William Horberg
Encyclopedia
William Horberg is a noted Hollywood film producer and blogger. His films include Anthony Minghella
's adaptations of the novels The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
and Cold Mountain (movie). He also produced the critically acclaimed Fallen Angels (TV series)
for Showtime from 1993-1995.
He lives in Los Angeles
with his wife, Cuban
-born artist, Elsa Mora
, and their children.
where, in his first venture into film, he owned and operated the downtown repertory Sandburg Movie Theatre
from 1979 to 1981.
He moved into production starting his company, FutureVision, Inc., and was a producer on Cheap Trick
: Live At ChicagoFest for MTV
, Chicago Blues
a ten-part series featuring legendary blues performers for subscription TV, and was an Associate Producer on Miami Blues, and Executive Producer on A Rage in Harlem (film) for Miramax Films
.
Horberg began his career in 1987 as a creative executive at Paramount Pictures
and later a Senior Vice President of Production. While at Paramount he oversaw the development and production of such films as Ghost
, The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, Dead Again
, Regarding Henry
, Soapdish
, The Addams Family (film)
and The Godfather Part III
.
In 1993, Horberg joined producer/director Sydney Pollack
's company, Mirage, where he produced such films as Cold Mountain (movie) based on the best-selling novel by Charles Frazier
, The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
, The Quiet American (2002 film)
based on the novel by Graham Greene
, Heaven (2002 film)
and Searching for Bobby Fischer
, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter (Schindler's List
) Steven Zaillian
.
During that time, he also created and produced the critically acclaimed Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels (TV series)
which featured an extraordinary cast/directors list including Tom Hanks
, Tom Cruise
, Steven Soderberg and Alfonso Cuaron
. He also produced the HBO movie Poodle Springs (film)
based on the unfinished novel by Raymond Chandler
and adapted by Tom Stoppard
.
, Death at a Funeral (2007 film), Married Life (film), Lars and the Real Girl
, Synecdoche, New York
the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
, The Kite Runner (film)
based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini
, and Milk (film)
.
Most recently he founded an independent company, Wonderful Films which co-produced Death at a Funeral (2010 film)
and the upcoming Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011 film)
, a remake of the cult 1973 made-for-tv movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973 film). Recently he also announced plans to co-produce, with Marc Forster
, the drama Disconnect (film) directed by Murderball (film) co-director Henry Alex Rubin
.
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....
's adaptations of the novels The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella. It is an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith 1955 novel of the same name, which was previously filmed as Plein Soleil .The film stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Gwyneth...
and Cold Mountain (movie). He also produced the critically acclaimed Fallen Angels (TV series)
Fallen Angels (TV series)
Fallen Angels was an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994....
for Showtime from 1993-1995.
He lives in 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...
with his wife, Cuban
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
-born artist, Elsa Mora
Elsa Mora
Elsa Mora is an artist working in all media including painting, photography, ceramics, porcelain, collage, bronze and mixed media.Mora attended the Vocational School of the Arts in Holguín...
, and their children.
Early career
Horberg was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where, in his first venture into film, he owned and operated the downtown repertory Sandburg Movie Theatre
from 1979 to 1981.
He moved into production starting his company, FutureVision, Inc., and was a producer on Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...
: Live At ChicagoFest for MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, Chicago Blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
a ten-part series featuring legendary blues performers for subscription TV, and was an Associate Producer on Miami Blues, and Executive Producer on A Rage in Harlem (film) for Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
.
Horberg began his career in 1987 as a creative executive at 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...
and later a Senior Vice President of Production. While at Paramount he oversaw the development and production of such films as Ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
, The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, Dead Again
Dead Again
Dead Again is a 1991 psychological thriller/neo-noir directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson. Andy García, Derek Jacobi and Robin Williams are also featured.-Plot summary:...
, Regarding Henry
Regarding Henry
Regarding Henry is a 1991 American film drama starring Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, directed by Mike Nichols.The screenplay by J. J. Abrams focuses on a New York City lawyer who struggles to regain his memory and recover his speech and mobility after he survives a shooting.-Plot:Ambitious,...
, Soapdish
Soapdish
Soapdish is a 1991 comedy film which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera. It stars Sally Field as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Cathy Moriarty, Garry Marshall, Kathy...
, The Addams Family (film)
The Addams Family (film)
The Addams Family is a 1991 American black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon of the same name created by cartoonist Charles Addams....
and The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
.
In 1993, Horberg joined producer/director Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
's company, Mirage, where he produced such films as Cold Mountain (movie) based on the best-selling novel by Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier is an award-winning American historical novelist.Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973. He earned an M.A. from Appalachian State University in the mid-1970s, and received his Ph.D. in English from the University...
, The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella. It is an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith 1955 novel of the same name, which was previously filmed as Plein Soleil .The film stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Gwyneth...
based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
, The Quiet American (2002 film)
The Quiet American (2002 film)
The Quiet American is a 2002 film adaptation of Graham Greene's bestselling novel of the same name. It was directed by Phillip Noyce and starred Michael Caine, George Henry Hsu, Brendan Fraser, and Do Thi Hai Yen....
based on the novel by Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, Heaven (2002 film)
Heaven (2002 film)
Heaven is a 2002 Film directed by Tom Tykwer, starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. Co-screenwriter Krzysztof Kieślowski intended for it to be the first part of a trilogy , but died before he could complete the project...
and Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc. Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian...
, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter (Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
) Steven Zaillian
Steven Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian is an American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings and Gangs of New York...
.
During that time, he also created and produced the critically acclaimed Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels (TV series)
Fallen Angels (TV series)
Fallen Angels was an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994....
which featured an extraordinary cast/directors list including Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, Steven Soderberg and Alfonso Cuaron
Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his films Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y tu mamá también, and A Little Princess.- Early life :...
. He also produced the HBO movie Poodle Springs (film)
Poodle Springs (film)
Poodle Springs is a 1998 neo-noir HBO film directed by Bob Rafelson starring James Caan, Dina Meyer, and David Keith. The film is based on the unfinished novel Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler, completed after his death by Robert B...
based on the unfinished novel by Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
and adapted by Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
.
Later career
In 2005, Horberg became President of Production at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment where he produced or executive produced Talk To Me (2007 film)Talk to Me (2007 film)
Talk To Me is a 2007 biographical film about Washington, D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist, and Dewey Hughes, his friend and manager...
, Death at a Funeral (2007 film), Married Life (film), Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
, Synecdoche, New York
Synecdoche, New York
Synecdoche, New York is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was Kaufman's directorial debut.The film premiered in competition at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2008...
the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman
Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. His film work includes Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York...
, The Kite Runner (film)
The Kite Runner (film)
The Kite Runner is a 2007 drama film directed by Marc Forster based on the novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend Hassan, the son of his father's...
based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini , is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician of ethnic Tajik origin. He is a citizen of the United States where he has lived since he was fifteen years old. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide....
, and Milk (film)
Milk (film)
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
.
Most recently he founded an independent company, Wonderful Films which co-produced Death at a Funeral (2010 film)
Death at a Funeral (2010 film)
Death at a Funeral is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute and starring an ensemble cast. The film is a remake of the 2007 British film of the same name.-Plot:...
and the upcoming Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011 film)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011 film)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2011 American horror film written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro, directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey and filmed in Mount Macedon, Victoria and Melbourne, Australia...
, a remake of the cult 1973 made-for-tv movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973 film). Recently he also announced plans to co-produce, with Marc Forster
Marc Forster
Marc Forster is a German-Swiss filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner, and Quantum of Solace.- Life and career :...
, the drama Disconnect (film) directed by Murderball (film) co-director Henry Alex Rubin
Henry Alex Rubin
Henry-Alex Rubin studied film at Phillips Academy, Andover and Columbia University. The son of a French mother and American father Henry-Alex Rubin studied film at Phillips Academy, Andover and Columbia University. The son of a French mother and American father Henry-Alex Rubin studied film at...
.