Randall Wallace (born July 28, 1949,
Jackson, TennesseeJackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 59,643 at the 2000 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
) is an American
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
,
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
,
producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
, and
directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
who wrote the screenplay for the
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
film
BraveheartBraveheart is a 1995 Academy-award winning historical action-drama film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role. The film was written for screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
, for which he received an
OscarThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a
Writers Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers around New York City....
award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. Wallace wrote and directed the 2002 film
We Were SoldiersWe Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of United States military forces in the Vietnam War. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And...
, also starring Gibson. He is currently writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
's
Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. This was Rand's fourth, longest and last novel, and she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
.
Born in Tennessee, Wallace spent part of his childhood there and in
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
.
Randall Wallace (born July 28, 1949,
Jackson, TennesseeJackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 59,643 at the 2000 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
) is an American
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
,
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
,
producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
, and
directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
who wrote the screenplay for the
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
film
BraveheartBraveheart is a 1995 Academy-award winning historical action-drama film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role. The film was written for screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
, for which he received an
OscarThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a
Writers Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers around New York City....
award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. Wallace wrote and directed the 2002 film
We Were SoldiersWe Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of United States military forces in the Vietnam War. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And...
, also starring Gibson. He is currently writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
's
Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. This was Rand's fourth, longest and last novel, and she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
.
Biography
Born in Tennessee, Wallace spent part of his childhood there and in
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
. He began writing stories at the age of seven and by the time he graduated from
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
. Instead of pursuing a career as a screenwriter or author, however, Wallace planned on becoming a
ministerIn Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform clergy functions such as teaching of beliefs; performing services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community.-Minister:The minister...
or a
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
.
Wallace graduated from E.C. Glass High School in
Lynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 72,596 at the 2008 U.S. census estimate. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills", "The Hill City" and sometimes...
and attended
Duke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892...
, where he was a
seminaryA seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of higher education for instructing students , sometimes at the postgraduate level, in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, to prepare students for ordination as clergy or other ministry...
student. In interviews he has acknowledged a deep commitment to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, which he credits as an influence on his approach to filmmaking.
Career
In 1980, Wallace moved to Hollywood after trying out a career in singing and songwriting. He soon began writing short stories, novels and scripts for movies and television shows.
In 2008, Wallace has written several songs with singer/songwriter
Richard MarxRichard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
. One of those songs, Flame In Your Fire, appears on Marx's album Emotional Remains.
Selected filmography
- Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 Academy-award winning historical action-drama film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role. The film was written for screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
(1995) – writer
- The Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask is a film directed by Randall Wallace. It uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It also bears several similarities with the 1939 film version...
(1998) – writer, director and producer
- Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a war film directed by Michael Bay. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Colm Feore, Mako, Tom Sizemore, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner...
(2001) – writer and executive producer
- We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of United States military forces in the Vietnam War. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And...
(2002) – writer, director and producer
- Fight or Die
Fight or Die is a television show produced for the Discovery Channel.-Plot Summary:The first episode, Valley of Death, tells the real-life story of a group of American soldiers whose lives were made famous in Randall Wallace's motion picture We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson...
(2008) - executive producer, narrator
- Secretariat
Secretariat is an American upcoming motion picture currently filming for Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures. The film is being directed by Randall Wallace. Diane Lane portrays Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery, and John Malkovich plays the part of Secretariat's trainer, Lucien Laurin.The...
(2010) - director
External links