Robert Tapert

Robert Gerard Tapert (born May 14, 1955) is an American film and television producer, writer and director, best known for co-creating the television series Xena: Warrior Princess.

Robert Tapert
Rob Tapert speaking at SPADA 2010
Born	(1955-05-14) May 14, 1955 Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.
Alma mater	Michigan State University
Occupation	Film and television producer, screenwriter, television director
Spouse(s)	Lucy Lawless ( m. 1998)
Children	2

He is also one of the founding partners of the film production companies Renaissance Pictures and Ghost House Pictures.

Personal life

Tapert was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. He has two sisters, Dorothy and Mary Beth Tapert. He also has a younger brother, Jeff Tapert. He has been married to actress Lucy Lawless since 28 March 1998; the couple has two sons.

Film

Tapert first became involved with filmmaking while attending Michigan State University where he was studying economics. Through his friend and roommate Ivan Raimi, Tapert would meet future longstanding filmmaking partners Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

Tapert and director Sam Raimi experimented on several short films before endeavoring on their first feature-length picture, a graphic horror film titled The Evil Dead, which Tapert produced, Raimi directed, and Bruce Campbell starred. Thanks to a glowing review from horror author Stephen King, the film was a success with the crowd at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and although not a favorite of critics at the time, it was critically acclaimed as a horror classic in later years eventually gaining a cult following. The film was successful enough to spawn two sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, a remake in 2013, and a television series titled Ash vs Evil Dead.

Tapert continued on to produce numerous other films, typically involving Raimi and/or Campbell in some capacity, such as Crimewave, Easy Wheels, Darkman, Hard Target, Timecop, The Quick and the Dead, A Simple Plan, and The Gift.

Tapert co-founded film production company Ghost House Pictures in 2002. Their first release, The Grudge, grossed nearly $200 million internationally.[1] They followed up that success with Boogeyman, Rise, The Messengers, 30 Days of Night, Drag Me to Hell which Raimi directed, The Possession,[2] and a remake of Tobe Hooper's seminal film Poltergeist.[3]

In 2013, Tapert and Raimi tapped Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez, after seeing his short, Panic Attack!, to reimagine The Evil Dead.[4] Diablo Cody contributed a polish to help Americanize the script.[5]

Tapert would re-collaborate with Alvarez and writer Rodo Sayagues in 2016 on the breakout film Don't Breathe that grossed $157 million worldwide.[6]

Television

In the 1990s, Tapert produced and/or wrote several television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, M.A.N.T.I.S., Spy Game (TV series), and American Gothic. Tapert also co-created the prequel series Young Hercules that starred Ryan Gosling.

During Hercules, Tapert created the character of Xena which he later spun off into a separate series Xena: Warrior Princess. The franchise has been referred to as groundbreaking and the character as a feminist and lesbian icon.[7][8][9] Xena: Warrior Princess has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.[10] After serving as Lucy Lawless's stunt double on Xena, stunt woman Zoë E. Bell was recruited to be Uma Thurman's stunt double in Tarantino's Kill Bill. By helping to pave the way for female action heroes in television and film, "Xena" also strengthened the stunt woman profession.[11]

In 2008, Tapert produced Legend of the Seeker, the television adaptation of the popular Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind for ABC Studios.

Tapert followed with the Roman epic Spartacus for Starz in 2010,[12] including Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Spartacus: Vengeance, and Spartacus: War of the Damned.

Tapert's most recent television project is Ash vs Evil Dead based on the Evil Dead film franchise that premiered on Starz in 2015.[13]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Executive Producer	Producer	Actor	Notes
1977	The Happy Valley Kid			Yes	Short
	It's Murder!			Yes	Also sound utility
1978	Within the Woods	Yes	Yes		Shorts
1980	The Blind Waiter			Yes
1981	The Evil Dead	Yes	Yes	Yes	as 'Local Yokel'
	Torro. Torro. Torro!			Yes	Shorts
1982	Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter			Yes
1984	Going Back			Yes	as 'Man with Glasses in Bar'
1985	The Sappy Sap			Yes	Short
1986	Crimewave		Yes	Yes	as 'Bar patron in Rialto'
1987	Evil Dead II		Yes	Yes	as 'Airport Worker'
1989	Easy Wheels		Yes
1990	Darkman		Yes
1991	Lunatics: A Love Story	Yes
	Battle the Big Tuna		Yes		As Himself appearance Direct-to-video docmumentary
1992	Army of Darkness		Yes
1993	Hard Target	Yes
1994	Timecop		Yes
1995	The Quick and the Dead	Yes
	Darkman II: The Return of Durant	Yes			Direct-to-video
1996	Darkman III: Die Darkman Die	Yes
1998	Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus	Yes
2000	The Gift	Yes
2004	The Grudge		Yes
2005	Boogeyman		Yes
2006	The Grudge 2		Yes
2007	The Messengers		Yes
	Rise	Yes
	30 Days of Night		Yes
	Boogeyman 2	Yes
2009	Drag Me to Hell		Yes
	Messengers 2: The Scarecrow	Yes			Direct-to-video
2010	30 Days of Night: Dark Days		Yes
2012	The Possession		Yes
2013	Evil Dead		Yes
2015	Poltergeist		Yes
2016	Don't Breathe		Yes
2020	The Grudge		Yes
TBA	Shrine		Yes
TBA	Don't Breathe 2		Yes

Television

Year	Title	Executive Producer	Writer	Director	Actor	Notes
1992	Darkman	Yes				TV Movie
1994–1995	M.A.N.T.I.S.	Yes				23 episodes
1994–1999	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Director and story (episode 'Once a Hero') Executive Producer (116 episodes) Cameo as 'Crowd Member' (episode 'Gladiator')
1995–1998	American Gothic	Yes				22 episodes
1995–2001	Xena: Warrior Princess	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Director (4 episodes) Creator and Executive Producer (134 episodes) Stories (6 episodes) Himself (episode 'The Xena Scrolls')
1997	Spy Game	Yes				4 episodes
	Amazon High		Yes			Story TV Movie
1998–1999	Young Hercules	Yes	Yes			Creator (49 episodes) Stories (2 episodes) Writer (episode 'The Treasure of Zeus: Part 1') Executive Producer (50 episodes)
2000	Jack of All Trades	Yes				5 episodes
2000-2001	Cleopatra 2525	Yes	Yes			Creator (28 episodes) Story (episode 'Quest for Firepower') Executive Producer (2 episodes)
2008–2010	Legend of the Seeker	Yes				44 episodes
2009	13: Fear Is Real	Yes				1 episode
2010	Zombie Roadkill	Yes				6 episodes
2010–2013	Spartacus	Yes				33 episodes (Blood and Sand) + 6 episodes (Gods of the Arena)
2015–2018	Ash vs Evil Dead	Yes				20 episodes
TBA	Noir	Yes				Unknown episodes

Video Game

Year	Title	Role
2005	Evil Dead: Regeneration	Supervising producer

Musical

Tapert produced the stage musical Pleasuredome as a love story to 1980's New York City incorporating songs from the era. The play, which was based on Tapert's personal experiences,[14] successfully premiered in 2017 to critical acclaim and sold-out crowds in Tapert's home of Auckland, New Zealand and stars Lucy Lawless.[15]

57,000 tickets were sold during its first 13-week run.[16]

Further reading

• Warren, Bill. The Evil Dead Companion, ISBN 0-312-27501-3.

References

1. "The Grudge (2004) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
2. "Lionsgate to Open Up Ghost House's Dibbuk Box". DreadCentral.
3. McNary, Dave (20 June 2013). "MGM Partners With Fox On 'Poltergeist' Reboot".
4. "Sam Raimi Helps Filmmaker Fede Alvarez Usher in an Alien Invasion". DreadCentral.
5. "'Evil Dead' remake: Diablo Cody polishing script for first-time director". 13 July 2011.
6. "Don't Breathe (2016) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
7. "Page not found – The Online Scholar". doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1998.00079.x. Missing or empty |url= (help)
8. "Xena: Warrior Princess, The Lesbian Gaze, And The Construction Of A Feminist Heroine". www.whoosh.org.
9. Janet K. Boles; Diane Long Hoeveler (2004). Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4946-4.
10. "Cathy Young: Salon - What We Owe Xena". www.cathyyoung.net.
11. See the documentary Double Dare (Amanda Micheli, director. 2005) for more information on the role of Xena in fostering the female superhero character and the stunt woman, both of which are traditionally male categories.
12. STARZ DECLARES - "WE ARE SPARTACUS! http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081027starz01/
13. "Starz Orders 'Evil Dead' TV Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
14. "The pleasure, pain and 40-year wait behind this Kiwi musical spectacular". Stuff.
15. "The Ultimate 80's Musical Experience - Pleasuredome The Musical". www.pleasuredomethemusical.com.
16. "Pleasuredome The Musical". www.facebook.com.

External links

• Robert Tapert on IMDb
• Official Rob Tapert Site