Robert Mark Kamen

Robert Mark Kamen
Born	The Bronx, New York, United States
Occupation	Screenwriter
Years active	1981–present

Robert Mark Kamen is an American screenwriter who has been writing major motion pictures for over twenty-five years. He is best known as creator and co-creator of the Karate Kid and Transporter franchises, as well as the 2008 action thriller Taken.

Collaboration with Luc Besson

Kamen is a frequent collaborator of French writer, director and producer Luc Besson—his co-creator on The Fifth Element, The Transporter, and Taken. The two first worked together on the Natalie Portman and Jean Reno thriller The Professional. After the success of Fifth Element, Besson invited Kamen to join him in his goal of creating a "mini-studio" in Europe, making "movies that would travel, international movies, you know, action movies."^[1]

Background and education

Kamen grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City.^[2] He received a B.A. from New York University and a Ph.D in American Studies from The University of Pennsylvania.

Personal

Kamen lives in New York, owns a vineyard in Sonoma, and commutes to work in Paris at Besson’s headquarters.^[3]

Filmography

• Taps (1981)
• Split Image (1982)
• The Karate Kid (1984)^[4]
• The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
• The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
• The Punisher (producer, rewriter)
• Gladiator (first version but not related to actual 1992 film)
• Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
• The Power of One (1992)
• A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
• The Devil's Own (1997, uncredited rewrite)^[5]
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
• The Transporter (2002)
• Black Sash (2003, TV creator)
• Transporter 2 (2005)
• Bandidas (2006)
• Taken (2008)
• Transporter 3 (2008)
• Taken 2 (2012)
• Brick Mansions (2014)
• Taken 3 (2015)

References

1. Shira Gotshalk, "The Script Assassin", Writers Guild of America, February, 2009.
2. Peter Hartlaub, "Robert Mark Kamen established his roots in Hollywood. But his heart is in the hills of Sonoma, where he tends to his vineyard," San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2004.
3. Shira Gotshalk, "The Script Assassin," Writers Guild of America, February, 2009.
4. Maslin, Janet (1984-06-22). "SCREEN 'KARATE KID,' BANE OF BULLIES". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
5. Degen Pener, "Dealing with the Devil," Entertainment Weekly, April 11, 1997. (Co-star Brad Pitt told the magazine, "Kamen came in and with all of us basically wrote it"; Kamen explained, "I would write dialogue in the trailer and an hour later hear the actors saying the lines.")

External links

• Robert Mark Kamen at the Internet Movie Database
• Writers Guild of America Interview with Kamen