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Will Beall

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Will Beall
Born
OccupationScreenwriter
Spouse
(m. 2012)

Will Beall is an American screenwriter and former Los Angeles Police Department detective. He is best known for writing the scripts for Gangster Squad (2013) and the DC Extended Universe films Aquaman (2018) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), and for developing the police TV series Training Day and Deputy, which were canceled after a single season.

Career

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Beall launched his writing career in 2006 with the publication of his acclaimed first novel LA REX, after working for 10 years as a homicide detective and gang investigator with the Los Angeles Police Department. Beall adapted the book for Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin and the script was featured atop The Black List, Hollywood's annual survey of the industry's favorite screenplays. Between 2009 and 2011, he was a story editor for the ABC TV show Castle, writing several episodes exploring the show's overarching plotline of the hunt for Beckett's mother's killer. Beall wrote the feature film Gangster Squad, which was released in 2013 and starred Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin. The film was based on former Los Angeles Times writer and editor Paul Lieberman's book, Gangster Squad, a non-fiction account of what he calls "the battle for Los Angeles" that took place between the police and Mickey Cohen's crew in the mid-1940s.

Beall's script for Justice League was completed prior to production of Snyder's Batman vs. Superman. In fact, the 'Knightmare' sequence from Batman vs. Superman was inspired by Beall's Justice League script. Much of the second act of Beall's original Justice League script took place in a post-apocalyptic earth where Darkseid had manipulated Superman and then used the Kryptonian to conquer the world. The surviving members of the Justice League had to join forces with villains from the DC Universe in order to defeat Darkseid by sending Flash back in time to warn Batman prior to the invasion.[1] Many of these elements were at least partially restored in the "Snyder Cut," resulting in Beall receiving story credit.

On the strength of his Justice League script, Beall was hired to develop Aquaman as a feature. He wrote multiple drafts and ultimately received both screenplay and story credit for his work on Aquaman, which grossed $1.149 billion worldwide.

Beall was also hired by Warner Bros. to write the screenplay for a reboot of the Lethal Weapon franchise. According to IGN, Beall is writing the script to The Legend of Conan, the sequel to Conan the Barbarian.[2] In an April 2022 article by Deadline Hollywood, Beall was announced to have written the screenplay for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.[3]

Beall also did uncredited production rewrites for Non-Stop, Edge of Tomorrow, and Venom.

Personal life

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Beall married Castle producer and writer Elizabeth Davis on June 30, 2012 at Beltane Ranch in Sonoma Valley, California.[4]

While working in his Pacific Palisades office in 2019, Beall suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital by ambulance. While in route, Beall's heart stopped but — after 13 rounds of defibrillation and continuous CPR — "he had a return of spontaneous circulation" soon after arriving at the hospital. Beall was placed into a medically induced coma, but made a full recovery. In April 2019, he and his wife attended a ceremony for the Los Angeles firefighters and paramedics that helped save his life.[5]

His last name is pronounced "bell."

Writing credits

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Film

Year Title Notes
2013 Gangster Squad Based on the book by Paul Lieberman
2018 Aquaman Co-wrote with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Geoff Johns, and James Wan
Based on Characters from DC Comics
2021 Zack Snyder's Justice League Story only
Co-wrote with Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder
Based on Characters from DC Comics
2024 Bad Boys: Ride or Die[6] Co-wrote with Chris Bremner
Based on Characters created by George Gallo
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F[7] Co-wrote with Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten
Based on Characters created by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr.

Television

Year Title Writer Executive
Producer
Creator Notes
2009–2011 Castle Yes No No Also executive story editor and story editor
34 episodes
2017 Training Day Yes Yes Yes
2020 Deputy Yes Yes Yes

References

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  1. ^ Gonzalez, Umberto (December 4, 2017). "The 'Justice League' That Might Have Been: We've Seen the Script (Exclusive)". The Wrap. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  2. ^ What's Happening With The Legend of Conan?, 02/06/2015
  3. ^ Kroll, Justin (April 8, 2022). "'Beverly Hills Cop 4': Mark Molloy To Direct Next Installment For Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  4. ^ Hitched, Hatched, Hired - The Hollywood Reporter - Wedding of Elizabeth Davis & Will Beall
  5. ^ "Dauntless LAFD Crew Lauded for Saving Life of Pacific Palisades Man | Los Angeles Fire Department".
  6. ^ "Bad Boys: Ride or Die". Writers Guild of America West. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley". Writers Guild of America West. March 27, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
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