Shane Black | |
|---|---|
 Black in 2018 | |
| Born | (1961-12-16)December 16, 1961 (age 63) Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles(BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
| Notable work | |
Shane Black (born December 16, 1961)[1] is an American filmmaker and actor who has written such films asLethal Weapon,The Monster Squad,The Last Boy Scout,Last Action Hero, andThe Long Kiss Goodnight. He is also known as the original creator of theLethal Weapon franchise. As an actor, Black is best known for his role asRick Hawkins inPredator (1987).
He made his directorial debut with the filmKiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005. Black went on to write and directIron Man 3 (2013),The Nice Guys (2016), andThe Predator (2018).[2][3]
Black was born and raised inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[4] the son of Paul and Patricia Ann Black. His father was in the printing business,[1] and helped Black develop his interest inhardboiled fiction, including the works ofMickey Spillane and theMatt Helm series.[5] He grew up in the suburbs ofLower Burrell andMount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and later moved toFullerton, California, during his sophomore year of high school.[4] In Fullerton, he attendedSunny Hills High School.[6]
He attendedUCLA, where he majored in film and theater and graduated in 1983.[7] During his senior year, he decided to make a living in the film industry once his classmate,Fred Dekker, showed him a science fiction script he did for an assignment.[5]
Black's older brother, Terry Black, who also wrote short stories, decided to move into screenplays starting with 1988'sDead Heat, in which Shane had a cameo.[8]
After graduating, Black worked as a typist for a temp agency, a data entry clerk for the1984 Summer Olympics and an usher in aWestwood movie theater. Eventually he asked for financial support of his parents during the six-month development of a script,The Shadow Company, a supernatural thriller set inVietnam.[5] With Dekker's help, the script landed him an agent and several meetings with mid-level studio executives. This attracted20th Century Fox executives, who were interested in having Black rewrite scripts.[9]
Eventually Black wrote an action film script,Lethal Weapon, in about six weeks, which landed him a $250,000 deal withWarner Bros. During the rewrites, Black asked producerJoel Silver for a small acting role in another film Silver was preparing at the time,Predator, a film for which Black also made uncredited contributions to the script. At the same time, Black helped Dekker writeThe Monster Squad, which along withLethal Weapon andPredator came out in 1987.[5] Since then, Black has acted in five additional films and in two episodes for the TV seriesDark Justice.
Once Warner Bros. requested aLethal Weapon sequel, Black wrote the first draft ofLethal Weapon 2 with the help of novelistWarren Murphy. Although it was not used, Black said in later interviews that Warner Bros. did not like his original script forLethal Weapon 2, which was also titledPlay Dirty, because of how dark and violent it was and due to his decision to kill off main character Martin Riggs in the ending of the script. Black considers it to be his best work and the best script he has written.[10][11][12]
Feeling burned out and having conflicts with the studio, Black left the project after six months, earning $125,000 out of a $250,000 payment split with Murphy, for his work.[5][9] After two sabbatical years, Black decided to take on an old idea of his that emerged during the production ofLethal Weapon and turn it into a full screenplay. The result,The Last Boy Scout, earned him $1.75 million in 1991.[9] Black earned $1 million for his rewrite ofLast Action Hero in 1993.[13] He set a record by receiving $4 million for writingThe Long Kiss Goodnight in 1994.[14]
Black made his directorial debut with 2005'sKiss Kiss Bang Bang, and later directed (and co-wrote withDrew Pearce) 2013'sIron Man 3, which as of 2024 ranks as the twenty-fifth-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide.[15]
Black next directed and co-wroteEdge, apilot for a potential series forAmazon Studios. The film was released onvideo on demand but not picked up for a series. He followed this with the action comedyThe Nice Guys, starringRussell Crowe andRyan Gosling, and produced byJoel Silver.[16] Warner Bros. handled North American rights to the film,[17] which was released on May 20, 2016.[18]
Black next directed the fourth non-Alien-related film in thePredator series,The Predator, which he co-wrote with Fred Dekker.[2][19][3] The film was released on September 14, 2018.[20] Black hired his friend Steven Wilder Striegel for a minor, un-auditioned role inThe Predator (as well as, previously,Iron Man 3 andThe Nice Guys). Striegel spent six months in prison in 2010, having pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer after he had attempted to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship via email.Olivia Munn, an actress inThe Predator, insisted on having a scene with Striegel removed after she discovered his history.[21][22] Black initially defended his decision and his friend, but later rescinded them and released a public apology.
Black will next direct the filmPlay Dirty, an adaptation ofDonald E. Westlake'sParker novel series.[23]
Black's unrealized projects included an adaptation ofDoc Savage[24][25] andThe Destroyer, based on the series of paperback adventure novels that previously inspired the 1985 filmRemo Williams: The Adventure Begins, starringFred Ward. He was briefly attached by Warner Bros. in 2011 to direct a live-action American adaptation of the Japanese supernatural-thriller manga seriesDeath Note, bringing his collaborators Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry to write the screenplay, replacing Charley and Vlas Parlapanides as the project's previous screenwriters. By 2014, he had left the project, due to reported creative differences and other commitments. Director Adam Wingard was eventually hired to helm the project by 2015.[citation needed]
Black has a recognizable writing style characterized by stories in whichtwo main characters become friends, problematic protagonists who become better human beings at the end of the narrative,[26] and trade witty dialogue, featuring labyrinthine crime plots, often set duringChristmas time.[27] The quips he incorporates into his scripts are referred to as "Shane Blackisms", in which jokes about the story situations are included in the scene directions of the script.[28] He also sometimes directs comments at studio executives andscript readers. Examples of these include:
FromLethal Weapon:
EXT. POSH BEVERLY HILLS HOME – TWILIGHTThe kind of house that I'll buy if this movie is a huge hit. Chrome. Glass. Carved wood. Plus an outdoor solarium: A glass structure, like a greenhouse only there's a big swimming pool inside. This is a really great place to have sex.[29]
FromThe Last Boy Scout:
Remember Jimmy's friend, Henry, who we met briefly near the opening of the film? Of course you do, you're a highly-paid reader or development person.
This approach, which Black summed as "more open to the reader" and aimed at "trying to keep people awake", was described by himself as a combination ofWilliam Goldman, his mentor in screenwriting, andWalter Hill, who had a "terse and Spartan, punchy prose".[30] Black gave a list of techniques he uses when writing films in an interview withThe Guardian.[31]
Black explains that Christmas, which has been used as a backdrop inLethal Weapon,Last Action Hero,The Long Kiss Goodnight,Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,Iron Man 3 andThe Nice Guys (and in his original script forThe Last Boy Scout, although references to the date have been almost entirely eliminated from the film), is a touchstone for him, explaining:[27][32][33]
Christmas represents a little stutter in the march of days, a hush in which we have a chance to assess and retrospect our lives. I tend to think also that it just informs as a backdrop. The first time I noticed it wasThree Days of the Condor, theSydney Pollack film, where Christmas in the background adds this really odd, chilling counterpoint to the espionage plot. I also think that Christmas is just a thing of beauty, especially as it applies to places like Los Angeles, where it's not so obvious, and you have to dig for it, like little nuggets. One night, on Christmas Eve, I walked past a Mexican lunch wagon serving tacos, and I saw this little string, and on it was a little broken plastic figurine, with a light bulb inside it, of the Virgin Mary. And I thought, that's just a little hidden piece of magic. You know, all around the city are little slices, little icons of Christmas, that are as effective and beautiful in and of themselves as any 40-foot Christmas tree on the lawn of the White House. So that, in a lot of words, is the answer.[27]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Lethal Weapon | No | Yes | No | |
| The Monster Squad | No | Yes | No | ||
| 1989 | Lethal Weapon 2 | No | Story | No | |
| 1991 | The Last Boy Scout | No | Yes | Executive | |
| 1993 | Last Action Hero | No | Yes | No | |
| 1996 | The Long Kiss Goodnight | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2005 | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | Yes | Yes | No | Directorial debut |
| 2006 | A.W.O.L. | No | Yes | Executive | Short film |
| 2013 | Iron Man 3 | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2016 | The Nice Guys | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2018 | The Predator | Yes | Yes | No | |
| TBA | Play Dirty | Yes | Yes | Executive |
Uncredited script doctor
Unproduced
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Edge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pilot |
| 2016 | Lethal Weapon | No | Story | No | Episode "Pilot" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Night of the Creeps | Cop in Police Station | Uncredited |
| 1987 | Predator | Rick Hawkins | |
| 1988 | Dead Heat | Patrolman | |
| 1990 | The Hunt for Red October | USS Reuben James Crewman | Uncredited |
| 1991–1993 | Dark Justice | Caldecott Rush | 3 episodes |
| 1993 | RoboCop 3 | Donnelly | |
| Mike the Detective | Mike | Short film | |
| 1994 | Night Realm | Unknown | |
| 1997 | As Good as It Gets | Brian, Cafe 24 manager | |
| An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2002 | The Boy Scout | Henchman #2 | Short film |
| 2007 | Monkeys | Unknown | |
| 2013 | Agent Carter[37] | Disembodied Voice | Voice only; short film |
| 2015 | Any Day | Gino | |
| 2016 | Swing State | Luke | |
| 2018 | Wild Nothing | Phil | Short film |
Black received the Distinguished Screenwriter Award from theAustin Film Festival October 21, 2006. In 2005, he received the Best Original Screenplay award forKiss Kiss Bang Bang from the San Diego Film Critics Association.
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