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McG
McG at WonderCon 2009
Born
Joseph McGinty Nichol
Occupation(s)Film director
Producer
Television writer
Years active2000 – present

Joseph McGinty Nichol (born August 9, 1968), who commonly insists that others refer to him as McG, is an American film and television producer and director.

Background and early career

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Joseph grew up in Newport Beach, California and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in psychiatry from UC Irvine. He started as a still photographer in the music business, shooting local bands and musicians. This led him to form a record label known as G Recordings in 1993, and subsequently, he worked as a producer, and sometimes co-songwriter, on Sugar Ray's first two albums, which were released in 1995 and 1997. His music career included directing over fifty music videos, such as Smash Mouth's "All Star" and The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", and directing documentaries on Korn and Sugar Ray. In 1997, he was awarded the Billboard's Pop Video of the Year Award for Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun" and the Music Video Production Association's Pop Video of the Year Award for Sugar Ray's "Fly."[1]

Eventually, this landed him in the television commercial business, directing ads for Major League Baseball and Coca-Cola. A notable one was a commercial for Gap, which was honored at the 1999 London International Film Festival.[2]

Television and film

Impressed with McGinty's videos, Drew Barrymore approached McGinty about directing a Charlie's Angels film. He accepted, wanting to take on bigger projects, and pitched the movie to studio executives, who later approved the project. The film was released in 2000 and went on to gross over $250 million worldwide with mixed critical reception from critics and fans alike. A sequel followed in 2003, and, although not as successful as the first, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle also made over $250 million worldwide.[2]

Afterwards, he "looked to improve as a storyteller and wanted to get more substantial material" and directed We Are Marshall, a sports drama film which also received mixed critical reception.[3] McGinty directed the most recent installment of the Terminator film franchise, Terminator Salvation, for which he was paid entirely too much ($6 million).[4] Released on May 21, 2009 in the United States, the film grossed nearly $350 million worldwide but is the most critically panned of the series. McGinty is next expected to direct a loose remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney, for which he wants Will Smith as Captain Nemo.[5] Furthermore, he is also in discussions to supervise development and direct the fifth installment of the Terminator film series, having made a $10 million deal with the Halcyon Company,[4][6] and has been attached to produce and direct a film adaptation of Dead Spy Running, a film based on Jon Stock's novel that is meant to reinvent the spy genre.[7] Other projects McG has expressed interest in include a WWII film and an adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which was previously filmed by Ridley Scott as 1982's Blade Runner)[3][8]

For his television work, McG created Fastlane, which was canceled after one season but is now available on home video. He also serves as executive producer on The Mountain, The O.C., the Pussycat Dolls Present: series, Supernatural, and Chuck. He directed the pilot episode for the latter and co-produced all of them with his production company, Wonderland Sound and Vision. For the production year 2009, McG's television pilots include Human Target,[9] Limelight,[10] and Thunder Road.[11]

He was the executive producer for the WB Television Network's new online portal as well. One of the series, Sorority Forever, is produced in conjunction with Big Fantastic, the creators of the online series Prom Queen.[12]

In the 6th Annual Hollywood Film Festival held in 2002, McG won the Hollywood Breakthrough Award for Directing.[1] In December 11, 2008, he was awarded the Kodak filmmaker of the year by CineAsia.[13]

Other projects

Superman: Flyby

In February 2002, Jon Peters and Lorenzo di Bonaventura attached McG to direct a Superman film that had been in development hell. McG and Peters hired J.J. Abrams to pen a new script for the film entitled Superman: Flyby, which was submitted in July 2002.[14] Bailing out of the project in favor of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle in September 2002, McG was replaced by Brett Ratner. The J.J. Abrams script was still intact, but due to casting and pre-production difficulties, Ratner dropped out as well. Subsequently, McG was brought back in April 2003. At that time, McG and the producers planned storyboards, concept art, casting decisions, and locations as well as having script revisions and the film pre-visualized. However, nothing got off the ground, and McG left the project, citing his fear of flying to Sydney, Australia.[15] This eventually brought Bryan Singer on board in July 2004, resulting in Superman Returns.[16]

Revenge of the Nerds Remake

In 2006, a remake of the cult comedy hit Revenge of the Nerds was being planned for a release in 2007 with a budget of $12.5 million. McG was set to produce it, along with Adam Brody, and filming was set to begin at Emory University. However, after reviewing the script, university officials backed out two weeks before filming, citing it as "too bawdy." This led the film to be shot at Agnes Scott College for two weeks, but afterwards, Fox Atomic and producers shelved it due to the "lack of wide, open space Emory's campus would have afforded them, and [the fact that] winter was fast approaching, making the prospect of shooting the movie's many outdoor scenes problematic."[17] Furthermore, studio executive Peter Rice was disappointed with the dailies.[18]

Hot Wheels

On January 30, 2003, Columbia Pictures announced they had gained exclusive rights to developing a feature film based on the toy line Hot Wheels with McG attached to direct.[19] Although unwritten, the premise involved a young man "trying to reconcile with his father. It's a kid who steals his dad's racecar and ends up going through a sort of Back to the Future portal into this world, and he has to reconcile his relationship with his father." In 2006, McG said that he dropped out as director and chose to produce instead.[3] In 2009, with no recent developments, the film was put into turnaround, and the rights were handed over to Warner Bros. Joel Silver is now producing with Matt Nix writing the script.[20]

Spaced Remake

On October 30, 2007, Fox approved a pilot for the remake of the British cult show Spaced. Simon Pegg and fans were outraged at the prospect of having a remake without the original creators' involvement. The pilot was written by Adam Barr (Will & Grace) and McG was executive producer.[21] It was eventually heavily panned before its airing, resulting in Fox scrapping the series.[22]

Name Controversy

McG had an interview with ComingSoon.net regarding his name in 2006:[3]

CS: Well, obviously the one thing that always gets people is the name… (uh oh)

McG: My name sucks!! It's really a point of frustration for me.

CS: But couldn't you at any time just say that you want to make a movie under your full name rather than this unconventional name you've chosen for yourself?

McG: But that would be so false, you know what I mean? It's so funny because my name has been McG since the day I was born, so that's just who I am. It's got nothing to do with Hollywood, it's got nothing to do with filmmaking. My mother calls me McG. Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1970, that's it! No nickname there! My name is Joseph McGinty Nichol. My uncle was Joe, he was around a lot; my grandpa was Joe, and he was around a lot, so I was the youngest one, they said, "We're going to call him McG, short for McGinty." It ends there. There's no "I'm Cher," you know?

CS: I think it's because you come from the music video background, everyone just assumes that's the thing to do in that world.

McG: I get it, but for me to change my name, "Well, I'm going to go by Joseph Nichol," that would be the ultimate compromise. That for me would be the ultimate sell-out. That's not who I am. There's not a person on this planet who calls me Joe or Joseph, so I am who I am and if people want to characterize me as a function of my name, that's unfortunate, and it just is what it is. But I'm just trying to put together a body of work that speaks for itself.

Filmography

Year Film Credited as
Director Producer
2000 Charlie's Angels Yes
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Yes
2006 Stay Alive Yes
We Are Marshall Yes Yes
2009 Terminator Salvation Yes
2010 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo Yes
2011 Terminator Salvation sequel Yes
TBA Dead Spy Running Yes Yes
TBA Spring Awakening Yes Yes

References

  1. ^ a b "McG Hollywood Breakthrough Directing Award™". HollywoodAwards.com. 2002-10-01. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  2. ^ a b "McG Biography". StarPulse.com. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  3. ^ a b c d Edward Douglas (2006-12-18). "Exclusive: We Are Marshall Director McG!". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  4. ^ a b "On the way to 'Terminator Salvation,' legal sparks fly". Los Angeles Times. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  5. ^ Jim Vejvoda (2009-01-15). "Finding McG's Nemo". IGN. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  6. ^ Michael Fleming (2009-01-06). "McG to direct Disney's 'Leagues'". Variety. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  7. ^ "Stephen Gaghan Adapting Dead Spy Running". Comingsoon.net. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  8. ^ Tatiana Siegel (2008-09-03). "Derek Anderson & Victor Kubicek". Variety. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  9. ^ Human Target show summary
  10. ^ ABC OK's Bruckheimer, McG pilots
  11. ^ IGN: McG Drives Down Thunder Road
  12. ^ "WB revived as online platform". Variety. 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  13. ^ Dave McNary (2008-11-17). "CineAsia salutes McG". Variety. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  14. ^ Mike White. "Superman: Grounded". Cashiers du Cinemart. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  15. ^ Lew Irwin (2005-10-19). "Moviemaker McG's Fear of Flying Cost Him Superman". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-01-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "The Strange and Evil Tale of the Production of Superman V". Electirc-Escape.net. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  17. ^ "No Revenge for New Nerds". Entertainment Weekly. 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2009-01-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  18. ^ "Atomic blast to 'Nerds'". Variety. 2006-11-21. Retrieved 2009-01-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  19. ^ KJB (2003-01-30). "McG to Direct Hot Wheels Movie". IGN. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  20. ^ "Hot Wheels, Barbie, He-Man in Development". WorstPreviews.com. 2009-01-03. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  21. ^ Eric Goldman (2007-10-30). "Spaced Remake in Development". IGN. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  22. ^ Jace (2008-05-28). "Where Pilots Go to Die: FOX's "Spaced"". TelevisionaryBlog. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
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