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Will Beall | |
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| Born | Walnut Creek, California, United States |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Spouse | |
Will Beall is an American screenwriter and former Los Angeles Police Department detective. He is best known for writing the scripts for Gangster Squad (2013) and the DC Extended Universe films Aquaman (2018) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), and for developing the police TV series Training Day and Deputy , which were canceled after a single season.
Beall launched his writing career in 2006 with the publication of his acclaimed first novel LA REX, after working for 10 years as a homicide detective and gang investigator with the Los Angeles Police Department. Beall adapted the book for Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin and the script was featured atop The Black List, Hollywood's annual survey of the industry's favorite screenplays. Between 2009 and 2011, he was a story editor for the ABC TV show Castle , writing several episodes exploring the show's overarching plotline of the hunt for Beckett's mother's killer. Beall wrote the feature film Gangster Squad , which was released in 2013 and starred Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin. The film was based on former Los Angeles Times writer and editor Paul Lieberman's book, Gangster Squad, a non-fiction account of what he calls "the battle for Los Angeles" that took place between the police and Mickey Cohen's crew in the mid-1940s.
Beall's script for Justice League was completed prior to production of Snyder's Batman vs. Superman . In fact, the 'Knightmare' sequence from Batman vs. Superman was inspired by Beall's Justice League script. Much of the second act of Beall's original Justice League script took place in a post-apocalyptic earth where Darkseid had manipulated Superman and then used the Kryptonian to conquer the world. The surviving members of the Justice League had to join forces with villains from the DC Universe in order to defeat Darkseid by sending Flash back in time to warn Batman prior to the invasion. Many of these elements were at least partially restored in the "Snyder Cut," resulting in Beall receiving story credit.[ citation needed ]
On the strength of his Justice League script, Beall was hired to develop Aquaman as a feature. He wrote multiple drafts and ultimately received both screenplay and story credit for his work on Aquaman, which grossed $1.149 billion worldwide.
Beall was also hired by Warner Bros. to write the screenplay for a reboot of the Lethal Weapon franchise. According to IGN, Beall is writing the script to The Legend of Conan, the sequel to Conan the Barbarian . [1] In an April 2022 article by Deadline Hollywood , Beall was announced to have written the screenplay for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F . [2]
Beall also did uncredited production rewrites for Non-Stop , Edge of Tomorrow , and Venom .
Beall married Castle producer and writer Elizabeth Davis on June 30, 2012 at Beltane Ranch in Sonoma Valley, California. [3]
While working in his Pacific Palisades office in 2019, Beall suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital by ambulance. While in route, Beall's heart stopped but — after 13 rounds of defibrillation and continuous CPR — "he had a return of spontaneous circulation" soon after arriving at the hospital. Beall was placed into a medically induced coma, but made a full recovery. In April 2019, he and his wife attended a ceremony for the Los Angeles firefighters and paramedics that helped save his life.
Film
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Gangster Squad | |
| 2018 | Aquaman | Co-written with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick |
| 2021 | Zack Snyder's Justice League | Story only |
| 2024 | Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F [4] | Co-written with Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten. Story credit. |
Television
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–2011 | Castle | Yes | No | No | Also executive story editor and story editor |
| 2017 | Training Day | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2020 | Deputy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr., and starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit detective who visits Beverly Hills, California, to solve the murder of his best friend. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, Paul Reiser, and Jonathan Banks appear in supporting roles.
Beverly Hills Cop III is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by John Landis, who had previously worked with Murphy on Trading Places and Coming to America. It is the third film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. Murphy again plays Detroit detective Axel Foley, who once again returns to Beverly Hills and teams up with detective Billy Rosewood to stop a gang of counterfeiters at a local amusement park called Wonder World.
Detective Alexander James "Axel" Foley is a fictional character, portrayed by Eddie Murphy, and is the titular protagonist of the Beverly Hills Cop film series. He is ranked No. 55 on Empire magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Sylvester Stallone was originally intended to be cast as Axel Foley.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 American superhero film based on the DC Comics characters Batman and Superman. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a follow-up to the 2013 film Man of Steel and the second film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, alongside Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Gal Gadot. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the first live-action film to feature Batman and Superman together, as well as the first live-action cinematic portrayal of Wonder Woman. In the film, criminal mastermind Lex Luthor manipulates Batman into a preemptive battle with Superman, who Luthor is obsessed with destroying.
Zachary Edward Snyder is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with Dawn of the Dead, a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since then, he has directed or produced a number of comic book and superhero films, including 300 (2007) and Watchmen (2009), as well as the Superman film that started the DC Extended Universe, Man of Steel (2013), and its follow-ups, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), as well as the director's cut of Justice League that was later released in 2021. He also directed the computer-animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), the psychological action film Sucker Punch (2011), the zombie heist film Army of the Dead (2021), and the space opera film Rebel Moon (2023).
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Since their first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28, various incarnations of the team have appeared in film, television, and video game adaptations.
Aquaman has made several appearances in numerous adaptations since his comic book debut in 1941. The character has also been referenced beyond the scope of traditional comics entertainment.
Chris Terrio is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, a BAFTA, and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work.
The Batman franchise, based on the fictional superhero Batman who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, has seen the release of various films. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the character first starred in two serial films in the 1940s: Batman and Batman and Robin. The character also appeared in the 1966 film Batman, which was a feature film adaptation of the 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, who also starred in the film. Toward the end of the 1980s, the Warner Bros. studio began producing a series of feature films starring Batman, beginning with the 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton. Burton and Keaton returned for the 1992 sequel Batman Returns, and in 1995, Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever with Val Kilmer as Batman. Schumacher also directed the 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, which starred George Clooney. Batman & Robin was poorly received by both critics and fans, leading to the cancellation of Batman Unchained.
DC Comics's Superman franchise, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in June 1938, has seen the release of various films since its inception. He debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts beginning in 1941, subsequently starring in two movie serials in 1948 and 1950. An independent studio, Lippert Pictures, released the first Superman feature film, Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves, in 1951. In 1973, the film rights to the Superman character were purchased by Ilya Salkind, Alexander Salkind, and Pierre Spengler. After numerous scripts and years in development, Richard Donner was hired as their director, filming Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) simultaneously. Donner had already shot eighty percent of Superman II with Christopher Reeve before it was decided to finish shooting the first film. The Salkinds fired Donner after Superman's release and commissioned Richard Lester as the director to finish Superman II. Lester also returned for Superman III (1983), and the Salkinds further produced the related 1984 spin-off Supergirl before selling the rights to Cannon Films, resulting in the poorly reviewed Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Ilya Salkind commissioned a fifth Superman script before Warner Bros. acquired the rights entirely in 1993.
Beverly Hills Cop is a film franchise of American action comedy films and an unaired television pilot based on characters created by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Danilo Bach. The films star Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop who travels to Beverly Hills, California to investigate a crime, even though it is out of his jurisdiction. There, he meets Detective Billy Rosewood, Sergeant John Taggart, and Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil. Ashton and Cox do not appear in Beverly Hills Cop III. Murphy and Reinhold are the only actors who appear in all four films. Harold Faltermeyer produced the "Axel F" theme song heard throughout the series. The first three films have been distributed by Paramount Pictures, while Netflix is set to distribute the fourth film. The films have grossed a total of $712 million at the worldwide box office.
Justice League is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Atlas Entertainment, and Cruel and Unusual Films and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon, the film features an ensemble cast including Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J. K. Simmons. In the film, following the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Batman and Wonder Woman recruit The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg after the death of Superman to save the world from the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that appear in American comic books published by DC Comics. The DCEU also includes comic books, short films, novels, and video games. Like the original DC Universe in comic books, the DCEU was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
Kurt Johnstad is an American screenwriter. He has worked on several films including 300, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award, along with Michael Gordon and Zack Snyder. He also wrote the screenplays for Act of Valor, 300: Rise of an Empire and Atomic Blonde, and was tapped to write one of two competing screenplays for Aquaman; Will Beall's script was eventually chosen for the film.
The 2017 film Justice League had a troubled production history. Its script and photography underwent major changes both before and during production, and there was a change in directors. This resulted in the theatrical release of a version that was markedly different from how the film had been conceived of during pre-production and principal photography.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film Justice League, the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of the same name appearing in DC Comics publications. It is intended to match director Zack Snyder's original vision for the film, prior to his departure from the production and subsequent studio interference. The film follows Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash, and a revived Superman as they form an alliance to stop the extradimensional New God Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons from conquering Earth for his overlord Darkseid.
Victor Stone, also known as Cyborg, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe. Based on the character of the same name appearing in publications from DC Comics, he is portrayed by Ray Fisher. Originally appearing as a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Stone had a prominent role in the film Justice League. Cyborg's role in the latter film was subject to controversy as his backstory was heavily trimmed down in the theatrical release, in addition to sparking a conflict between Fisher, Joss Whedon, who had replaced Zack Snyder as director during post-production, and subsequently DC Films. Nonetheless, the character also appeared in Snyder's director's cut of Justice League (2021) with his original arc restored.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on superhero films and other series starring various titular superheroes produced by DC Films / DC Studios, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by DC Comics. Despite numerous film series in the past on characters such as Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern, none of those film series were connected. The DCEU debuted in 2013 with Man of Steel, centered on Superman, and has grown to include other characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman, and several others included in this list. The shared universe, much like the original DC Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters, and crossed over with separate timelines from other DC-licensed film series in The Flash in order to create a "multiverse" before being largely rebooted as the new DC Universe franchise under new management from DC Studios.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) media franchise has experienced a turbulent history since its inception in 2013, characterized by highly publicized clashes between studio executives and talent, constantly changing approaches to worldbuilding, and repeated changes in management. Warner Bros. Pictures originally announced plans for a shared universe of live-action films based on the DC Comics, starting with the release of Man of Steel (2013), with director Zack Snyder set to spearhead the franchise. Following the negative reception to Snyder's follow-up film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. created DC Films, a new division led by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg tasked with overseeing development of the DCEU. DC Films attempted to correct the course of the franchise, culminating in the troubled production and disastrous release of the crossover film Justice League (2017), which significantly deviated from Snyder's original vision.
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