McG | |
|---|---|
 McG atWonderCon in 2009 | |
| Born | Joseph McGinty Nichol (1968-08-09)August 9, 1968 (age 57) Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater | UC Irvine (BA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Notable work | Charlie's Angels We Are Marshall Terminator Salvation This Means War The Babysitter |
| Television | Fastlane The O.C. Supernatural Chuck |
Joseph McGinty Nichol (born August 9, 1968), known professionally asMcG, is an American film director, film producer, and former record producer.
McG began his career in the music industry, directing music videos and producing various albums. He later rose to prominence with his debut theatrically released narrative feature,Charlie's Angels, which had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a directorial debut at the time. Since then, he has directed several other films, includingTerminator Salvation,This Means War, andThe Babysitter. On television, McG co-createdFastlane withJohn McNamara and executive producedThe O.C.,Supernatural, andChuck.
McG also owns a production company,Wonderland Sound and Vision, founded in 2001, which has overseen the production of the films and television shows he has worked on sinceCharlie's Angels: Full Throttle.
Joseph McGinty Nichol was born inKalamazoo, Michigan, and grew up inNewport Beach, California. As his uncle and grandfather were also named Joe, his mother nicknamed him "McG" to avoid confusion.[1]
McG attendedCorona del Mar High School, where he metMark McGrath. Initially he wanted to become the lead singer of a band he formed with McGrath. However, he failed as a front man and persuaded McGrath to take over. Instead he worked behind the scenes as producer and marketer for the band until he was 22. He then obtained aBachelor of Arts inpsychology fromUC Irvine. McG thought of attending medical school afterwards, but tired of studying, he formed a record label known as G Recordings in 1993, working on his hobby as a still photographer, shooting local bands and musicians, along with earning money driving a delivery truck. He eventually brought to the latter job McGrath, who had been in a state of depressive apathy after graduating, and decided to again try his hand fronting a band.[2][3] The band had several hit singles asSugar Ray, signed with a label, and went on tour.[4] McGrath has said McG has been a "psychologist, therapist and [musical] collaborator" to him, including convincing him to record "Fly", which would become Sugar Ray's breakout hit, given McGrath previously did not feel he had the singing voice to perform the song well.[3]
In 1995, McG producedSugar Ray'sfirst album and co-wrote several songs ontheir second.[5] He borrowed $3,500 from his father to make a music video for the song "Caboose", which helped the band get signed withAtlantic Records and started his career as a music video director. His work doing the first threeKorn music videos led to a stint withCypress Hill, and afterwards McG became highly sought with over fifty music video credits such asSublime's "Santeria",Smash Mouth's "All Star", andThe Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", along with documentaries on Korn and Sugar Ray.[3] In 1997, he was awarded theBillboard's Pop Video of the Year Award for Smash Mouth's "Walkin' on the Sun" and the Music Video Production Association's Pop Video of the Year Award for Sugar Ray's "Fly".[6] Eventually, this landed him in the television commercial business, directing advertisements forMajor League Baseball andCoca-Cola. A notable one was a commercial forGap, which was honored at the 1999London International Film Festival.[7]
Impressed with McG's music videos,Drew Barrymore approached him about directing afilm adaptation ofCharlie's Angels. He accepted, wanting to take on bigger projects, and pitched the movie to the studio executives, who were initially reluctant but later approved the project after much persistence. The film, for which he was paid $350,000, was released in 2000 and went on to gross over $250 million worldwide with mixed critical reception from critics and fans alike. However, he won the Hollywood Breakthrough Award at the 6th AnnualHollywood Film Festival held in 2002.[6] Sony paid him $2.5 million to direct the military action-dramaDreadnought for Red Wagon Entertainment.[8] He was also set to develop a sequel toCharlie's Angels and present his film producing debut withAirshow, the latter of which has yet to be made.[9]
In February 2002,Jon Peters andLorenzo di Bonaventura attached him onto the fifth installment in theSuperman film series that was indevelopment hell, thus putting his previous projects on hold. McG and Peters hiredJ. J. Abrams to pen a new script for the film entitledSuperman: Flyby, which was submitted in July 2002.[10] Bailing out of the project in favor ofCharlie's Angels: Full Throttle in September 2002, McG was replaced byBrett Ratner.[11] Meanwhile, he developed and co-created a television series withJohn McNamara calledFastlane (2002), which was eventually canceled after one season due to the high costs of each episode.[12]Josh Schwartz approached him and his producing partner,Stephanie Savage, about another television series as well,The O.C. (2003), which revolved around the lives of several teenagers based in McG's hometown of Newport Beach.[13][14] McG was set to direct the pilot, but because of scheduling conflicts withCharlie's Angels: Full Throttle, he was replaced byDoug Liman.[15] The show ended after four seasons in 2007.[12]
The sequel toCharlie's Angels followed in 2003, and although not as successful as the first,Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) also made over $250 million worldwide.[7] Shortly thereafter,Sony extended its first-look production deal withWonderland Sound and Vision for an additional three years, withHot Wheels,Airshow, andRadiant on their film slate.[16] Since then, none of those films have been developed with the former, which was previously supposed to be a directing vehicle for him in 2003 (he later chose to produce instead in 2006),[1][17] being put intoturnaround in 2009.[18]
Warner Bros., still satisfied with his bankability, re-hired him to directSuperman: Flyby in April 2003 after Ratner had dropped out due to casting and pre-production difficulties. During his tenure, McG and the producers spent more than $15 million planning storyboards, concept art, and locations, as well as having script revisions and the film completely pre-visualized. However, McG later left the project, citing hisfear of flying to Sydney.[19] This eventually broughtBryan Singer on board in July 2004, resulting inSuperman Returns.[11] McG produced the television series,The Mountain (2004), on the same year, also getting canceled after one season.[12]
His next television work wasSupernatural (2005), for which he served as an executive producer until 2013.[12] The following year saw Warner Bros. allowing McG, who "looked to improve as a storyteller and wanted to get more substantial material," to directWe Are Marshall (2006), asports drama film.[1] Although the film received mixed critical reception, McG was complimented for his ability of emotional storytelling. Jessica Reaves of theChicago Tribune noted that "McG shows new maturity. Scenes that could have been played for ghoulish effect, like the plane crash and its fiery aftermath, are handled with skillful efficiency."[20] At a budget of $35 million, the film only made $43.5 million.[7] He had also produced the horror filmStay Alive (2006), which received largely negative reviews.[21]
Along withAdam Brody, McG was next set to produce a remake of the cult comedy hitRevenge of the Nerds, planned for a release in 2007 with a budget of $12.5 million and filming to begin atEmory University. However, after reviewing the script, university officials backed out two weeks before filming, citing it as "too bawdy." This led the film to be shot atAgnes Scott College for two weeks, but producersFox Atomic shelved it due to the "lack of wide open space Emory's campus would have afforded them and [the fact that] winter was fast approaching making the prospect of shooting the movie's many outdoor scenes problematic."[22] Furthermore, studio executivePeter Rice was disappointed with thedailies.[23]
In 2007, McG worked mostly on television, producingPussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll (2007) andChuck (2007).[12] Co-created byJosh Schwartz, his partner onThe O.C., he directed the latter's pilot and remained an executive producer throughout the series. Fox had also given a script commitment toInvisible, a television pilot written by Ari Eisner about a criminal who becomes invisible he was supposed to produce,[24] andWe Are Marshall writer Jamie Linden was working with him on a TV pilot calledFlash Back.[25] However, as of 2011, there have been no updates on these shows.
On August 2, 2007, McG signed a three-year first-look production deal for his Wonderland Sound and Vision company withWarner Bros., planning to "produce three movies a year" and directing "one of them every year." The first four films set up wereNightcrawlers (now known asMonster Squad), an untitled spy project,Yucatan, andMaintenance.[26] The former, about an aberrant father who must confront his childhood tormentor to rid of his fear of monsters and the dark, was arranged to start in November 2007, but McG dropped out and was later replaced byMike Mitchell;[27] the untitled spy project was rewritten byPhil Alden Robinson and was to be produced by Basil Iwanyk;[28]Yucatan, based onSteve McQueen's leftover notes and storyboards of his passion project, is anepicadventurousheist film, though Warner Bros. has now placed the project under Team Downey;[29] andMaintenance was afilm adaptation ofJim Massey's comic book series of the same name about two janitors who work for a weapons manufacturer that supply to the world's most evil super villains, but the rights of the film have moved toDreamWorks Animation.[30] As a result, none of them will feature the involvement of McG.[31]
On October 30, 2007, Fox approved a pilot for an American remake of the British cult showSpaced, which McG served as an executive producer, even thoughSimon Pegg and fans were outraged at the prospect of having a remake without the original creators' involvement. Nonetheless, the pilot, written byAdam Barr,[32] was panned before its airing, resulting in Fox scrapping the series.[33] McG then executive producedPussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (2008). ThePussycat Dolls Present series was canceled afterward. He was the executive producer for theWB Television Network's online series,Sorority Forever (2008) andExposed (2010), as well.[34]
McG's next film project wasTerminator Salvation (2009), the fourth installment of theTerminator film series that introduces the future war fought between humanity andSkynet. After theHalcyon Company purchased the rights, they signed McG onto the project, for which he was paid $6 million.[35] Although he promised fans that he would bring back credibility to the saga, with the casting ofChristian Bale and a personal talk withJames Cameron,[36] the film, released on May 21, 2009, in the United States and Canada, received mixed reviews. It grossed $371 million worldwide, well below industry expectations considering its high budget.[37] In promotion of Terminator Salvation, at a Wondercon event, McG highlighted actressMoon Bloodgood, and asked the audience, “Do you want to see Moon’s boobs?”[38][39]
FollowingTerminator Salvation, he was expected to direct aremake of20,000 Leagues Under the Sea forDisney, for which he was interested in castingSam Worthington forCaptain Nemo.[40][41] However, after spending nearly $10 million on pre-production work, Walt Disney Studios' movie chief Rich Ross put the project on hold indefinitely due to creative concerns, and McG is no longer attached.[42] Subsequently, he went into negotiations with20th Century Fox to directThis Means War, a spy comedy project about two best friends who go to war against each other after falling for the same girl. Though initially troubled with numerous casting dropouts, includingBradley Cooper,[43]Seth Rogen,[44] andSam Worthington,[45] the film was finally filmed inVancouver and was released in 2012.[46] Since then, he has been in negotiations for the directing duties forUniversal Pictures'Oujia (a film based on theHasbroboard game of the same name,[47]) and has been attached toLorene Scafaria's pitch based on aRolling Stone article about the true life events ofEsther Reed named "The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League," along withAmanda Seyfried,[48] and a high-profile untitled space adventure project written byDavid Callaham for20th Century Fox.[49] McG was also in discussions to supervise development and direct the fifth installment of theTerminator film series, having made a $10 millionright-of-first-refusal deal with theHalcyon Company,[3] but with the rights of the series transferred to hedge fund Pacificor, his further involvement became unlikely.[50] The film adaptation ofPeter M. Lenkov's graphic novel seriesR.I.P.D. was another project he was circling, but because of his commitment toThis Means War, he was replaced byRobert Schwentke.[51] He producedThe Duff (2015), a teen comedy based on a book.[52]
McG has also delved into comics with Wonderland set to publish the originalHaunted City, written by Chap Taylor, that will expand into a feature film, which he plans to direct, a television show, and a video game.[53]
He has been actively developing afilm adaptation of therock musicalSpring Awakening, planning to independently produce and film it in six weeks for $25 million,[7][54] with additional producing duties for: a film adaptation ofJon Stock'sDead Spy Running novel;[55][56]I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, a film adaptation of the book of the same name by Josh Lieb;[57]Medieval, a film he was previously set to direct but is now being helmed byRob Cohen;[58]Elysium, a modern retelling of a classic Greek myth written by Matt Cirulnick forNew Regency;[59]Medallion, an action thriller starringNicolas Cage about a former master thief on the search for his kidnapped daughter;[60]Tink, a live actionromantic comedy based on Disney'sTinkerbell;[61] andCBS Films'Face It.[62] Other projects he has expressed interest in include aWorld War II film and an adaptation ofDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was previously filmed byRidley Scott as 1982'sBlade Runner.[1][63]
For his television work, Wonderland Sound & Vision sold three pilots for the 09–10 season:Thunder Road, a reality show described as an automobile version ofWipeout, for CBS;[64]Limelight, a contemporary version ofFame based on the life ofPharrell Williams, who was also executive producing, for ABC;[65] andHuman Target, loosely based on thecomic book of the same name about a bodyguard hired to protect his clients, for Fox. Only the latter ended up airing on network TV, debuting onJanuary 17, 2010,[66] and ending after two seasons.[67] On the same year,The CW gave a series order toNikita, a remake ofLa Femme Nikita, which premiered on September 9.[68]
Since 2009, McG and Wonderland Sound & Vision have been lined up to produce numerous shows for a variety of networks: the Josh Friedlander-developedCamp Morningwood;[69]Our Show, an NBC comedy project co-developed withLarry Charles about "a disparate group of people who begin making episodes of their favorite sci-fi show after it ends";[70] the Danny Comden-pennedThe Intruders;[71] an untitled space Western conceived byScott Rosenbaum;[72] andClive Barker's Hotel for ABC, about "a series of ghoulish incidents at a haunted hotel."[73] However, like the majority of shows that get green-lit every season, none of them has actually aired or picked up for a full season.
The recent line-up of shows he's been attached to areZombies vs. Vampires, abuddy cop series about two officers, one of whom is a vampire, that deal with "zombie crimes";[74] aprivate eye series namedI, PI he co-developed withPaul Scheuring;[75] and the web seriesAim High, premiered on October 18, 2011, on Facebook.[76]
On December 11, 2008, he was awarded the Kodak filmmaker of the year by CineAsia.[77]
Takashi Murakami and McG directed shortAkihabara Majokko Princess, whereKirsten Dunst sings a cover ofThe Vapors' 1980 song "Turning Japanese". This was shown at the "Pop Life" exhibition in London'sTate Modern museum from October 1, 2009, to January 17, 2010. It shows Dunst dancing aroundAkihabara, a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan.[78][79][80]
In October 2011 McG was set to directPuzzle Palace for theSummit Entertainment.[81][82]
On January 22, 2016, Deadline reported that McG will direct the reboot film forMasters of the Universe and will also oversee a rewrite of the script.[83] It was announced on April 26, 2017, that McG would no longer be directing or involved with the film.[84]
In 2015, McG directed the horror comedy filmThe Babysitter starringSamara Weaving,Judah Lewis,Hana Mae Lee,Robbie Amell andBella Thorne.[85] The film was released onNetflix on October 13, 2017.[86] In 2019, McG helmed a sequel,The Babysitter: Killer Queen,[87] which was released on September 10, 2020.[88]
In March 2018, it was reported that McG would directRim of the World for Netflix from a screenplay byZack Stentz.[89][90][91] The film was released on May 24, 2019.[92]
McG has suffered fromagoraphobia. He was unable to board a plane going to Australia to shootSuperman: Flyby and dropped from the film as a result.[93] McG told people he suffered from fear of flying despite the issue being persistent agoraphobia. "It was easier to say it was a fear of flying because, while it might make me look weak, people can understand it and I don't have to say, 'Well, I'm kind of crazy,'" he told Fast Company.[94]
His brother died of acocaine overdose in 2007, which he says has kept him grounded and reminds him not to take life for granted.[7][95]
He and actressBridget Moynahan met on an airplane and dated for a time, starting in late 2010.[96][97][98]
McG received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from York College of Pennsylvania on May 14, 2022.[99]
| Year | Title | Director | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Charlie's Angels | Yes | No |
| 2003 | Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle | Yes | No |
| 2006 | We Are Marshall | Yes | Yes |
| 2009 | Terminator Salvation | Yes | No |
| 2012 | This Means War | Yes | Yes |
| 2014 | 3 Days to Kill | Yes | No |
| 2017 | The Babysitter | Yes | Yes |
| 2019 | Rim of the World | Yes | Yes |
| 2020 | The Babysitter: Killer Queen[a] | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Family Switch | Yes | Yes |
| 2024 | Uglies | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Way of the Warrior Kid | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Shout It Out Loud | Yes | Yes |
Producer only
| Year | Title | Director | Executive producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Fastlane | Yes | Yes | Episode: "Pilot"[a] |
| 2007–2012 | Chuck | Yes | Yes | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2013 | Guilty | Yes | No | TV movie |
| Westside | Yes | Yes | ABC pilot[101] | |
| 2014 | The Mysteries of Laura | Yes | Yes | Episodes: "Pilot" and "The Mystery of the Dead Date" |
| 2015 | Kevin From Work | Yes | Yes | Episodes: "Pilot" and "Gossip from Work" |
| 2016–2019 | Shadowhunters | Yes | Yes | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2016–2018 | Lethal Weapon | Yes | Yes | Episodes: "Pilot" and "Surf N Turf" |
| 2017 | Behind Enemy Lines | Yes | Yes | Unsold pilot |
| 2021 | Turner & Hooch | Yes | Yes | Episode: "Forever and a Dog" |
Executive producer only
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Dan Show | TV movie |
| 2003–2007 | The O.C. | |
| 2004 | The Mountain | |
| 2005–2020 | Supernatural | Also executive consultant (seasons 9–15) |
| 2006 | The Danny Comden Project | TV movie |
| Jump | ||
| 2007 | Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll | |
| Skyler's Revolution | TV movie | |
| 2008 | Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious | |
| Sorority Forever | Web series | |
| 2009 | Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series | |
| Limelight | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Exposed | Web series |
| Thunder Road | TV movie | |
| Our Show | ||
| 2010–2011 | Human Target | |
| 2010 | Ghostfacers | Web series |
| 2010–2013 | Nikita | |
| 2011–2013 | Aim High | Web series[102] |
| 2020 | Kirby Jenner | |
| 2021 | The Winchesters | |
| 2023 | True Lies |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
