Chris Weitz
Christopher John Weitz (born November 30, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother Paul on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy; the latter earned the Weitz brothers a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[1] Among his other main works, Weitz directed the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass and the film adaptation of New Moon from the series of Twilight books, wrote the screenplay for Disney's 2015 live-action adaptation of Cinderella, and co-wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with Tony Gilroy.
Chris Weitz
November 30, 1969
- Film director
- screenwriter
- producer
- actor
1998–present
Chuck & Buck
American Pie
About a Boy
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3
- John Weitz (father)
- Susan Kohner (mother)
Paul Weitz (brother)
Lupita Tovar (grandmother)
Paul Kohner (grandfather)
Early life[edit]
Weitz was born in New York City, the son of actress Susan Kohner and Berlin-born novelist/menswear designer John Weitz.[2] His brother is filmmaker Paul Weitz. Weitz is the grandson of Czech-born agent and producer Paul Kohner and actress Lupita Tovar on his maternal side.[3][4] Tovar, who was from Oaxaca, Mexico,[5] starred in Santa, Mexico's first talkie, in 1932, as well as a Spanish language version of Drácula.[6] Weitz' paternal grandparents escaped Nazi Germany, before which his grandfather was a successful textile manufacturer, with the family being intimates of writer Christopher Isherwood and actress Marlene Dietrich.[4]
Weitz's father and maternal grandfather were Jewish,[7][8][9][10][11] whereas his maternal grandmother was Catholic; he was raised in a nonreligious household.[12][13] He has also described himself as a "lapsed Catholic crypto-Buddhist."[14]
As a young boy, Weitz attended Allen-Stevenson School with his brother and was a member of the Knickerbocker Greys, a long-standing New York City youth marching corps that has been in existence since 1881.[1]
When he was 14 years old, Weitz went to the boarding school St Paul's School in London, which his father had attended.[1] He graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge.[12]
Career[edit]
Early career (1998–2006)[edit]
Weitz' early career involved many collaborations with his brother.[15][16][17] Some of the work they have done as screenwriters has been both credited and uncredited.[18]
Weitz began his film career as a co-writer on the animated film Antz (1998). He followed this with work on various sitcoms such as Off Centre and the 1998 revival of the 1977 TV series Fantasy Island. In 1999, he and Paul directed and produced American Pie, which was written by Adam Herz, and became a major box office success. Weitz returned as executive producer on the film's two theatrical sequels. In 2001, along with his brother, he co-directed his second film, the Chris Rock comedy Down to Earth.
In 2002, the Weitz brothers co-wrote and co-directed About a Boy, the Hugh Grant film based on the book by Nick Hornby.[19][20] The film was originally set up at New Line Cinema with Robert De Niro producing, and the main character as an American. The brothers felt that it was important that the character is British. Inspiration came from the 1960 film The Apartment. They were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[6]
Weitz has produced a number of films including In Good Company and American Dreamz, both of which were directed by his brother, Paul.
The Golden Compass (2007)[edit]
In 2003, Weitz was hired to direct New Line Cinema's adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass, after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment. He was subsequently invited by director Peter Jackson to visit the set of King Kong, in order to gain insight into directing a big-budget film and advice on how to deal with New Line. In 2005, Weitz announced his departure from the film, citing the enormous technical challenges involved, and the fear of being denounced by both the book's fans and detractors;[21] he was subsequently replaced by British director Anand Tucker. Tucker left the project in 2006 over creative differences with New Line, and Weitz returned to the director's chair after receiving a letter from Pullman asking him to reconsider.
During post-production, New Line had Weitz's editor replaced, and the studio made the final cut with severe differences from Weitz's vision, trimming the originally unhappy ending and watering down the religious theme.[22] Weitz declared that
Author[edit]
Weitz wrote a young adult novel trilogy series[52] that began with The Young World, in 2014,[53] and was followed by The New Order, in 2015 and The Revival in 2016. The series follows a group of teenagers struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where a disease killed off all adults over the age of 18.
Weitz said that he used the concept of natural intelligence theories called Society of Mind created by Marvin Minsky to create the stories that were loosely autobiographical about growing up in New York City.[54]
Personal life[edit]
Weitz is married to Mercedes Martinez, who is Cuban Mexican, and with whom he has one son, Sebastian Weitz[3] and a daughter, Athena Weitz.[55] Weitz said he met Martinez at the Burning Man festival.[54]
In 2004, Weitz was a co-investor with Paul Devitt in the Japanese restaurant and club called Tokio on N. Cahuenga in Los Angeles.[56][57]
On November 11, 2016, after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Weitz tweeted, "Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization."[58] Although he had apologized and deleted the tweet,[59] several Trump supporters have used the hashtag #DumpStarWars and claimed that Rogue One contained an anti-Trump scene.[60]