Stephen Sommers
Encyclopedia
Stephen Sommers is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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:...

 and film 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:...

, best known for The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...

 and its sequel, The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns is a 2001 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez and Freddie Boath. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film The Mummy...

. He also directed Disney's live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1994 film)
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 Disney film based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and is a live-action remake of the 1967 film The Jungle Book. The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli and Cary Elwes as his main adversary. It was...

, the action/horror film Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...

, and the 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Early life

Stephen Sommers was born in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 and grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud, Minnesota
St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stearns County...

 where he attended St. Cloud Apollo High School
Apollo High School (St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Apollo Senior High School is a high school located at 1000 44th Ave N. in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Apollo is one of St. Cloud's two public high schools, the other being Technical Senior High School.- Meaning of name :...

. He is a 1980 graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and the University of Seville
University of Seville
The Universidad de Sevilla or University of Seville, in English, is a top-ranked European university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of Colegio Santa María de Jesús in 1505, the University of Seville, with a student body of over 50,000, is one of the top-ranked universities in the country...

 in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. After graduating, he spent four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. He eventually returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, where he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...

 for three years, earning a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 and writing and directing the award-winning short film Perfect Alibi.

Career

Perfect Alibi helped Sommers acquire independent funding to write and direct his first feature film, the teen racing film Catch Me If You Can, filmed for $800,000 on location in his hometown of St. Cloud. The film was sold at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 for $7 million and later debuted on video in the United States.

Almost four years later, broke and in danger of having his house repossessed, he wrote and directed an adaptation of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

's classic The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993 film)
The Adventures of Huck Finn is a 1993 Disney adventure film starring Elijah Wood and Courtney B. Vance; it is based on Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though it focuses almost exclusively on the first half of the book...

 for Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

, as well as Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1994 film)
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 Disney film based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and is a live-action remake of the 1967 film The Jungle Book. The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli and Cary Elwes as his main adversary. It was...

. He later wrote the screenplays for Gunmen
Gunman (film)
Gunman is a 1983 Thai crime film directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol and starring Sorapong Chatree as an amputee assassin.-Plot:As the opening credits roll, the scene is from the point of a man on a motorcycle at night...

 and The Adventures of Tom and Huck
Tom and Huck
Tom and Huck is a 1995 Disney film starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Joey Stinson, and Rachael Leigh Cook; it is based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In the film, mischievous young Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder by the vicious Native American known as "Injun Joe"...

, which he also executive produced for Disney, and worked as a staff writer at Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...

. While there he worked on a script called Tentacle, which he later directed under the title Deep Rising
Deep Rising
Deep Rising is a 1998 action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It was distributed by Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi Pictures, and was released in the United States on January 30, 1998.-Plot:...

 in 1998.

In 1999, he wrote and directed Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

' big-budget remake of The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...

. The film was a smash hit, and Sommers received two Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...

 nominations for Best Director and Best Writer in 2000 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. A successful sequel, The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns is a 2001 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez and Freddie Boath. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film The Mummy...

, followed two years later, and he also co-wrote and produced 2002's The Scorpion King
The Scorpion King
The Scorpion King is a 2002 American action film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan...

, a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...

/spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 of The Mummy Returns.

In 2004, Sommers founded his own company (along with editor/producing partner Bob Ducsay), The Sommers Company, and returned to theater screens with Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...

, a film pitting legendary vampire hunter
Vampire hunter
A vampire hunter or vampire slayer is a character in folklore and fiction who specializes in finding and destroying vampires, and sometimes other supernatural creatures....

 Gabriel Van Helsing against the triumvirate of Universal movie monsters
Universal Monsters
Universal Monsters or Universal Horror is the name given to a series of distinctive horror, suspense and science fiction films made by Universal Studios from 1923 to 1960...

: Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...

, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...

. Before Van Helsing even premiered, Sommers and Ducsay began developing a spin-off TV series for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 called Transylvania. Though featuring none of the characters from the film, the series (which was to have made use of the film's Prague set) was about a young cowboy from Texas who becomes a sheriff in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, has many strange adventures, and encounters many strange creatures. Sommers and Ducsay were to have been executive producers, and Sommers wrote scripts for the pilot and first several episodes, but NBC decided not to go through with the show.

Since Van Helsing, Sommers has been attached to a number of projects. He was originally set to direct Night at the Museum
Night at the Museum
Night at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny...

, but dropped out due to creative differences. He was also attached to a remake of When Worlds Collide
When Worlds Collide (film)
When Worlds Collide is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1933 novel co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. The film was shot in Technicolor, directed by Rudolph Maté and was the winner of the 1951 Academy Award for special effects....

 (to be executive produced by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

), a new big-screen adaptation of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

, a swashbuckling adventure film called Airborn based on the novel
Airborn (novel)
Airborn is a 2004 young adult novel by Kenneth Oppel. The book won the Canada's Governor General's Award. Airborn is set in a time where the primary form of air transportation are airships...

, a romantic/adventure story called Big Love, and a remake of the French film Les Victimes. Sommers opted out of directing the third Mummy film, titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a 2008 American action adventure film and sequel to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns . The film stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, and Jet Li, and was released on August 1, 2008 in the United States...

, instead becoming one of its producers.

Sommers directed Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

' summer 2009 live-action adaptation of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and also served as a producer.

He was developing a Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

 adaptation for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 but left the project. He is currently remaking the film When Worlds Collide
When Worlds Collide (film)
When Worlds Collide is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1933 novel co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. The film was shot in Technicolor, directed by Rudolph Maté and was the winner of the 1951 Academy Award for special effects....

.

Filmography

Year Film Credited as
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:...

Writer
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:...

Producer
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...

Other
1989 Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can (1989 film)
Catch Me If You Can is a 1989 film starring Grant Heslov, Geoffrey Lewis, M. Emmet Walsh, music by Tangerine Dream and was the directorial debut by writer and director Stephen Sommers.-Plot:...

1993 The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993 film)
The Adventures of Huck Finn is a 1993 Disney adventure film starring Elijah Wood and Courtney B. Vance; it is based on Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though it focuses almost exclusively on the first half of the book...

1994 Gunmen
Gunmen (1994 film)
Gunmen is a 1994 action-comedy film directed by Deran Sarafian. It starring Mario Van Peebles, Christopher Lambert, Denis Leary, Kadeem Hardison and Patrick Stewart. Robert Harper and Brenda Bakke are co-stars of the film...

The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1994 film)
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 Disney film based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and is a live-action remake of the 1967 film The Jungle Book. The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli and Cary Elwes as his main adversary. It was...

1996 Tom and Huck
Tom and Huck
Tom and Huck is a 1995 Disney film starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Joey Stinson, and Rachael Leigh Cook; it is based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In the film, mischievous young Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder by the vicious Native American known as "Injun Joe"...

1997 Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist (1997 film)
Oliver Twist is a 1997 television movie produced by Walt Disney Television, based on the popular novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. It aired during The Wonderful World of Disney...

1998 Deep Rising
Deep Rising
Deep Rising is a 1998 action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It was distributed by Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi Pictures, and was released in the United States on January 30, 1998.-Plot:...

1999 The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...

2000 Running Away
2001 The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns is a 2001 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez and Freddie Boath. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film The Mummy...

2002 The Scorpion King
The Scorpion King
The Scorpion King is a 2002 American action film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan...

2004 Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...

Van Helsing: The London Assignment
Van Helsing: The London Assignment
Van Helsing: The London Assignment is a 2004 animated film by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It features the voices of Hugh Jackman, Robbie Coltrane and David Wenham.-Plot:...

2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a 2008 American action adventure film and sequel to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns . The film stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, and Jet Li, and was released on August 1, 2008 in the United States...

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
2012 Odd Thomas
Odd Thomas (film)
Odd Thomas is an upcoming film based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz. Director Stephen Sommers is also a producer of the movie, along with Howard Kaplan and John Baldecchi of Fusion Films.-Plot:...


External links

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