Joel Silver

Joel Silver
Silver at the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2008 for the premiere of Speed Racer, which he produced
Born	July 14, 1952 (1952-07-14) South Orange, New Jersey, United States
Occupation	Film producer

Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American Hollywood film producer, co-creator of the sport of Ultimate, co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment and owner of Silver Pictures.

Life and career

Silver grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he is credited with inventing the sport of Ultimate (then known as "Ultimate Frisbee"). In 1970, he entered Lafayette College, where he formed the first collegiate Ultimate team. He finished his undergraduate studies at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, where he ultimately ascended to president of motion pictures for the company. He earned his first screen credit as the associate producer on The Warriors and, with Gordon, produced 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire and Brewster's Millions. In 1985, he formed Silver Pictures and produced hit action films such as Commando (1985), the Lethal Weapon franchise, the first two films of the Die Hard and The Matrix franchise of action films.

He appears on-screen at the beginning of Who Framed Roger Rabbit as Raoul J. Raoul, the director of the animated short Something's Cookin.

Silver directed "Split Personality", (1992), an episode of the HBO horror anthology, Tales from the Crypt.

He currently runs two production companies, Silver Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment co-owned by Robert Zemeckis.

On July 10, 1999, Silver married his production assistant Karyn Fields.

Frank Lloyd Wright houses

Joel Silver is well known as an aficionado of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1984 he bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and made considerable investments to restore it to the original condition. The Storer House's squarish relief ornament then became the company logo of Silver Pictures. In 1986 he purchased the long-neglected C. Leigh Stevens Auldbrass Plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina and has been restoring it since then.

Filmography

• Max (1976) (producer)
• The Warriors (1979) (associate producer)
• Xanadu (1980) (co-producer)
• Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982) (executive producer)
• 48 Hrs. (1982) (producer)
• Streets of Fire (1984) (producer)
• Brewster's Millions (1985) (producer)
• Weird Science (1985) (producer)
• Commando (1985) (producer)
• Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) (producer)
• Lethal Weapon (1987) (producer)
• Predator (1987) (producer)
• Action Jackson (1988) (producer)
• Die Hard (1988) (producer)
• Road House (1989) (producer)
• Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) (producer)
• Die Hard 2 (1990) (producer)
• The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) (producer)
• Predator 2 (1990) (producer)
• Hudson Hawk (1991) (producer)
• Ricochet (1991) (producer)
• The Last Boy Scout (1991) (producer)
• Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) (producer)
• Demolition Man (1993) (producer)
• Richie Rich (1994) (producer)
• Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) (executive producer)
• Assassins (1995) (producer)
• Fair Game (1995) (producer)
• Executive Decision (1996) (producer)
• Bordello of Blood (1996) (producer)
• Fathers' Day (1997) (producer)
• Conspiracy Theory (1997) (producer)
• Double Tap (1997) (producer)
• Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) (producer)
• The Matrix (1999) (producer)
• Made Men (1999) (producer)
• House on Haunted Hill (1999) (producer)
• Romeo Must Die (2000) (producer)
• Dungeons & Dragons (2000) (producer)
• Ritual (2001) (producer)
• Exit Wounds (2001) (producer)
• Proximity (2001) (producer)
• Swordfish (2001) (producer)
• Thirteen Ghosts (2001) (producer)
• Ghost Ship (2002) (producer)
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) (producer)
• The Animatrix (2003) (producer)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (producer)
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003) (producer)
• Gothika (2003) (producer)
• House of Wax (2005) (producer)
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) (producer)
• V for Vendetta (2005) (producer)
• The Reaping (2007) (producer)
• The Invasion (2007) (producer)
• The Brave One (2007) (producer)
• Fred Claus (2007) (producer)
• Speed Racer (2008) (producer)
• RocknRolla (2008) (producer)
• The Hills Run Red (2009) (producer)
• Orphan (2009) (producer)
• Whiteout (2009) (producer)
• Ninja Assassin (2009) (producer)
• Sherlock Holmes (2009) (producer)
• The Book of Eli (2010) (producer)
• The Losers (2010) (producer)
• Splice (2010) (executive producer)
• Unknown (2011) (producer)
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) (producer)
• The Apparition (2012) (producer)
• Dragon Eyes (2012) (producer)
• Untitled Ben 10 Movie (TBA) (producer)
• Bullet to the Head (2012) (producer)

External links

• Joel Silver at the Internet Movie Database
• Silver on Warner Bros