Justin Zackham
| Justin Zackham |
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Justin Zackham is an American and British screenwriter, director and producer. He wrote the hit films The Bucket List, One Chance, and the FX series Lights Out, and The Big Wedding, which he also directed.
Personal life
Zackham graduated from NYU Film School.
Career
After moving to Los Angeles in the 1990s, Zackham wrote himself a "List of Things to Do Before I Kick the Bucket", which he shortened to "Justin's Bucket List". The first item on the list was to get a movie made at a major Hollywood studio. Several years later, that list became the idea for a screenplay which he wrote on spec before submitting to producers, nearly all of whom turned him down.
The script found its way to Rob Reiner who called Zackham after reading the first ten pages and said he would like it to be his next film, if that was okay with Zackham. The Bucket List was produced by Warner Bros. and starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman becoming an international hit. In 2012, the term bucket list was listed in both Webster's Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary.
In 2011, Zackham produced and directed his screenplay, The Big Wedding, with an all-star cast, featuring Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, and Robin Williams. The film was purchased by Lionsgate and was released April 26, 2013.
Zackham also wrote the original screenplay One Chance about Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts. David Frankel directed the film for The Weinstein Company starring Tony Award-winner James Corden, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney, Mackenzie Crook, and Alexandra Roach. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.[1] The film was shot in Italy and the United Kingdom.[2][3] The soundtrack includes a song, "Sweeter Than Fiction", by Taylor Swift.[4]
TV credits
Zackham is the creator and executive producer of the FX drama series Lights Out, about a former heavyweight champion facing bankruptcy and Alzheimer's disease.
He wrote Riverside, a 2007 television pilot, a coming of age semi-autobiographical drama about five guys and one girl in their late 20s who have been friends since they were kids and who struggle to maintain their tight-knit group in the face of adulthood.
Filmography
Screenplays
- Going Greek (2001)
- The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) (2007)
- The Big Wedding (Lionsgate) (2013)
- One Chance (The Weinstein Company) (2013)
Teleplays
- Riverside (CBS) (2007)
- Lights Out (FX) (2011)
Director
- Going Greek (2001)
- The Big Wedding (Lionsgate) (2013)
References
- ↑ "One Chance". TIFF. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
- ↑ "Filming wraps on David Frankel's One Chance". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- ↑ "Paul Potts biopic 'One Chance' filming wraps". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- ↑ Bamigboye, Baz (29 August 2013). "Taylor-made for a maestro: Pop singer Swift so moved by film charting BGT's Paul Potts's rise to unlikely maestro she penned song for it". Daily Mail. Retrieved 30 August 2013.