Paul Wernick | |
|---|---|
 Wernick at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con | |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, producer |
| Spouse | Rita Hsiao [1] |
| Children | 2 |
Paul Wernick is a Canadian screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for Zombieland (2009), Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) with his creative partner Rhett Reese.
Wernick has produced several network reality shows, including CBS's Big Brother 2 and ABC's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! . Wernick won three Emmy Awards for his work in news, [2] which included producing stints at KVOA, KOLD, KTVK, KSL and KCAL.
Big Brother 2 inspired Wernick and Rhett Reese, a screenwriter friend of his brother back from Phoenix, Arizona, where both attended high school to create their own take on reality television, The Joe Schmo Show . [3] [4] Broadcast on Spike TV, the series drew the highest ratings for the channel. [5] The Joe Schmo Show was also named on numerous Best Of lists, including Time magazine's "Top 10 TV Shows of 2003" and Entertainment Weekly's "50 Best TV Shows Ever on DVD." [6] [7]
In 2004, Reese and Wernick created and executive-produced Stuck on ODB, a comedy reality show starring Ol' Dirty Bastard (ODB) of the Wu Tang Clan for Spike TV. However, ODB died before the show ever aired. [8] A year later, Wernick and Reese followed up with Invasion Iowa , a high-concept, high-stakes comedy hybrid starring William Shatner. The show premiered on Spike on March 29, 2005. [9]
Wernick and Reese's first feature collaboration was the 2009 film Zombieland , which they created and also executive-produced. The film was released by Sony Pictures on October 2, 2009, and became the highest-grossing zombie film at the time. [10]
Wernick and Reese followed Zombieland with Paramount Pictures' G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), [11] [12] starring Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, and Bruce Willis. The sequel outperformed the original, grossing $375 million. [13]
In February 2012, it was announced Universal Studios had acquired Wernick and Reese's script for a feature film adaptation of Cowboy Ninja Viking . [14] In September 2012, their original science fiction spec screenplay Epsilon was sold to Sony Pictures, with plans to co-produce with Michael De Luca. [15] In April 2015, Wernick and Reese had optioned Thomas Oliver's book The Real Coke, The Real Story to produce a film about the failed launch of New Coke. [16]
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Zombieland | Yes | Yes | Ruben Fleischer |
| 2013 | G.I. Joe: Retaliation | Yes | No | Jon M. Chu |
| 2016 | Deadpool | Yes | Yes | Tim Miller |
| 2017 | Life | Yes | No | Daniel Espinosa |
| 2018 | Deadpool 2 | Yes | Yes | David Leitch |
| 2019 | 6 Underground | Yes | Yes | Michael Bay |
| Zombieland: Double Tap | Yes | Yes | Ruben Fleischer | |
| 2022 | Spiderhead | Yes | No | Joseph Kosinski |
| 2023 | Ghosted | Yes | No | Dexter Fletcher |
| 2024 | Deadpool & Wolverine | Yes | Yes | Shawn Levy |
| Year | Title | Writer | Producer | Creator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Invasion Iowa | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2003–2004, 2013 | The Joe Schmo Show | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2019 | Wayne | Yes | Executive | No |
| 2023 | Twisted Metal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Joe Schmo Show is a reality television hoax show created by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. The series was broadcast in the U.S. on the cable network Spike. On December 10, 2012, Spike announced it was bringing The Joe Schmo Show back for a third season, which premiered on January 8, 2013.
Invasion Iowa is a television series that aired on Spike TV beginning on March 29, 2005, on ITV4 beginning on November 3, 2005, and The Comedy Channel in April 2007.
X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. 20th Century Fox obtained the film rights to the team and other related characters in 1994 for $2,600,000. After numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct the first film, released in 2000, and its sequel, X2 (2003), while the third installment of the original trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), was directed by Brett Ratner.
Zombieland is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, and Bill Murray. In the film, Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin) make their way on an extended crosscountry road trip to find a sanctuary free from zombies.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a 2013 American military science fiction action film based on the G.I. Joe toy line. It is the second installment in the G.I. Joe film series and the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by the writing team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the film features an ensemble cast with Lee Byung-hun, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Channing Tatum, and Arnold Vosloo reprising their roles from the previous film, while Luke Bracey and Robert Baker take over the role of Cobra Commander, replacing Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and D. J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, Bruce Willis, and Dwayne Johnson round out the principal cast. In the film, heavy machine gunner Roadblock (Johnson), along with the surviving G.I. Joes, exacts vengeance on Cobra for his intelligence and infantry specialist Duke (Tatum) and their comrades' deaths, after a Pakistan incident involving nuclear warheads in which the Joes become traitors.
Rhett Reese is an American screenwriter. His early credits included Clifford's Really Big Movie and Cruel Intentions 3. He has collaborated with Paul Wernick, writing the films Zombieland, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Life, as well as Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Together they also created the reality series The Joe Schmo Show.
G.I. Joe is a series of American military science fiction action films based on the toy line of the same name. Development for the first film began in 2003, but when the United States launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Hasbro suggested adapting the Transformers instead. In 2009, the first film was released, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. A second film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, was released in 2013. A third film, centered on Snake Eyes titled Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, also serving as a reboot of the series, was released in 2021, and a fourth film, G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant, is confirmed to be in active development. A crossover film with the Transformers film series is also being developed.
Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is a spin-off in the X-Men film series and the eighth installment overall. Directed by Tim Miller and written by the writing team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, and Brianna Hildebrand. In the film, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him mutant abilities and a scarred physical appearance, becoming the antihero Deadpool.
Timothy Miller is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film directing debut with Deadpool (2016). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as co-story writer and executive producer of the short animated film Gopher Broke (2004). Miller directed Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), and also designed the title sequences of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Thor: The Dark World. He is the creator, showrunner and producer of the animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots, for which he has received several Primetime Emmy nominations and awards.
Deadpool 2 is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to Deadpool (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the X-Men film series. The film was directed by David Leitch and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds, who stars in the title role alongside Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, and Jack Kesy. In the film, Deadpool forms the X-Force to protect a young mutant from the time-traveling soldier Cable.
Chelsey Crisp is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her role as Honey Ellis on the ABC television sitcom Fresh Off the Boat.
No Good Deed is a 2017 American superhero short film featuring the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. The film was directed by David Leitch from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, with Ryan Reynolds starring as Deadpool. In No Good Deed, Wade Wilson tries to save an old man from a mugger, but fails because he takes the time to change into his Deadpool costume first.
Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the eighth installment of the X-Men film series. The film was directed by Tim Miller from a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, and Stefan Kapičić. In Deadpool, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him mutant abilities, but also a scarred physical appearance, as the wisecracking, fourth wall-breaking antihero Deadpool.
Zombieland: Double Tap is a 2019 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and David Callaham. The sequel to Zombieland (2009), it stars an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch. In the film, Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), and Wichita (Stone) face evolved zombies and encounter other survivors as they travel from the White House to Graceland to search for Little Rock (Breslin).
Zombieland is an American media franchise centering on a college aged kid making his way through the zombie apocalypse, meeting three strangers along the way and together taking an extended road trip across the Southwestern United States in an attempt to find a sanctuary free from zombies over the following decades. It consists of two films and two tie-in-games. The films are produced by Pariah and 2.0 Entertainment, a division of Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures. The series features Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Two films have been released in the series thus far: the original film of the same name in 2009, and a sequel Zombieland: Double Tap in 2019.
Ghosted is a 2023 American romantic action-adventure comedy film directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by the writing teams of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, from a story by Reese and Wernick. The film stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.
Twisted Metal is an American post-apocalyptic action comedy television series developed by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Michael Jonathan Smith. Based on the vehicular combat video game franchise of the same name published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the series stars Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Seanoa, Will Arnett and Thomas Haden Church. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, John Doe, a talkative milkman with amnesia, is given a mission to traverse the desolate United States to deliver a mysterious package with unknown contents. He faces a life-altering opportunity but must confront ruthless marauders in deadly and destructive vehicles to secure a chance at a better future.
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