Daniel Waters (screenwriter)
Daniel Waters (born November 10, 1962 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American screenwriter and film director.
Daniel Waters | |
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Waters at the 2008 Screenwriting Expo | |
Born | Cleveland, Ohio, United States | November 10, 1962
Occupation | Screenwriter, film director |
Relatives | Mark Waters (brother) |
He is the older brother of director Mark Waters.
Early life
Waters was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in South Bend, Indiana.[1] In high school, Waters wrote a popular column titled "Troubled Waters" for his high school newspaper, where he wrote fictitious stories about his real-life classmates—not unlike the writing that appeared in his screenplay for Heathers.[2] He then wrote, directed and starred alongside Larry Karaszewski in a local sketch comedy titled Beyond Our Control in the early 1980s.[1] Waters moved to Montreal where he graduated from McGill University. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, and was the manager of a video store.[1]
Screenwriting credits
Waters came to prominence in 1988 for writing the black comedy Heathers,[2] for which he received a 1990 Edgar Award.[1] Heathers was an attempt for him to write of the true nature of teenagers and high-school society. Heathers was not a box-office hit for Waters when it was released, but the movie has become a cult classic.[3][4]
Over the next four years, Waters served as co-writer on the comedy The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, wrote the sequel Batman Returns, and then wrote the films Hudson Hawk (for which he re-teamed with Heathers director Michael Lehmann) and Demolition Man.[5] He received the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay for both Hudson Hawk and Ford Fairlane. In 2003, he authored a draft of Catwoman for Batman Returns producer Denise Di Novi but ultimately went uncredited.[6]
Turn as a director
In 2001, Waters made his directorial debut with Happy Campers,[7] another teen comedy in a black vein that, after a long delay, was released straight to DVD.[8] His follow-up, Sex and Death 101, a hybrid of science fiction, dark comedy, and romantic thriller, won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director at the 2007 Seattle International Film Festival.[9] It was released theatrically on April 4, 2008 in New York and Los Angeles. The film re-teamed Waters with Heathers star Winona Ryder.[10]
Filmography
- Heathers (1988)
- The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (with James Cappe and David Arnott) (1990)
- Hudson Hawk (with Steven E. de Souza) (1991)
- Batman Returns (with Wesley Strick) (1992)
- Demolition Man (with Robert Reneau and Peter M. Lenkov) (1993)
- Happy Campers (2001) (also director)
- Catwoman (2004) (uncredited rewrite)
- Sex and Death 101 (2007) (also director)
- Vampire Academy (2014)
References
- Umland, Samuel J. (2015). The Tim Burton Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 240–241. ISBN 978-0-8108-9201-9.
- "Film; 'Heathers': Light Look at a Dark Topic". The New York Times. March 26, 1989.
- Mills, Sarah (August 9, 2018). "Cult movie 'Heathers' about U.S. high school set for re-release". Reuters.
- Fry, Naomi. "Heathers Blew Up the High-School Comedy". The New Yorker.
- Cullum, Paul (April 2, 2008). "How very". Los Angeles Times.
- https://dailyscript.com/scripts/catwoman.pdf
- McCarthy, Todd (February 23, 2001). "Happy Campers". Variety.
- Rosenblatt, Josh (April 11, 2008). "Movie Review: Sex and Death 101". Austin Chronicle.
- Nechak, Paula (April 11, 2008). "'101' Doesn't Teach Us Anything New". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- Weinberg, Scott (June 2, 2006). "Heathers Creators Reteam for Indie Sex". Rotten Tomatoes.