Neil Burger | |
|---|---|
 Burger in June 2015 | |
| Born | Neil Norman Burger |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, writer, producer |
| Years active | 1987-present |
| Notable work | Interview with the Assassin , The Illusionist , Limitless , Divergent |
| Spouse | Diana Warner Kellogg (m. 1997) |
Neil Norman Burger is an American filmmaker. He is known for the fake-documentary Interview with the Assassin (2002), the period drama The Illusionist (2006), Limitless (2011), and the sci-fi action film Divergent (2014). [2]
Burger was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in fine arts, [3] he became involved with experimental film in the late 1980s and went on to direct music videos for such alternative artists as the Meat Puppets.[ citation needed ] He approached MTV about creating and directing a series of inspiring promotional announcements for what would be the MTV Books: Feed Your Head campaign against aliteracy.[ citation needed ] In association with Ridley Scott Associates, he directed commercials for companies including Mastercard, IBM and ESPN, and created a series of television spots for Amnesty International and their campaign for prisoners of conscience.[ citation needed ]
Burger made his directorial feature debut with Interview with the Assassin in 2002, which he also wrote. It won the Best Feature Film category at the Woodstock Film Festival and Avignon Film Festival, and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best First Film and Best First Screenplay.[ citation needed ]
Burger’s follow up feature was The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. His screenplay for the film was based on the short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival and the 2007 Deauville Film Festival. It was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards and Best Cinematography at the 2007 Academy Awards.[ citation needed ]
Burger's additional credits include the 2007 post-Iraq War indie drama The Lucky Ones, starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Peña; and Limitless (2011), starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, which opened at #1 at the box office and grossed over $160 million worldwide. [4] [5]
In 2014, Burger directed the film Divergent , based on the novel by Veronica Roth. Shailene Woodley starred alongside Theo James, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort and Ashley Judd. Released by Lionsgate, it grossed over $280 million worldwide,. Making it Burger's most commercially successful film to date.
Following Divergent, Burger directed the first two episodes of Showtime’s Wall Street drama Billions , starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. He then served as an executive producer on CBS’s TV adaptation of Limitless. His additional credits include the Divergent series films Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). [6]
Burger most recently directed The Upside , [7] a remake of the French hit The Intouchables . Starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, it was theatrically released in January 2019. [8]
Burger currently resides in New York City with his wife, architect Diana Kellogg, and their family. [1]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Interview with the Assassin | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2006 | The Illusionist | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2007 | The Lucky Ones | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2011 | Limitless | Yes | No | Executive |
| 2014 | Divergent | Yes | No | No |
| 2017 | The Upside | Yes | No | No |
| 2021 | Voyagers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | The Marsh King's Daughter | Yes | No | No |
| 2025 | Inheritance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Executive producer only
| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Books: Feed Your Head | Yes | No | Miniseries |
| 2015-2016 | Limitless | No | Yes | |
| 2016-2023 | Billions | Yes | Yes | Directed 6 episodes |
| 2025 | Motorheads | Yes | No | 2 episodes |
| 2025 | The Agency | Yes | No | 2 episodes |
TV movies
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Bryan Lee Cranston is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006). He has received a number of awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and two Golden Globes, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.
The Illusionist is a 2006 American romantic mystery film written and directed by Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel. Based loosely on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist", it tells the story of Eisenheim, a magician in turn-of-the-century Vienna, who reunites with his childhood love, a woman far above his social standing. It also depicts a fictionalized version of the Mayerling incident.
Travis Beacham is an American screenwriter, best known for writing and co-writing the films Dog Days of Summer (2007), Pacific Rim (2013), Clash of the Titans (2010), and proposing the concept for the Amazon Prime fantasy TV series Carnival Row (2019–2023).
Andrew Howard is a Welsh theatre, television and film actor.
David Levien is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's Billions, along with Brian Koppelman. Over the past two decades Levien has created an influential and diverse body of work in both film and television. Some of his most noteworthy credits include Ocean's Thirteen,Rounders, Solitary Man, The Illusionist, Runaway Jury, Tilt, and ESPN's 30 for 30 for which he won a sports Emmy.
Charles Dennis is a Canadian actor, playwright, journalist, author, director, and screenwriter.
Limitless is a 2011 American science-fiction thriller film directed by Neil Burger and written by Leslie Dixon. Loosely based on the 2001 novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn, the film stars Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Andrew Howard, and Anna Friel. The film follows Edward Morra, a struggling writer who is introduced to a drug called NZT-48, which gives him the ability to use his brain fully which helps him vastly improve his lifestyle.
The Intouchables, also known as Untouchable in the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia, is a 2011 French buddy comedy-drama film written and directed by Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. It stars François Cluzet and Omar Sy. The plot of the film is inspired by the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his French-Algerian caregiver Abdel Sellou, discovered by the directors in À la vie, à la mort, a documentary film.
Lee Toland Krieger is an American film director and screenwriter best known for the films The Vicious Kind (2009), Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012) and The Age of Adaline (2015).
Divergent is a 2014 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Neil Burger, based on the 2011 novel by Veronica Roth. The film is the first installment in The Divergent Series and was produced by Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, and Pouya Shahbazian, with a screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, and Kate Winslet. The story takes place in a dystopian and post-apocalyptic Chicago where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior is warned that she is Divergent and thus will never fit into any one of the factions. Soon, she learns that a sinister plot is brewing in the seemingly perfect society.
All the Way is a play by Robert Schenkkan, depicting President Lyndon B. Johnson's efforts to maneuver members of the 88th United States Congress to enact, and civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. to support, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The play takes its name from Johnson's 1964 campaign slogan, "All the Way with LBJ."
Divergent is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels by American novelist Veronica Roth set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. The trilogy consists of Divergent (2011), Insurgent (2012), and Allegiant (2013). A related book, Four (2014), presents a series of short stories told from the perspective of one of the trilogy's characters, the male love interest Tobias. A later short story, We Can Be Mended (2018), serves as an epilogue five years after the events of the trilogy, again from Tobias/Four's perspective.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant is a 2016 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Robert Schwentke with a screenplay by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Noah Oppenheim, and the third and final film in The Divergent Series. It was set to be the first of two cinematic parts based on the 2013 novel Allegiant of the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.
The Divergent Series is an American dystopian science fiction action film series based on the Divergent novels by the American author Veronica Roth. Distributed by Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate Films, the series is set in a dystopian society: Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. They have been produced by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shabazian, and Douglas Wick.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent is a 2015 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Robert Schwentke, based on the 2012 novel Insurgent, the second book in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. It is the sequel to the 2014 film Divergent and the second installment in The Divergent Series, produced by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shabazian and Douglas Wick, with a screenplay by Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman and Mark Bomback. Schwentke took over from Neil Burger as director, with Burger serving as the executive producer of the film. Along with the first film's returning cast, led by Shailene Woodley and Theo James, the sequel features supporting actors Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Suki Waterhouse, Rosa Salazar, Daniel Dae Kim, Jonny Weston, Emjay Anthony, and Keiynan Lonsdale.
Genevieve Rose Angelson is an American actress, best known for playing Alanis Wheeler on The Handmaid's Tale, Indigo on The Afterparty, Patti Robinson on Good Girls Revolt, and Ruth on Flack.
The Upside is a 2017 American comedy drama film directed by Neil Burger, written by Jon Hartmere. It is a remake of the French 2011 film The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the lives of Abdel Sallou and Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. The film follows a paralyzed billionaire who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a recently paroled convict whom he hires to take care of him. Nicole Kidman, Golshifteh Farahani, and Julianna Margulies also star. It is the third remake of The Intouchables after the Indian film Oopiri, and the Argentinian film Inseparables (2016).
Allegiant is a science fiction novel for young adults, written by the American author Veronica Roth and published by HarperCollins in October 2013. It completes the Divergent trilogy that Roth started with her debut novel Divergent in 2011. The book is written from the perspective of both Beatrice (Tris) and Tobias (Four). Following the revelations of the previous novel, they journey past the city's boundaries to discover what lies beyond.
Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was a French businessman who was the director of Pommery and the owner of the inherited historic hôtel particulier in Paris.
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