Chris Terrio (born December 31, 1976) is an Americanscreenwriter andfilm director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 filmArgo, for which he won theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.^[1] Terrio also won theWriters Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012^[2] and was nominated forGolden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, aBAFTA, and the 2013Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work.

Terrio wrote the screenplay forBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the follow-up toZack Snyder'sMan of Steel, based on an earlier draft byDavid S. Goyer, and is credited as co-writer for the 2017 filmJustice League, alongsideJoss Whedon for the theatrical cut andZack Snyder andWill Beall for the2021 director's cut for Warner Bros.^[3] He completed another screenplay,A Foreigner, based on an article by the journalistDavid Grann. Terrio also co-wrote the script forStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with directorJ. J. Abrams.

Terrio was raised in a Catholic family inStaten Island, and graduated fromSt. Joseph by the Sea High School.^[4][5][6] He is ofItalian,Irish,^[7] andAcadian descent.^[8] He graduated in 1997 fromHarvard University, where he studied English literature and German phenomenology, lived inAdams House, and participated in theHarvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club and theHasty Pudding Theatricals.^[9]

Terrio attendedUniversity of Cambridge for hisMLitt,^[10] but eventually decided to enroll in film school.^[5] He received his master's degree from theUSC School of Cinematic Arts in 2002.^[11]

At age 26, Terrio directed the feature filmHeights (Sony Pictures Classics, 2005), which premiered at theSundance Film Festival. It follows a pivotal twenty-four hours in the interconnected lives of five New Yorkers. It starsGlenn Close,Elizabeth Banks,James Marsden andJesse Bradford, and featuresIsabella Rossellini,George Segal andRufus Wainwright in small roles. It was one of the final films produced byIsmail Merchant andRichard Hawley. The film won a "Best Independent Feature Film Casting" award from theCasting Society of America, USA in 2005.

In 2010, he directed the episode "I Look Like Frankenstein", which was Episode 8 in Season 3 ofDamages onFX.

In 2002, he directed, wrote and produced a short film titledBook of Kings, which starredAasif Mandvi among others. It premiered at the first annualTribeca Film Festival in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Terrio wrote the script forArgo, winning theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the screenplay, and theWriters Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His screenplay was also nominated for Best Screenplay awards from theGolden Globes and theBAFTA Awards. For theArgo screenplay, he also won Best Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay honors from theLos Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, theOnline Film Critics Society Awards, theAustin Film Critics Association, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, theSan Diego Film Critics Society Awards, the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, the 2013University of Southern California (USC) Scripter Award, and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards. He loosely adapted the screenplay based on aWired article by Joshuah Bearman titled "The Great Escape" and the memoir ofTony Mendez,The Master of Disguise, supplementing that material with extensive research of his own.

Terrio recalls the experience of writing a dialogue-intensive scene forArgo:

Scene 58--nine men sitting in a conference room talking through scenarios for cover stories to get Americans out of Iran--was difficult. There's nothing to cut to except the actors' faces. The tension has to come from the subtle shifts of power. CIA and State Department officials debate ideas, each worse than the last. I knew the crucial beat would come when our hero, Tony Mendez, speaks up. He couldn't seem disrespectful, yet he had to make his case. I settled on the idea that Mendez would throw a spitball into the conversation with a joke about giving the bicycle escapees Gatorade. The table would go silent. The attention of the room would shift to the court jester. I also had to determine whether Gatorade was on the market and a commonly recognized brand in December 1979. I celebrated when I found a magazine from the year before featuring a dehydrated athlete with aVillage People moustache: 'Gatorade: When You're Thirsty to Win.'^[12]

Terrio also had previously written the screenplays for two films he directed: the feature filmHeights, which screened at theSundance Film Festival, and the award-winning short filmBook of Kings.

Terrio re-wroteDavid S. Goyer's script forWarner Bros.'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016),^[13] and also wrote the screenplay for the ensemble filmJustice League (2017).^[14] On January 30, 2017, it was announced that Terrio had performed a re-write on Ben Affleck's script for an untitled Batman movie, which Affleck co-wrote with DCEU co-runner and producerGeoff Johns.^[15]

Terrio has also been hired byParamount Pictures andIndian Paintbrush to write the script for the dramaA Murder Foretold, based on an article inThe New Yorker byDavid Grann related to a number of high-profile murders in Guatemala.^[16] Terrio hopes to direct his own screenplay.

Terrio has completed the adaptation ofHarlan Coben's novelTell No One for Warner Bros., withBen Affleck being attached to direct.^[17]Guillaume Canet has already directed a French film in an independent adaptation of this novel.

In addition, Terrio wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation ofRichard II, which directorJames Ivory intends to film in 3D.^[18]

On September 12, 2017, it was announced that Terrio would be co-writing the script forStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with directorJ. J. Abrams. The film was released on December 20, 2019.^[19][20]

On May 20, 2020, it was announced thatZack Snyder's Justice League will be released onHBO Max in 2021. Terrio is credited with the screenplay and story.^[21]

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Terrio has also edited the documentary shortFirst Out.

He worked on the Ivory–Merchant films (directed byJames Ivory)Le Divorce andThe Golden Bowl. He was also previously an assistant to Ivory.

Terrio also served as an assistant director on the short filmEquation, directed by Anuj Majumdar, and was also a grip on the short filmAwake, directed by Lori Lovoy-Goran. She won a DGA Student Film Award and aSXSW Competition Award for her documentary short filmIn Between Days.

Other credits

• Chris Terrio atIMDb
• A Biography of Chris Terrio and an Analysis of His Writing Techniques
• IFC picks up short film. Accessed July 3, 2006.
• Interview with Terrio at About.com. Accessed July 3, 2006.

• 1976 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American male writers
• 21st-century American screenwriters
• Alumni of the University of Cambridge
• American male screenwriters
• American people of Irish descent
• American television directors
• American writers of Italian descent
• Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
• Catholics from New York (state)
• Film directors from New York City
• Hasty Pudding alumni
• St. Joseph by the Sea High School alumni
• USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
• Writers Guild of America Award winners
• Writers from Staten Island
• Screenwriters from New York City

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