon Zimmerman is an American writer and director who made his debut as director with the 1962 short Lemon Hearts starring Taylor Mead. He collaborated with Terrence Malick on the script to his directorial debut, the road movie, Deadhead Miles. Zimmerman wrote and directed the Claudia Jennings roller derby drive-in film Unholy Rollers. He is most well known for his horror slasher film Fade to Black, a dark and despairing psychological study of an awkward and alienated hardcore film buff who exacts a harsh revenge on his cruel tormentors. Zimmerman received a Saturn Award nomination as Best Director for the film, a predecessor to more well-known modern parodies of the horror genre. Vernon also wrote the scripts for the horror-Western Hex, the redneck crime exploitation film Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, the made-for-TV wrestling comedy/drama Mad Bull, the failed TV pilot film Shooting Stars, and the teen fantasy comedy Teen Witch. Zimmerman's latest film is the six-minute comic short Chuck and Wally on the Road. More recently Vernon has been working as a script analyst. He also teaches screen-writing courses at UCLA's Extension and Certificate Program. Zimmerman also taught classes on both writing feature scripts and directing actors for film and television at the USC School of Cinema and Television. Vernon Zimmerman lives in Los Angeles and is a member of both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

<i>The Father</i> (2020 film) Film by Florian Zeller

The Father is a 2020 psychological drama film directed by Florian Zeller, in his directorial debut; he co-wrote the screenplay with fellow playwright Christopher Hampton based on Zeller's 2012 play Le Père, which is part of a trilogy that also includes Le Fils and The Mother. A French-British co-production, the film stars Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, and Olivia Williams, and follows an octogenarian Welsh man living with dementia.

References

  1. Maslin, Janet (August 4, 1978). "Screen: Saga of a Car In 'Corvette Summer': A Double Debut". The New York Times . Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  2. "Krieger.jhu.edu". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  3. "How Hollywood and Bollywood Met for 'Susanna's Seven Husbands' (Berlin)". Hollywood Reporter. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  4. Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 17, 2022). "Skydance Animation Brings 'The Incredibles' Brad Bird Into Fold To Direct His Animated Film Creation 'Ray Gunn'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved March 20, 2022.