From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Arndt is an American screenwriter. After graduating from New York
University, Arndt was a script reader for some time before
choosing to write screenplays instead. He is best known for his
first produced screenplay Little Miss Sunshine, for
which he received multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Original
Screenplay.
Early
life
Arndt's father was a member of the Foreign Service, and as a
result he lived in various countries, including Sri Lanka and India; he also lived in Virginia for a time.[1]
Arndt attended New York University and graduated from its film school.[1]
He was a script reader for some time, and was a
personal assistant to actor Matthew Broderick until late
1999,[2]
when he chose to begin writing screenplays full-time.[1][2][3]
He graduated from Langley High School in McLean,
Virginia, and also attended The Potomac
School.
Screenwriting career
Breakthrough
success with Little Miss Sunshine
"I figured I’d probably write 50 scripts in my life. Out of
those 50, I figured maybe five would be produced, and that maybe
one or two would be successful. So I always kind of expected I’d
write at least one successful film in my life. [...] The way it all
came together was kind of like Murphy’s law in
reverse—I don’t expect that kind of experience again any time
soon." |
Arndt wrote the first draft of Little Miss Sunshine in
three days between May 23–May 26, 2000.[4]
From that initial draft, he made approximately 100 revisions over
the course of a year, requesting
input from friends and family.[1][2]
Arndt considered directing the film himself "as a no-budget, DV feature" due to his concern of the
story being "just too small and "indie" to get any real attention from
Hollywood".[2]
After the Endeavor Talent Agency read the
script in July 2001, however, producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
subsequently gave the script to commercial and music video
directors Jonathan Dayton and
Valerie Faris, who were immediately attracted to the
project.[2][3][5] Dayton
and Faris were signed on by producer Marc Turtletaub, who purchased
the script from Arndt for $150,000, on December 21, 2001.[3][4]
The project was set up at Focus Features, where it was in various
stages of pre-production for approximately three
years. During that time, Arndt was fired when he objected to
centralizing the story on Richard Hoover (played by Greg Kinnear in the
film), only to be re-hired within a month after the new writer
hired by Focus left the project.[6]
Arndt resumed work on the script, which continued through production and into post-production: "The final scene of
the movie [...] was written and shot about eight weeks before [its
premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on
January 20, 2006]", he said.[2][3]
Following its theatrical release on August 18, 2006, Little
Miss Sunshine won many prizes and awards. Arndt won
multiple Best Original Screenplay awards for Little Miss
Sunshine, from the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy
of Film and Television Arts, and the Writers Guild of America. He
was later invited to
join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[7]
Works in
progress
Arndt began collaborating with Lee Unkrich and other Pixar personnel on the screenplay for Toy Story 3 in
2006,[8] working
from a treatment by Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote the two
preceding films in the series.[9][10] He is
also presently writing a remake of the screwball comedy
Midnight (1939), with Reese
Witherspoon slated to star in and produce the film.[11]
Additionally, Arndt is working on script revisions for an upcoming
action comedy entitled
Nightcrawlers, to be directed by McG.[12][13]
Filmography
Further
reading
References
- ^ a
b
c
d
Wloszczyna, Susan (2007-03-05). "Writing for an Oscar".
USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/movieawards/oscars/2007-02-15-screenwriters-arndt_x.htm. Retrieved
2008-07-09.
- ^ a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Wood, Jennifer (2007-02-03). "Family Values".
MovieMaker Magazine. http://www.moviemaker.com/screenwriting/article/family_values_2849/. Retrieved
2008-07-09.
- ^ a
b
c
d
Waxman, Sharon (2006-01-23). "A Small Film Nearly Left for
Dead Has Its Day in the Sundance Rays". The New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/movies/MoviesFeatures/23sund.html. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^ a
b
Arndt, Michael (2007). Little Miss
Sunshine: The Shooting Script. p. x. ISBN
1557047707.
- ^
Goldstein, Patrick (2007-02-20). "The unkindest cut".
Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/20/entertainment/et-gold20. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^ Guillen, Michael (2007-02-23). "Michael Arndt, Little Mr.
Sunshine". SF360. http://www.sf360.org/features/michael-arndt-little-mr-sunshine. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^
AMPAS (2007-06-18). "Academy Invites 115 to Become
Members" (HTML). Press release. http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.06.18.html. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^
Daly, Steve (2007-02-16). "'Toy'’s Out of the
Attic". Entertainment Weekly.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20012203,00.html. Retrieved
2008-07-09.
- ^
"2007 Disney Conference -
Studio Presentation". Disney
Enterprises. 2007-02-08. http://corporate.disney.go.com/media/investors/2007_irc_studio.pdf. Retrieved
2007-08-06.
- ^
Fritz, Ben (2007-02-08). "'Toy Story' sequel set".
Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959040.html. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^
Fleming, Michael (2007-05-30). "Witherspoon to star in
'Midnight'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966009.html. Retrieved
2008-07-08.
- ^
Garrett, Diane (2007-08-01). "McG sets up projects at
WB". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969575.html. Retrieved
2008-07-09.
- ^
Kit, Borys (2007-08-02). "McG plans scary buddy
comedy". Reuters/Hollywood Reporter. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0140671620070802. Retrieved
2008-07-09.
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