Jon Spaihts

Jon Spaihts
Born New York City, New York
Other names Jonathan Spaihts[1]
Occupation Screenwriter, Author
Years active 1996–present
Spouse(s) Johanna Watts

Jon Spaihts is an American screenwriter and author.

Career

As a screenwriter Spaihts became known in the film industry as a "go-to-guy for space thrillers" when his science fiction romance Passengers was included on the 2007 Black List of unproduced high-value screenplays.[2] Keanu Reeves and Stephen Hamel had hired Spaihts to write the film after originally becoming attached to Spaihts' now abandoned science fiction script Shadow 19.[3] After Reeves agreed to produce with Hamel and star in Passengers,[4] Spaihts was commissioned by Scott Free to write the next installments in the Alien saga, two prequel films to be directed by Ridley Scott, which eventually turned into the more autonomous story Prometheus, ultimately revised by Damon Lindelof.[5] For New Regency Spaihts also wrote the screenplay to the alien invasion thriller The Darkest Hour, based on a story by Leslie Bohem and M.T. Ahern.[6]

Spaihts has worked on a film version of St. George and the Dragon for Sony Pictures, and originated a Disney film project called Children of Mars. In 2012 he entered a two-picture deal at Jerry Bruckheimer Films to adapt Ashley Wood's graphic novel World War Robot[7] and write a space adventure film based on his own original pitch.[8] Spaihts was also commissioned to write the reboot of The Mummy franchise for Universal to be produced by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Sean Daniel.[9] In 2013 Spaihts began work on the story for the Black Hole remake by Walt Disney Studios.[10] In 2014 he was hired by Marvel Studios to revise the script for the live action Doctor Strange film.[11]

The rights to his early science-fiction screenplay Passengers had originally been sold to the Weinstein Company, with Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon set to star and Game of Thrones director Brian Kirk at the helm.[12] The project is currently greenlit by Sony Pictures to be produced by Original Film and Company Films, directed by Morten Tyldum, and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.[13]

Personal life

Jon Spaihts was born in New York. His father Jim Spaihts is an electronics engineer, and his mother Jean a computer programmer.[14] Spaihts is an alumnus of Princeton University[15] and has written several books for The Princeton Review.[16] Spaihts lives and works in Venice, California,[15] and is married to actress Johanna Watts.[17] He is also a photographer.

Filmography

Year Film Notes
2011 The Darkest Hour screenplay and story
2012 Prometheus co-writer
2016 Doctor Strange screenplay
2016 Passengers screenplay
2017 The Mummy writer
2017 Pacific Rim 2 writer

References

  1. ↑ Jonathan Spaihts. Linked Authority File. OCLC/Library of Congress.
  2. ↑ Leonard F (ed.). 2007. 2007 Black List, s.v. "Passengers by Jon Spaihts". 5. Cf. Halbfinger DM. 2007. "Tomorrow’s Oscar Hopefuls Today". The New York Times (2007-12-08).
  3. ↑ Fleming M. 2009. "Alien prequel takes off". Variety (2009-07-30).
  4. ↑ Sciretta P. 2007. "The Hottest Unproduced Screenplays of 2007". Slashfilm (2007-12-09).
  5. ↑ Aspin, M. 2012. "Read The Original Alien-Style Prometheus Script".. What Culture (2012-11-13).
  6. ↑ Siegel T. 2010. "Hirsch signs on for The Darkest Hour". Variety (2010-04-10).
  7. ↑ Radish, Christina (2012-04-09), "Screenwriter Jon Spaihts Talks Prometheus, World War Robot, Children of Mars, George and the Dragon, and More", Collider, archived from the original on 2012-04-10, retrieved 2012-04-10.
  8. ↑ Chitwoold, Adam (2012-02-11), "Jerry Bruckheimer to Produce Space Adventure Film", Collider, archived from the original on 2012-05-02, retrieved 2012-04-02.
  9. ↑ Goldberg, Matt (2012-04-04), "Prometheus Co-Writer Jon Spaihts to Reboot The Mummy Franchise", Collider, archived from the original on 2012-05-02, retrieved 2012-04-10; Universal Studios press release in: (2012-05-01), "Universal Signs Kurtzman and Orci; Pair Takes On The Mummy and Van Helsing", Deadline, archived from the original on 2012-05-02, retrieved 2012-05-01.
  10. ↑ Baxter, Joseph (April 5, 2013). "The Black Hole Remake Lands Prometheus Writer". TheFeed.
  11. ↑ Fleming, Jr, Mike (June 18, 2014). "Marvel Setting Jon Spaihts To Script ‘Doctor Strange’". Deadline. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
  12. ↑ Brzeski, Patrick (2013-05-21), "Cannes: Weinstein Co. Picks Up Reeves-Witherspoon Space Romance Passengers", The Hollywood Reporter, archived from the original on 2013-06-23, retrieved 2013-06-23.
  13. ↑ Donnelly, Matt (2015-06-16), "Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence Sci-Fi Romance "Passengers" Greenlit at Sony Pictures", TheWrap, archived from the original on 2015-06-17, retrieved 2015-06-17.
  14. ↑ Olson, Pamry (2012-05-01), "Prometheus Screenwriter: Humans Will Never Reach Another Star, And Other Sobering Views On The Future", Forbes, p. 2, archived from the original on 2012-05-02, retrieved 2012-05-02.
  15. 1 2 Cf. Spaihts' profile on Facebook.
  16. ↑ E.g. Spaihts J. 1997. Student advantage guide to the best graduate programs: humanities and social sciences. New York: Random House (The Princeton Review Series). ISBN 978-0-679-76911-8; cf. also WorldCat entries of Spaihts' publications below.
  17. ↑ Cf. Watts' profile on Facebook; see also Johanna Watts at the Internet Movie Database.

External links

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