Roger Avary
Encyclopedia
Roger Avary is a Canadian film
and television producer
, screenwriter
, olive
farm
er and director
in the American mass media industry. He was behind the screenplays of the films Silent Hill
and Beowulf
. Before that he had worked on Reservoir Dogs
and Pulp Fiction
, the latter of which earned both him and Quentin Tarantino
an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 67th Academy Awards
. He also directed the films Killing Zoe
and The Rules of Attraction
among other film and television projects.
Avary went along, writing the store's database program with fellow 6502 programmer Andy Blinn on an Atari 800 computer. Under the vision of Lawson, Video Archives became a gathering place for a group of cinephiles
, who became known as "Archivists". Among this group, Avary met an odd and brilliant film enthusiast, Quentin Tarantino
. The two became friends, introducing each other to their favorite films.
Early in his career, Avary made a number of contributions to some of Quentin Tarantino's movies. He worked as a cinematographer on Tarantino's unfinished first film, My Best Friend's Birthday
. He had at one point written a script called "The Open Road" which Tarantino rewrote. Avary took on the producer's role, and he and Tarantino tried unsuccessfully for several years to get funding so that Tarantino could direct the script himself. Eventually, the script was sold to French producer Samuel Hadida
and became the movie True Romance
. Since Tarantino was busy prepping Reservoir Dogs
, Avary was hired with Tarantino's consent by Tony Scott
and Hadida to work as a script doctor on the material, a job which included bringing the length down, reforming the narrative to a linear fashion, and writing a more commercial ending where the Clarence character is not killed.
When the Paul Brothers, a pair of wealthy bodybuilders who wanted to get into the movies, offered Tarantino funding for his script Natural Born Killers
on the condition he include a scene featuring them, he could not write it out of disgust, and asked Avary to write it as a favor. The scene, known as the "Hun Brothers" scene, was described by Oliver Stone
as the best scene in the script. It was, however, cut from the final film because, as Stone is quoted as saying on the Natural Born Killers special edition laserdisc, "I fucked it up." Avary co-wrote the background radio dialogue in Reservoir Dogs (1992), and designed the "Dog Eat Dog" logo which appeared in the end credits.
Most notably, Avary contributed material which, combined with Tarantino's, formed the basis of Pulp Fiction
(1994) for which he and Tarantino won the Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay. Earlier in their careers, Tarantino and Avary had planned on making an anthology movie comprising three short films; one written and directed by Avary, one written and directed by Tarantino, and one written and directed by a third filmmaker, reportedly Adam Rifkin
. When the third filmmaker never materialized, Tarantino and Avary took their respective stories and expanded them into full length screenplays separately. Tarantino's story became Reservoir Dogs, and Avary's story became "Pandemonium Reigns". "Pandemonium Reigns" ended up forming the basis of the "Gold Watch" chapter of Pulp Fiction (an earlier version of his website displayed an excerpt from "Pandemonium Reigns", illustrating the changes that were made by Tarantino when writing "The Gold Watch"), and other odd scenes Avary had written during his rewrite of True Romance
were reworked and incorporated into the Pulp Fiction script, such as the accidental shooting of Marvin, and the scene in which the bullets fired at Jules and Vincent miss their targets. Tarantino and Avary got together in Amsterdam shortly after the release of Reservoir Dogs, and pasted each other's scenes together into a first draft, after which Avary left to film Killing Zoe
, leaving Tarantino to continue subsequent writing of Pulp Fiction. Avary's bizarre 1994 Oscar
speech (for Best Original Screenplay) consisted of "I want to thank my beautiful wife, Gretchen, who I love more than anyone else in the world...I'm gonna go now 'cause I really got to take a pee." The "pee comment" was a reference to all five films nominated in 1994 for Best Picture having a scene where a character excuses themselves to use the bathroom.
cult thriller Killing Zoe
(1994) which Tarantino executive produced. The screenplay was based in part on his experiences travelling through Europe (which he also refers to in Victor's European trip in The Rules of Attraction
). Avary had initially intended to write a screenplay completely devoted to this experience, for which Tarantino suggested the ironic title Roger Takes a Trip. But when producer Lawrence Bender called Avary during location scouting
on Reservoir Dogs asking if he had a screenplay that took place entirely in a bank so that they could take advantage of an inexpensive location they had no use for, Avary told Bender that he had such a script—and quickly wrote Killing Zoe
in under a week, using elements of his European trip as inspiration. While Killing Zoe takes place in Paris, the film was almost entirely shot in downtown Los Angeles locations, with only two days in Paris to shoot the opening credit sequence and two drive-by shots. The film was also an influence on Tarantino; according to Avary, Tarantino, while rewriting Pulp Fiction, added the heroin scenes after viewing a rough cut of Killing Zoe. The film was honored with le Prix très spécial à Cannes 1994, the very same year that Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or
. It continued to win awards worldwide on the festival circuit, including the Grand Prize at Japan's Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
in February 1994 and the Italian Mystfest. The film was also celebrated by the Cinémathèque Française
, who heralded Avary as "the Antonin Artaud
of cinema" during their Cinema of Cruelty retrospective.
, in Atherton, California
. The school, "a West coast Bennington", laid the foundations for his film adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis
novel The Rules of Attraction
.
In 2002, Avary directed his adaptation
of the novel, which he also executive produced. As of 2009, the film ranked as the twenty-seventh highest grossing college comedy of all time.
The Rules of Attraction was the first studio movie to prove reliable use of Apple's Final Cut Pro
editing system for editing motion picture film.
Roger Avary became a spokesperson for Apple's Final Cut Pro
product, appearing in Apple print and web ads worldwide. His film from within the film, Glitterati (2004), used elements of Victor's European trip and was shot on digital video. In 2005, he purchased the rights to another Bret Easton Ellis novel Glamorama
, and is currently developing it for himself to direct.
In 2005, Avary, at the request of his friend, actor James Van Der Beek
, played the part of a peyote
-taking gonzo film director Franklin Brauner in the film "Standing Still."
videogame, Silent Hill
(2006), with French director and friend, Christophe Gans
, and Killing Zoe producer Samuel Hadida. Avary and Gans being long time video gamers and fans of the Silent Hill series, collaborated on this game-based film.
In the late 1990s, Avary was hired by Warner Bros studio to adapt Neil Gaiman
's comic series The Sandman to the big screen. He frequently sparred with the studio over the direction of the film, with Avary wanting to adapt as close to the source material as possible. When he suggested that he would film a large part of Sandman like a Jan Švankmajer
film, he was fired. After the incident, Gaiman and Avary became friends and started work together writing an adaptation of the epic poem Beowulf
.
Avary and novelist Neil Gaiman
's long gestating screenplay for Beowulf
was finally produced by the pair in 2007 with Robert Zemeckis
directing, utilizing the Performance capture technology pioneered in The Polar Express
. Gaiman and Avary enjoyed the experience of working together, coming across as a happy team in Beowulf interviews.
announced at Quakecon 2007 that a film adaptation of their game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is in development with the writer/producer team of Silent Hill on board with Avary as director and writer and Samuel Hadida as producer.
and DUI
, following a car crash in Ojai, California
where a passenger, Andreas Zini, was killed. The Ventura County Sheriff's department responded to the accident after midnight Sunday morning on the 19-hundred block of East Ojai Avenue. Avary was released from jail on $50,000 bail.
In December 2008, he was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, gross vehicular manslaughter and two felony counts of causing bodily injury while intoxicated. He later changed his plea to guilty on August 18, 2009.
On September 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 1 year in work furlough, (allowing him to go to his job during the day and then report back to the furlough facility at night), and 5 years of probation. However, after making several tweets
about the conditions of his stay on Twitter
, Avary was sent to Ventura County Jail to serve out the remainder of his term.
On July 10, 2010, after spending eight months in jail, Avary was released.
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
er and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
in the American mass media industry. He was behind the screenplays of the films Silent Hill
Silent Hill (film)
Silent Hill is a 2006 horror film directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary. The story is an adaptation of the Silent Hill series of survival horror video games created by Konami. The film, particularly its emotional, religious and aesthetic content as well as its creature design,...
and Beowulf
Beowulf (2007 film)
Beowulf is a 2007 American animated fantasy film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary inspired by the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through a motion capture process similar to the technique he used in The Polar Express...
. Before that he had worked on Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
and Pulp Fiction
Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
, the latter of which earned both him and Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 67th Academy Awards
67th Academy Awards
The 67th Academy Awards, honoring the best films of 1994, were held on March 27, 1995 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by well-known comedian and talk show host David Letterman....
. He also directed the films Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
and The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction (film)
The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
among other film and television projects.
Quentin Tarantino, True Romance, and Pulp Fiction
When in 1981, Video Out-Takes co-owner Lance Lawson (a name that comes up repeatedly in Avary and Tarantino's films) left to open the now famous Video ArchivesVideo Archives
Video Archives was a video rental store located in Manhattan Beach, California, owned and managed by Lance Lawson. In his youth, Quentin Tarantino, director of Pulp Fiction, was a clerk there...
Avary went along, writing the store's database program with fellow 6502 programmer Andy Blinn on an Atari 800 computer. Under the vision of Lawson, Video Archives became a gathering place for a group of cinephiles
Cinephile
Kenny Inglis and Susan Wallace are the duo behind Cinephile, a trip-hop band from Glasgow famous for the song "What Becomes of Us ?" which was played during an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, who became known as "Archivists". Among this group, Avary met an odd and brilliant film enthusiast, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
. The two became friends, introducing each other to their favorite films.
Early in his career, Avary made a number of contributions to some of Quentin Tarantino's movies. He worked as a cinematographer on Tarantino's unfinished first film, My Best Friend's Birthday
My Best Friend's Birthday
My Best Friend's Birthday is a black-and-white amateur film written by Craig Hamann and Quentin Tarantino and directed by Quentin Tarantino, while he was working at the now shuttered Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California...
. He had at one point written a script called "The Open Road" which Tarantino rewrote. Avary took on the producer's role, and he and Tarantino tried unsuccessfully for several years to get funding so that Tarantino could direct the script himself. Eventually, the script was sold to French producer Samuel Hadida
Samuel Hadida
Samuel Hadida, born December 17, 1953, in Casablanca, Morocco, is a film producer.Hadida studied in Paris. In 1978, Hadida co-founded the company Metropolitan Filmexport with his brother Victor. The company later became a successful independent distributor of films in the French-speaking world...
and became the movie True Romance
True Romance
True Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
. Since Tarantino was busy prepping Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
, Avary was hired with Tarantino's consent by Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
and Hadida to work as a script doctor on the material, a job which included bringing the length down, reforming the narrative to a linear fashion, and writing a more commercial ending where the Clarence character is not killed.
When the Paul Brothers, a pair of wealthy bodybuilders who wanted to get into the movies, offered Tarantino funding for his script Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
on the condition he include a scene featuring them, he could not write it out of disgust, and asked Avary to write it as a favor. The scene, known as the "Hun Brothers" scene, was described by Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
as the best scene in the script. It was, however, cut from the final film because, as Stone is quoted as saying on the Natural Born Killers special edition laserdisc, "I fucked it up." Avary co-wrote the background radio dialogue in Reservoir Dogs (1992), and designed the "Dog Eat Dog" logo which appeared in the end credits.
Most notably, Avary contributed material which, combined with Tarantino's, formed the basis of Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
(1994) for which he and Tarantino won the Academy Award
67th Academy Awards
The 67th Academy Awards, honoring the best films of 1994, were held on March 27, 1995 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by well-known comedian and talk show host David Letterman....
for Best Original Screenplay. Earlier in their careers, Tarantino and Avary had planned on making an anthology movie comprising three short films; one written and directed by Avary, one written and directed by Tarantino, and one written and directed by a third filmmaker, reportedly Adam Rifkin
Adam Rifkin
Adam Rifkin sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. Rifkin is claimed to belong to a rare breed of film directors that transited from public-access television cable TV to Hollywood.His eclectic career ranges from broad family comedies to cult...
. When the third filmmaker never materialized, Tarantino and Avary took their respective stories and expanded them into full length screenplays separately. Tarantino's story became Reservoir Dogs, and Avary's story became "Pandemonium Reigns". "Pandemonium Reigns" ended up forming the basis of the "Gold Watch" chapter of Pulp Fiction (an earlier version of his website displayed an excerpt from "Pandemonium Reigns", illustrating the changes that were made by Tarantino when writing "The Gold Watch"), and other odd scenes Avary had written during his rewrite of True Romance
True Romance
True Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
were reworked and incorporated into the Pulp Fiction script, such as the accidental shooting of Marvin, and the scene in which the bullets fired at Jules and Vincent miss their targets. Tarantino and Avary got together in Amsterdam shortly after the release of Reservoir Dogs, and pasted each other's scenes together into a first draft, after which Avary left to film Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
, leaving Tarantino to continue subsequent writing of Pulp Fiction. Avary's bizarre 1994 Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
speech (for Best Original Screenplay) consisted of "I want to thank my beautiful wife, Gretchen, who I love more than anyone else in the world...I'm gonna go now 'cause I really got to take a pee." The "pee comment" was a reference to all five films nominated in 1994 for Best Picture having a scene where a character excuses themselves to use the bathroom.
Killing Zoe
Avary also wrote and directed the neo-noirNeo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
cult thriller Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
(1994) which Tarantino executive produced. The screenplay was based in part on his experiences travelling through Europe (which he also refers to in Victor's European trip in The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction (film)
The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
). Avary had initially intended to write a screenplay completely devoted to this experience, for which Tarantino suggested the ironic title Roger Takes a Trip. But when producer Lawrence Bender called Avary during location scouting
Location scouting
Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking and commercial photography. Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind of scenery they require for the various parts of their work that is shot outside of the studio, the search for a...
on Reservoir Dogs asking if he had a screenplay that took place entirely in a bank so that they could take advantage of an inexpensive location they had no use for, Avary told Bender that he had such a script—and quickly wrote Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
in under a week, using elements of his European trip as inspiration. While Killing Zoe takes place in Paris, the film was almost entirely shot in downtown Los Angeles locations, with only two days in Paris to shoot the opening credit sequence and two drive-by shots. The film was also an influence on Tarantino; according to Avary, Tarantino, while rewriting Pulp Fiction, added the heroin scenes after viewing a rough cut of Killing Zoe. The film was honored with le Prix très spécial à Cannes 1994, the very same year that Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
. It continued to win awards worldwide on the festival circuit, including the Grand Prize at Japan's Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Film Festival.-History:...
in February 1994 and the Italian Mystfest. The film was also celebrated by the Cinémathèque Française
Cinémathèque Française
The Cinémathèque Française holds one of the largest archives of films, movie documents and film-related objects in the world. Located in Paris, the Cinémathèque holds daily screenings of films from around the world.-History:...
, who heralded Avary as "the Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
of cinema" during their Cinema of Cruelty retrospective.
The Rules of Attraction
From 1985 to 1986, Avary attended Menlo CollegeMenlo College
Menlo College, often referred to as Menlo, is a private, four-year baccalaureate college specializing in business located in the Silicon Valley town of Atherton, California.-Campus:...
, in Atherton, California
Atherton, California
Atherton is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 6,914 at the 2010 census. In September 2010, Forbes magazine placed Atherton's zip code of 94027 at #2 on its annual list of America's most expensive zip codes, with a median home price of $4,010,200...
. The school, "a West coast Bennington", laid the foundations for his film adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
novel The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction is a dark comedy and satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1987. The novel focuses on a handful of rowdy and often sexually promiscuous, spoiled Bohemian college students at a liberal arts college in 1980s New Hampshire, primarily focusing on three of them who...
.
In 2002, Avary directed his adaptation
The Rules of Attraction (film)
The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
of the novel, which he also executive produced. As of 2009, the film ranked as the twenty-seventh highest grossing college comedy of all time.
The Rules of Attraction was the first studio movie to prove reliable use of Apple's Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
editing system for editing motion picture film.
Roger Avary became a spokesperson for Apple's Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
product, appearing in Apple print and web ads worldwide. His film from within the film, Glitterati (2004), used elements of Victor's European trip and was shot on digital video. In 2005, he purchased the rights to another Bret Easton Ellis novel Glamorama
Glamorama
Glamorama is a novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1998. Unlike Ellis' previous novels, Glamorama is set in and satirizes the 1990s, specifically celebrity culture and consumerism...
, and is currently developing it for himself to direct.
In 2005, Avary, at the request of his friend, actor James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...
, played the part of a peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
-taking gonzo film director Franklin Brauner in the film "Standing Still."
Silent Hill
In 2006, Avary wrote a screenplay adaptation to the hit KonamiKonami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
videogame, Silent Hill
Silent Hill (film)
Silent Hill is a 2006 horror film directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary. The story is an adaptation of the Silent Hill series of survival horror video games created by Konami. The film, particularly its emotional, religious and aesthetic content as well as its creature design,...
(2006), with French director and friend, Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans
Christophe Gans is a French film director, writer, and producer who specializes in horror, fantasy movies and video game adaptations.-Biography:...
, and Killing Zoe producer Samuel Hadida. Avary and Gans being long time video gamers and fans of the Silent Hill series, collaborated on this game-based film.
Beowulf
According to Avary's biography on the American "Killing Zoe" DVD, Avary directed a small, independent musical production of "Beowulf" for the stage in Paris in 1993. Little is known about the nature of the production, but Beowulf seems to have been a lifelong obsession with Avary. In the production notes of the same "Killing Zoe" DVD, Avary is said to have given copies of Beowulf to the actors as inspiration for their character's motivations.In the late 1990s, Avary was hired by Warner Bros studio to adapt Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's comic series The Sandman to the big screen. He frequently sparred with the studio over the direction of the film, with Avary wanting to adapt as close to the source material as possible. When he suggested that he would film a large part of Sandman like a Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others.- Life and career :Jan...
film, he was fired. After the incident, Gaiman and Avary became friends and started work together writing an adaptation of the epic poem Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
.
Avary and novelist Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's long gestating screenplay for Beowulf
Beowulf (2007 film)
Beowulf is a 2007 American animated fantasy film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary inspired by the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through a motion capture process similar to the technique he used in The Polar Express...
was finally produced by the pair in 2007 with Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
directing, utilizing the Performance capture technology pioneered in The Polar Express
The Polar Express
The Polar Express is a 1985 children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, a former professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was adapted as an Oscar-nominated motion-capture film in 2004....
. Gaiman and Avary enjoyed the experience of working together, coming across as a happy team in Beowulf interviews.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
On August 3, 2007, id SoftwareId Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
announced at Quakecon 2007 that a film adaptation of their game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is in development with the writer/producer team of Silent Hill on board with Avary as director and writer and Samuel Hadida as producer.
Manslaughter charge
On January 13, 2008, Avary was arrested under suspicion of manslaughterManslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
and DUI
DUI
DUI is a three letter acronym that may stand for:* Driving under the influence * Democratic Union for Integration — the largest ethnic Albanian party in the Republic of Macedonia* Data Use Identifier...
, following a car crash in Ojai, California
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...
where a passenger, Andreas Zini, was killed. The Ventura County Sheriff's department responded to the accident after midnight Sunday morning on the 19-hundred block of East Ojai Avenue. Avary was released from jail on $50,000 bail.
In December 2008, he was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, gross vehicular manslaughter and two felony counts of causing bodily injury while intoxicated. He later changed his plea to guilty on August 18, 2009.
On September 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 1 year in work furlough, (allowing him to go to his job during the day and then report back to the furlough facility at night), and 5 years of probation. However, after making several tweets
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
about the conditions of his stay on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, Avary was sent to Ventura County Jail to serve out the remainder of his term.
On July 10, 2010, after spending eight months in jail, Avary was released.
Director
- The Worm Turns (1983) (short)
- "Roger Avary's Day Off" (1987) (short)
- Killing ZoeKilling ZoeKilling Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
(1994) - Mr. Stitch (1996) (television)
- The Rules of AttractionThe Rules of Attraction (film)The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
(2002) - Glitterati (2005) (unreleased)
Writer
- The Worm Turns (1983) (short)
- Reservoir DogsReservoir DogsReservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
(1992) (uncredited) - True RomanceTrue RomanceTrue Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
(1993) (uncredited) - Pulp FictionPulp Fiction (film)Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
(1994) (shared a "Story by" creditWGA screenwriting credit systemIn the United States, screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by either the Writers Guild of America, East or the Writers Guild of America, West . Since 1941, the Guilds have been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a...
with Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, who also received the sole "Written by" credit) - Killing ZoeKilling ZoeKilling Zoe is a 1994 film, written and directed by Roger Avary. The story details a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist...
(1994) - Crying FreemanCrying Freeman (film)Crying Freeman is a 1995 French and Canadian produced action film, directed by Christophe Gans, based on the "Portrait of a Killer" arc of the best-selling manga of the same name by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami....
(1995) (uncredited) - Mr. Stitch (1996) (television)
- Odd Jobs (1997) (television)
- The Rules of AttractionThe Rules of Attraction (film)The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
(2002) - Glitterati (2005) (unreleased)
- Silent HillSilent Hill (film)Silent Hill is a 2006 horror film directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary. The story is an adaptation of the Silent Hill series of survival horror video games created by Konami. The film, particularly its emotional, religious and aesthetic content as well as its creature design,...
(2006) - BeowulfBeowulf (2007 film)Beowulf is a 2007 American animated fantasy film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary inspired by the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through a motion capture process similar to the technique he used in The Polar Express...
(2007)
Producer
- Mr. Stitch (1996) (television)
- Odd JobsOdd JobsOdd Jobs is an American comedy film produced by TriStar Pictures and HBO Films, and originally released to movie theatres in 1986.- Cast :* Paul Reiser - Max* Robert Townsend - Dwight...
(1997) (television) - Glitterati (2005) (unreleased)
Executive Producer
- Boogie BoyBoogie BoyBoogie Boy is a 1998 film featuring Traci Lords as Shonda. It was written and directed by Craig Hamann and produced by Braddon Mendelson. It also stars Mark Dacascos, Emily Lloyd, Jaimz Woolvett, Frederic Forrest, Joan Jett and Linnea Quigley ....
(1998) - The Rules of AttractionThe Rules of Attraction (film)The Rules of Attraction is a 2002 satirical dark comedy film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars James van der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, and Kip Pardue.-Plot:...
(2002) - The Last ManThe Last Man (film)Mary Shelley's The Last Man is a 2008 science fiction film directed by James Arnett and starring Santiago Craig. The film was released in the USA on February 23, 2008.-Overview:...
(2003) - BeowulfBeowulf (2007 film)Beowulf is a 2007 American animated fantasy film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary inspired by the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through a motion capture process similar to the technique he used in The Polar Express...
(2007)
Actor
- Phantasm IV: OblivionPhantasm IV: OblIVionPhantasm IV Oblivion is a 1998 horror film, a sequel to the Phantasm film series written and directed by Don Coscarelli, starring A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm....
(1998) (cameoCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
) - Standing StillStanding Still"Standing Still" is a song by female American artist Jewel. Recorded in 2001, this song is featured on the album This Way. The single charted best in New Zealand, where it reached number seven. It also charted in the United States at number 25....
(2005)
External links
- Roger Avary official website
- "Project Avary": an organization founded to benefit the children of incarcerated parents
- Roger Avary talks to Edge Magazine about Silent Hill
- Roger Avary Interview on Suicide Girls
- Webwombat.com Interview
- Screen-It deconstructs the sex, drugs, and violence in The Rules of Attraction
- JoBlo.com Interview on Silent Hill