David Franzoni

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David Franzoni
Born (1947-03-04) March 4, 1947 (age 77)
Alma materUniversity of Vermont
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, producer
Years active1980–present
AwardsAcademy Award for Best Picture
Gladiator (2000)
BAFTA Award for Best Film
Gladiator (2000)

David Harold Franzoni (born March 4, 1947) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He conceived the story for, co-wrote and co-produced the 2000 film Gladiator,[1][2] for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[2][3][4][5] His other screenplays include King Arthur (2004),[6][7][8][3][4] Amistad (1997),[9] and Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986).[10]

Career

Franzoni's script for Gladiator was a revival of the

sword-and-sandal genre,[11] using characters very different from the original and drawing upon available historic and archaeological sources.[12] He started to write the story in the 1970s, after reading the 1958 non-fiction book Those About to Die by Daniel P. Mannix, which detailed the Roman gladiatorial games.[13]

For Amistad, Franzoni decided not to use a standard narrative, explaining, "the typical slant in this sort of film is to have the poor, chained black man arrive in the presence of the white guy, who has a good soul and fights the good faith to liberate the black man."[14] Franzoni was also the one who convinced Steven Spielberg to direct the film.[11]

Franzoni stated that the screenplay of King Arthur "aims more for history than myth,"[15] and again relied upon archaeological evidence in an attempt to create a more realistic human and political interpretation of the character.[16][17]

Filmography

Year Title Writer Producer Director(s) Notes
1986 Jumpin' Jack Flash Yes No Penny Marshall co-written with Charles Shyer, Nancy Meyers and Chris Thompson
1992 Citizen Cohn Yes No Frank Pierson television film
1997 Amistad Yes No Steven Spielberg
2000 Gladiator Yes Yes Ridley Scott co-written with John Logan and William Nicholson
2004 King Arthur Yes No Antoine Fuqua
2018 Black and White Stripes: The Juventus Story No Executive La Villa Brothers documentary film
2024 Gladiator II No Yes Ridley Scott
TBA JSA Yes No Himself directorial debut

References

Bibliography

External links