Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis won an Academy Award©, a Golden Globe and a Director’s Guild of American Award for Best Director for the hugely successful and popular Forrest Gump. The film’s numerous honours also included Oscars for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Picture. Zemeckis re-teamed with Hanks on the contemporary drama Cast Away, the filming of which was split into two sections, book-ending production on his film What Lies Beneath. Zemeckis and Hanks served as producers on Cast Away, along with Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke.

Earlier in his career, Zemeckis co-wrote with Bob Gale and directed Back to the Future, which was the top-grossing release of 1985, and for which Zemeckis shared Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Screenplay. He then went on to helm Back to the Future, Part II and Part III, completing one of the most successful film franchises in Motion Picture history.

In addition, he directed and produced Contact, starring Jodie Foster, based on the best-selling novel by Carl Sagan; and the macabre comedy hit Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. He also wrote and directed the box office smash Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, cleverly blending live action and animation; directed the romantic adventure hit Romancing the Stone, pairing Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner; and co-wrote with Gale and directed the comedies Used Cars and I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

Zemeckis also produced House on Haunted Hill, and executive produced such films as The Frighteners, The Public Eye, and Trespass, which he also co-wrote with Gale. He and Gale previously wrote 1914, which began Zemeckis’ association with Steven Spielberg.

For the small screen, Zemeckis has directed several projects, including the Showtime feature-length documentary The Pursuit of Happiness, which explored the effect of drugs and alcohol on 20th century society. His additional television credits include episodes of Spielberg’s Amazing Stores and HBO’s Tales From the Crypt.

In 1998, Zemeckis, Starkey and Rapke partnered to form the film and television production company ImageMovers. What Lies Beneath was the first film to be released under the ImageMovers banner, followed by Cast Away, which opened to critical and audience acclaim in the Fall of 2000, and Matchstick Men.

In March 2001, the USC School of Cinema-Television celebrated the opening of the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. This state-of-the-art center is the country’s first and only fully digital training center and houses the latest in non-linear production and post-production equipment as well as stages, a fity-seat screening room and USC student-run television station, Trojan Vision.

In 2004, Zemeckis produced and directed the motion capture film The Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks. He also brought the true-life story of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson to the big screen. In addition, he served as executive producer on both Monster House, and the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday.

Zemeckis produced and directed his second motion capture film, Beowulf which was also produced by Rapke and Starkey. The feature starred Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie and was based on one of the oldest surviving pieces of Anglo-Saxon literature, written sometime before the 10th Century A.D.

Zemeckis released another advanced motion-capture film: A Christmas Carol, based on the celebrated and beloved classic story by Charles Dickens. Rapke and Starkey also produced the film which was released by The Disney Studios in 2009.

Zemeckis returned to live action direction with the critically-acclaimed dramatic feature film Flight, for Paramount Pictures starring Denzel Washington. Under the direction of Zemeckis, Washington received an Academy Award nomination for the role.

Zemeckis directed Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ben Kinglsey in The Walk, the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s attempt to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. He then directed the romantic thriller Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. The film tells the compelling story of the relationship between a Canadian Intelligence Officer and a French Resistance Fighter against the backdrop of WWII in North Africa in 1942.

Recently, Zemeckis co-wrote with Caroline Thompson the screenplay for Welcome to Marwen. The project, for Universal Pictures, starred Steve Carell as artist Mark Hogencamp who created a miniature WWII-era village as a way to recover from a violent assault. Leslie Mann also stars in the film which was released in 2018.

For Television, Zemeckis will serve as Executive Producer on Medal of Honor, a new series for Netflix and will also Executive Produce on Blue Book for the History Channel and will Executive Produce on Manifest for NBC and WB Studios Zemeckis is currently in production on The Witches for Warner Bros, studios.