Michael Arndt

Last updated

Michael Arndt
Michael Arndt, 2007.jpg
Arndt in 2007
Born McLean, Virginia, U.S.
Pen nameMichael deBruyn
OccupationScreenwriter
Alma mater New York University
Years active1997–present
Notable works
Notable awards

Michael Arndt is an American screenwriter, who has written for the films Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Contents

Arndt won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Little Miss Sunshine and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Toy Story 3. This made Arndt the first screenwriter ever to be nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay for his first two screenplays.

He has also been credited under the pseudonyms Michael deBruyn and Rick Kerb, which are mainly used for script revisions. [1]

Early life and education

Arndt was born in McLean, Virginia. Arndt's father was a member of the Foreign Service, and as a result he lived in various countries, including Sri Lanka and India; he also lived in Virginia for a time. [2] Arndt graduated from Langley High School in McLean, and also attended The Potomac School. He graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. [2] Arndt was a script reader for some time, and was a personal assistant to actor Matthew Broderick until late 1999, [3] when he chose to begin writing screenplays full-time. [2] [3] [4]

Screenwriting career

"I figured I'd probably write 50 scripts in my life. Out of those 50, I figured maybe five would be produced, and that maybe one or two would be successful. So I always kind of expected I'd write at least one successful film in my life. [...] The way it all came together was kind of like Murphy's law in reverse—I don't expect that kind of experience again any time soon."

—Michael Arndt [3]

Arndt wrote the first draft of Little Miss Sunshine in three days between May 23–26, 2000. [5] From that initial draft, he made approximately 100 revisions over the course of a year, requesting input from friends and family. [2] [3] Arndt considered directing the film himself "as a no-budget, DV feature" due to his concern of the story being "just too small and "indie" to get any real attention from Hollywood". [3] After the Endeavor Talent Agency read the script in July 2001, however, producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa subsequently gave the script to commercial and music video directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who were immediately attracted to the project. [3] [4] [6] Dayton and Faris were signed on by producer Marc Turtletaub, who purchased the script from Arndt for $250,000, on December 21, 2001. [4] [5]

The project was set up at Focus Features, where it was in various stages of pre-production for approximately three years. During that time, Arndt was fired when he objected to centralizing the story on Richard Hoover (played by Greg Kinnear in the film), only to be re-hired within a month after the new writer hired by Focus left the project. [7] Arndt resumed work on the script, which continued through production and into post-production: "The final scene of the movie [...] was written and shot about eight weeks before [its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2006]", he said. [3] [4] Following its theatrical release on August 18, 2006, Little Miss Sunshine won many prizes and awards. Arndt won multiple Best Original Screenplay awards for Little Miss Sunshine, from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Writers Guild of America. He was later invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [8]

Arndt began collaborating with Lee Unkrich and other Pixar personnel on the screenplay for Toy Story 3 in 2006, [9] working from a treatment by Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote the two preceding films in the series. [10] [11] He was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work, and became the first ever screenwriter to be nominated for both Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay for his first two screenplays.

Arndt was one of several screenwriters brought on to perform script revisions for Men in Black 3 . [12] [13]

Arndt wrote the script for The Hunger Games sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. [14] Ten years later, he co-wrote the screenplay to the Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes .

In November 2012, Arndt was announced as the screenwriter for Star Wars: The Force Awakens . In October 2013, it was announced that Lawrence Kasdan and director J. J. Abrams were rewriting Arndt's script. [15]

Filmography

Writer

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2006 Little Miss Sunshine Jonathan Dayton
Valerie Faris
2010 Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich
2013 Oblivion Joseph Kosinski Credited as Michael deBruyn
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Francis Lawrence
2015 A Walk in the Woods Ken Kwapis Credited as Rick Kerb
Star Wars: The Force Awakens J. J. Abrams
2023 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Francis Lawrence

Assistant

Senior creative team

Awards and nominations

YearTitleAward/Nomination
2006 Little Miss Sunshine Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Writer
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Original Screenplay
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for New Generation Award
Palm Springs International Film Festival for Chairman's Vanguard Award
Nominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated–London Critics Circle Film Award for Screenwriter of the Year
Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay
2010 Toy Story 3 Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated–Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production
Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated–Bradbury Award
Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated–Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form
Nominated–San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Writing
Nominated–Scream Award for Best Scream-Play
Nominated–Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2013 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Nominated–Bradbury Award
Nominated–Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Saturn Award for Best Writing
Nominated–Bradbury Award
Nominated–Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay</span> Category of film award

The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, musicals, short stories, TV series, and other films and film characters. All sequels are also considered adaptations by this standard, being based on the story and characters of the original film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Towne</span> American screenwriter, producer, director and actor (1934–2024)

Robert Towne was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman, including The Tomb of Ligeia in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Kasdan</span> American filmmaker (born 1949)

Lawrence Edward Kasdan is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Force Awakens (2015), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). He also wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Bodyguard (1992), and is the writer-director of Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Dreamcatcher (2003).

<i>Toy Story 3</i> 2010 Pixar film

Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the Toy Story series and the sequel to Toy Story 2 (1999). It was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor of the first two films and the co-director of Toy Story 2, produced by Darla K. Anderson, and written by Michael Arndt, while Unkrich wrote the story along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, respectively, director and co-writer of the first two films. The film's ensemble voice cast includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and R. Lee Ermey. In Toy Story 3, Andy Davis, now a teenager, is going to college. Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys are accidentally donated to Sunnyside Daycare, a daycare center, by Andy's mother, and the toys must decide where their loyalties lie.

David Magee is an American screenwriter who was nominated for a 2004 Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Finding Neverland. Along with Simon Beaufoy, he wrote the screenplay for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, which was released in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Stanton</span> American filmmaker (born 1965)

Andrew Ayers Stanton is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998), directing Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), WALL-E (2008), and the live-action film, Disney's John Carter (2012), and co-writing all five and directing the upcoming latter in Toy Story films (1995–2026) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris</span> American filmmakers

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are a duo of American directors and producers for films and music videos. They started their career directing videos for such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M. and the Smashing Pumpkins. Together they directed the films Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Ruby Sparks (2012), and Battle of the Sexes (2017). They also directed the Netflix comedy series Living with Yourself (2019) and episodes of the Hulu series Fleishman Is In Trouble (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Craig</span> American novelist and screenwriter

Peter Craig is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for co-writing the screenplays to The Town (2010), The Batman, and Top Gun: Maverick, earning an Academy Award nomination for the lattermost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Davies</span> Australian writer

Luke Davies is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. His best known works are Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction and the screenplay for the film Lion, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Davies also co-wrote the screenplay for the film News of the World.

Eric R. Roth is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), A Star Is Born (2018), and Dune (2021) — winning for Forrest Gump; he also earned a Best Picture nomination for producing Mank (2020). Roth also worked on the screenplays for the Oscar-nominated films Ali (2001), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

Gary Ross is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing the fantasy comedy-drama film Pleasantville (1998), the sports drama film Seabiscuit (2003), the sci-fi action film The Hunger Games (2012), and the heist comedy film Ocean's 8 (2018). Ross has been nominated for four Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neill Blomkamp</span> South African and Canadian filmmaker (born 1979)

Neill Blomkamp is a South African and Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is known as the co-writer and director of the science fiction action film District 9 (2009), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the director of the dystopian science fiction action film Elysium (2013), which garnered moderately positive reviews. He also directed the science fiction action film Chappie (2015) and the sports drama film Gran Turismo (2023).

<i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> 2006 American dark tragicomedy road film

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, all of whom play members of a dysfunctional family taking the youngest (Breslin) to compete in a child beauty pageant. It was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005, and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California.

The 72nd New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2006, were announced on 11 December 2006 and presented on 7 January 2007.

The 32nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), honored the best in film for 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Sobieski</span> American screenwriter (1939–1990)

Carol Sobieski was an American screenwriter whose work included the scripts for Annie (1982) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991).

The Black List is an annual survey of the "most-liked" motion picture screenplays not yet produced. It has been published every year since 2005 on the second Friday of December by Franklin Leonard, a development executive who subsequently worked at Universal Pictures and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. The website states that these are not necessarily "the best" screenplays, but rather "the most liked", since it is based on a survey of studio and production company executives.

John Gatins is an American screenwriter, director, and actor. For writing the drama film Flight (2012), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Michael H. Weber is an American screenwriter and producer. He and his writing partner, Scott Neustadter, are best known for writing the screenplay for the romantic comedy film 500 Days of Summer. The film is based on two real relationships Neustadter had. They also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations of the novels The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns.

References

  1. ↑ Alloway, Meredith (April 6, 2014). "Oscar winner Michael Arndt talks screenwriting, and offers some advice". The Script Lab. TSL Media Inc. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wloszczyna, Susan (March 5, 2007). "Writing for an Oscar". USA Today . Retrieved July 9, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wood, Jennifer (February 3, 2007). "Family Values". MovieMaker Magazine . Retrieved July 9, 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Waxman, Sharon (January 23, 2006). "A Small Film Nearly Left for Dead Has Its Day in the Sundance Rays". The New York Times . Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  5. 1 2 Arndt, Michael (2007). Little Miss Sunshine: The Shooting Script . Newmarket. p. x. ISBN   978-1-55704-770-0.
  6. ↑ Goldstein, Patrick (February 20, 2007). "The unkindest cut". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  7. ↑ Guillen, Michael (February 23, 2007). "Michael Arndt, Little Mr. Sunshine". SF360 . Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ "Academy Invites 115 to Become Members" (Press release). AMPAS. June 18, 2007. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  9. ↑ Daly, Steve (February 16, 2007). "Toy's Out of the Attic". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 9, 2008.
  10. ↑ "2007 Disney Conference – Studio Presentation" (PDF). Disney Enterprises. February 8, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
  11. ↑ Fritz, Ben (February 8, 2007). "'Toy Story' sequel set". Variety . Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  12. ↑ Lee, Chris (May 21, 2012). "How Will Smith's 'Men in Black 3' Almost Became a Disaster Movie". Newsweek . Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  13. ↑ Lee, Chris (May 29, 2012). "The Movie Redemption of 'Men in Black 3' Scribe Etan Cohen". The Daily Beast . Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ Kit, Borys (May 5, 2012). "Michael Arndt in Talks to Re-Write 'Hunger Games' Sequel 'Catching Fire' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  15. ↑ Holslin, Peter (October 25, 2013). "Decoding the 'Star Wars' Writers' Drama". Rolling Stone . Retrieved December 22, 2015.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.