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Arash Amel

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Arash Amel
Born1976
Aberyswyth, Wales
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, producer
RelativesAli Amel (brother)

Arash Amel (Persian: آرش عامل) (born 1976) is a screenwriter and film producer.

Personal life

Amel was born in Aberyswyth, Wales in 1976, but spent several years in Iran before emigrating to the UK as a child. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California.[1]

He was named one of Screen International's British Stars of Tomorrow in 2013.[2]

He was nominated for an Emmy for Grace of Monaco in 2015.[3][4]

Feature Films

Grace of Monaco

Amel wrote and produced the controversial Princess Grace period drama Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth and Frank Langella, and directed by Olivier Dahan. The script was listed in the 2011 Black List of the most liked Hollywood screenplays written in that year.[5] The film opened the Cannes Film Festival 2014, where it was heavily criticised.[6] Harvey Weinstein, whose company owns the distribution rights to Grace of Monaco, was absent from the Cannes premier of the movie. Weinstein was said to have been doing charity work with his wife Georgina Chapman.[7] Weinstein stated that the director's cut of the film was missing a key scene that would address the "legitimate concerns" raised by the royal family over the depiction in Dahan's film.[8] In January 2015, Harvey Weinstein clarified the events leading to his conflict with the director, praising the screenplay and indicating that the US release will be a "Writer's Cut", restoring the movie to the spirit of the screenplay The Weinstein Company signed on for, which he compared to The King's Speech. He said, "The writer, Arash Amel, called me and said, what happened to my script. It’s like welcome to Hollywood. Writers don’t have any say, but we decided to pair him up with a team of people and see what he could do about restoring the movie to the way it looked when he wrote it. He did a wonderful job." [9] Though Amel never publicly took a side in the long-running feud over final cut, he refused to attend the film's official photo call and press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for the director's cut being screened.[10][11][12]

Amel's script was also criticised by the Royal Family of Monaco for being "farcical" and was said to "bore no relation to reality." The Royals released a statement stating, "The Princely Family does not in any way wish to be associated with this film which reflects no reality and regrets that its history has been misappropriated for purely commercial purposes." [13] Amel defending himself against these claims, replying, "It was never about the truth in a literal way, it was about the interpretation of an icon." [14] Mark Kermode in The Guardian wrote, "The biggest problem is Arash Amel's script, which asks us to side with tax evaders and gamblers (Monaco did indeed incur a French blockade for tax-sheltering their billionaires), and to imagine that there is something beautiful and noble about allowing companies to shirk their revenue responsibilities. (Presumably the forthcoming DVD will be heavily promoted on Amazon?)".[15] Kermode's review of Olivier Dahan's film was directly rebutted in a long defense of the movie by critic Brad Stevens in the British Film Institute's film magazine Sight & Sound, stating "The critical condescension that met Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco biopic shows tastemakers still struggling with ‘feminine’ cinema." [16]

Other work

Amel is also adapting for the screen and producing Chris Greenhalgh's epic love story Seducing Ingrid Bergman, in partnership with Uday Chopra and YRF Entertainment.[17] The novel was published in the UK in 2012 and in the US in 2014. Amel's adaptation was listed in the 2014 Hollywood Black List of the most liked screenplays.[18] The film is to be directed by James Mangold.[19]

On April 13, 2013, it was announced that Amel was writing the biopic of slain war journalist Marie Colvin, to be produced by Basil Iwanyk and Charlize Theron, with Theron slated to star.[20] The movie will be based on the Vanity Fair article "Marie Colvin's Private War" by Marie Brenner.[21] It will be directed by Matthew Heineman.[22]

On August 14, 2013, Universal Pictures announced its acquisition of Amel's science fiction screenplay Soldiers of the Sun as the beginning of a new action franchise starring Vin Diesel.[23] The project will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Vin Diesel, and Samantha Vincent. Universal subsequently set Amel to adapt Robert Ludlum's The Parsifal Mosaic for Zhang Yimou to direct, with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer producing.[24]

His previous credit is the Aaron Eckhart thriller Erased, which opened to mostly bad reviews.[25] Amel also wote the sequel to I Am Legend for Warner Bros.[26] Akiva Goldsman announced in 2014 that the sequel had been scrapped and the studio is rebooting the franchise.[27][28]

Other Media

Amel created the BOOM! Studios comic book series Butterfly, co-written by Marguerite Bennet with artwork by Antonio Fuso.[29] It was launched in September 2014 to positive reviews, and was subsequently acquired by Channel 4 to be adapted into a television series [30][31]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Contribution Notes
2012 Erased Writer
2014 Grace of Monaco Writer, Producer
2016 The Titan Writer, Producer

References

  1. ^ "Interview: Arash Amel". Go Into The Story. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  2. ^ "Screen unveils 2013 Stars of Tomorrow: Brits in LA". Screen International. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
  3. ^ "Nicole Kidman's 'Grace Of Monaco' Goes From Cannes Calamity To Emmy Contender". Deadline Hollywood. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  4. ^ "Grace of Monaco". Emmys. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  5. ^ Sperling, Nicole (2011-12-13). "A 'Black List' that's a career boost". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  6. ^ "Grace of Monaco, first look Cannes review: Nicole Kidman excels in fairy tale film". The Independent. 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  7. ^ Shehori, Steven (2014-05-14). "Harvey Weinstein Explains His Absence From 'Grace Of Monaco' Screening At Cannes". ET Canada. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  8. ^ "Cannes: Harvey Weinstein Defends Actions On Grace Kelly Movie, Says Monaco Royal Family Has A "Legitimate Problem" With The Film". Deadline Hollywood. 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  9. ^ "Harvey Weinstein On 'The Imitation Game,' Best Picture Dissing, Sony Hack, Netflix And Quentin Tarantino". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  10. ^ "'Grace of Monaco' Drama: Will Harvey Weinstein Walk the Cannes Carpet?". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  11. ^ "'Grace of Monaco' writer says he sees both sides of princess debate". Los Angeles Times. 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  12. ^ "Cannes: Harvey Weinstein Defends Actions On Grace Kelly Movie, Says Monaco Royal Family Has A "Legitimate Problem" With The Film". Deadline Hollywood. 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  13. ^ "Monaco royals label Grace Kelly film a 'farce'". Reuters. 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  14. ^ Boshoff, Alison (2014-05-09). "The Grace Kelly blockbuster her family DON'T want you to see: As Nicole Kidman recreates the tragic princess, why Monaco's royals hate it - and Hollywood fears a mega-flop". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  15. ^ Kermode, Mark (2014-07-07). "Grace of Monaco review – not Nicole Kidman's finest hour". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  16. ^ "'Embracing Grace". Sight & Sound. 2014-12-12. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  17. ^ "'Grace Of Monaco' Team Sets Epic Love Story Between Ingrid Bergman And War Photog Robert Capa". Deadline Hollywood. 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  18. ^ Bloom, David (December 15, 2014). "'Catherine The Great' Leads The Blacklist 2014: Full List — Update". Deadline Hollywood.
  19. ^ Fleming, Mike (June 19, 2015). "James Mangold In Talks To Helm Arash Amel-Scripted Pic On Ingrid Bergman-Robert Capa Romance". Deadline Hollywood.
  20. ^ "Thunder Road Finds Funds In China And Middle East". Deadline Hollywood. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  21. ^ "Charlize Theron set to star and produce movie in memory of the late war correspondent Marie Colvin". The Daily Mail. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  22. ^ "Cartel Land director Matthew Heineman boards Marie Colvin biopic". Variety. 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  23. ^ "Vin Diesel Teams with 'Grace of Monaco' Writer for 'Soldiers of the Sun' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 2013-08-14. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  24. ^ Zeitchik, Steve (June 19, 2014). "'Grace of Monaco' scribe teams with Zhang Yimou for 'Parsifal Mosaic'". Los Angeles Times.
  25. ^ "Erased". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  26. ^ "'I Am Legend 2' Proceeding With Will Smith and Akiva Goldsman Producing, Arash Amel Writing". The Hollywood Reporter. 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  27. ^ Orange, B. Alan (2014-02-12). "'I Am Legend 2' Will Never Happen; Story Details Revealed". Movieweb. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  28. ^ Fleming, Mike (2014-10-01). "Warner Bros Connects With iPhone Salesman/Scribe's Pitch For 'I Am Legend' Reboot". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  29. ^ "'Butterfly' keeps spycraft all in the family". USA Today. 2014-06-03. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  30. ^ "Channel 4 Picks Up Arash Amel's 'Butterfly'; BOOM! Studios To Exec Produce With 42 And Automatik". Deadline Hollywood. 2015-10-27. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  31. ^ "'Butterfly' - Comic Series Review Roundup". Comic Book Roundup. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
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