Gary Ross

For the baseball player, see Gary Ross (baseball). For the energy economist, see Gary N. Ross.
Gary Ross
Born (1956-11-03) November 3, 1956
Los Angeles, California, United States[1]
Occupation Writer, producer, director
Years active 1986–present
Children 2

Gary Ross (born November 3, 1956)[2] is an American film director, writer, and author. He directed the film The Hunger Games, as well as Pleasantville and the Best Picture nominated Seabiscuit.

Life and career

Ross was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Gail and Arthur A. Ross, the latter of whom was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Brubaker). His family is Jewish.[3] He attended (though did not graduate from) the University of Pennsylvania, worked as a fisherman, worked on Ted Kennedy's 1980 Presidential campaign, consulted on both Michael Dukakis's and Bill Clinton's Presidential campaigns, and wrote a novel before being hired to write screenplays for Paramount Pictures.[4]

Big was his first produced screenplay. Co-written with Anne Spielberg (sister of Steven), it led to an Academy Award nomination and a Writers Guild of America Award. He went on to write several other successful films, including Dave in 1993. In 1998, he wrote and directed Pleasantville, and in 2003, he wrote, directed and produced Seabiscuit, based on Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film earned seven Academy Award nominations.

Ross took on the high-profile project of co-adapting and directing the film adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. The film was released on March 23, 2012, and earned $672,826,249 worldwide as of June 2012.[5] Although the movie was financially and critically successful, Ross opted to not adapt or direct the sequels, citing the rushed production schedule as his main reason.

Ross also wrote and produced the animated feature The Tale of Despereaux, based on the Newbery Medal-winning children's book by Kate DiCamillo. His first book, Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind, was published by Candlewick Press in 2012. A children's book, it is written completely in verse.

In August 2012, Ross was announced as the director of the upcoming film adaption of the novel Peter and the Starcatchers, by Walt Disney Pictures.

Awards

Filmography

Year(s) Title Director Writer Producer
1988 Big No Yes Yes
1992 Mr. Baseball No Yes No
1993 Dave No Yes No
1994 Lassie No Yes No
1997 Trial and Error No No Yes
1998 Pleasantville Yes Yes Yes
2003 Seabiscuit Yes Yes Yes
2008 The Tale of Despereaux No Yes Yes
2012 The Hunger Games Yes Yes No
2016 Free State of Jones Yes Yes Yes
2018 Ocean's Eight Yes Yes Yes

References

  1. ↑ "Cheat Sheet: Gary Ross". Bestforfilm. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Gary Ross Bio". Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  3. ↑ http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/21842/celebrity-jews/
  4. ↑ "Gary Ross Biography". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  5. ↑ "Hunger Games". IMDb. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.