| Lawrence Kasdan | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 14, 1949
Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Director, producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse(s) | Meg Kasdan (1971-present) |
Lawrence Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American movie producer, director and screenwriter.
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Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida. He was raised in Morgantown, West Virginia[1], where he graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966.
He graduated from the University of Michigan with an MA in Education, originally planning on a career as an English teacher. He was a student of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe. Upon graduation, Kasdan was unable to find a teaching position, so he became an advertising copywriter, a profession he found so loathsome he refused to bring a second child into the world until he escaped it. Still, he labored at it for five years (even picking up a Clio Award along the way), first in Detroit and later in Los Angeles where he tried to interest Hollywood in his screenplays.
Kasdan's introduction into the film business came in the mid-1970s when he sold his script for The Bodyguard to Warner Bros. as a vehicle for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen. The script became stuck in "development hell" and became one of several scripts successively called "the best un-made film in Hollywood"; it was eventually produced as a 1992 film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
George Lucas commissioned Kasdan in 1979 to complete the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back after the death of Leigh Brackett. Lucas then commissioned Kasdan to write the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark and the last installment of the Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi. Kasdan made his directing debut in 1981 with Body Heat, which he also wrote.
Kasdan is known for both writing and directing his films, which have ranged from Westerns and romantic comedies to thought-provoking dramas. He has received four Academy Award nominations, for screenplays to The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, and The Accidental Tourist, for which he also earned a nomination for Best Picture. He has cast Kevin Kline in five of his films.
He makes a cameo appearance in James L. Brooks' comedy As Good As It Gets as the fed-up psychiatrist of Jack Nicholson's novelist.
Kasdan is the father of directors/actors Jake and Jon Kasdan, and the father-in-law of Inara George.
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | The Empire Strikes Back | writer |
| 1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | writer |
| Body Heat | writer, director | |
| Continental Divide | writer | |
| 1983 | Return of the Jedi | writer |
| The Big Chill | writer, director, and executive producer | |
| 1985 | Silverado | writer, director, and producer |
| 1988 | The Accidental Tourist | writer, director, and producer |
| 1990 | I Love You to Death | director |
| 1991 | Grand Canyon | writer, director, and producer |
| 1992 | The Bodyguard | writer and producer |
| 1994 | Wyatt Earp | writer, director, and producer |
| 1995 | French Kiss | director |
| 1999 | Mumford | writer and director |
| 2003 | Dreamcatcher | writer and director |
| TBA | Robotech [2] | writer |
| 2010 | Clash of the Titans | writer |
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  | Lawrence Kasdan to pen 'Robotech' - The Hollywood Reporter |
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