Fran Rubel Kuzui

Fran Rubel Kuzui is an American movie director and producer. She received her Masters degree from New York University and was a script supervisor for a decade, prior to her first film, 1988's Tokyo Pop, which she co-wrote and directed. The movie received critical acclaim for its depiction of an American woman trying to make sense of the Japanese youth culture.

However, she is best known as the director of the light-hearted 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film—whose much-darker original screenplay was the basis for the television series of the same name. She discovered the screenplay of then unknown television writer Joss Whedon and put together the financing to produce the picture. Her vision of the film did not match Whedon's, and the film received mixed reviews, which noted the uneven direction and comic timing.

She, along with her husband Kaz Kuzui founded Kuzui Enterprises, which distributes US films in Japan, and imports Japanese films for the US market. In addition to holding a portion of rights to the Buffy character, Kuzui Enterprises were also given executive producer credits for the TV series and its spin-off Angel, although they had no practical involvement in the productions. In 2003, the Kuzuis were among the executive producers for the Thai-Japanese film Last Life in the Universe. In 1997, Kuzui Enterprises was among the producers for Orgazmo and Telling Lies in America. In 2009, Kuzui announced that she is creating a "re-booted" version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with no involvement from Joss Whedon or any other characters from the popular TV series.

External links

• Fran Rubel Kuzui at the Internet Movie Database