David Jonathan Heyman is an English film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. He is the producer of the Warriors movie.[2] He lives in Pilmico, London, and is married to interior designer Rose Uniacke. They have one son.[3]
Biography[]
- David Heyman was born in London, the son of John Heyman, who was also a producer of several films.[3] His paternal grandparents were German Jews who fled Nazi Germany and emigrated to England during World War II, while his mother's family was English.[4] He went to Westminster School in London, England, and after graduation, studied art abroad. He earned a degree in Art History from Harvard University from the U.S in 1983.[1]
Career[]
- Heyman's first film to be worked on was A Passage to India, becoming a production assistant.[5] After, in 1986, he became a creative executive at Warner Brothers.[6] He then became vice president of United Artists, and created an independent producing career with his first film, Juice,[7] in 1982, followed by the stoner film The Stone Age in 1994, and other films.[8]
- In 1997, Heyman returned to London and founded his own company, Heyday Films. Since then, a number of fairly successful Harry Potter film adaptions have been made, beginning with 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and ending with 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.[9] During 2007, some other notable projects produced by Heyman were The Boy in the Striped Pajamas[10] and Yes Man.[11]
- Heyman produced the 2013 science fiction thriller Gravity, which grossed more than US$700 million worldwide, and was nominated for over ten Academy Awards.[12] He also produced the 2013 comedy We're the Millers[13] and the 2014 film Paddington, for which he was nominated for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film.[14]
- It was announced in 2016 that Heyman would be working with Alibaba Pictures to produce a film about Warriors, written by Erin Hunter. The release date for the film is yet to be announced.[2]
Quotes[]
"We've been working with the very best in the business. The studio really just let us alone to make the films."
"I love books. I read voraciously, and I happened to have been fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.
"All we try and do is make the best films we can. If you do that then hopefully the audiences will come, and they have. Everything else is gravy."
"Because actually it's really hard to get things made. It takes years. To fight the fights you inevitably have to fight, even when you've produced Harry Potter, you'd better have the commitment and the passion to knock down walls, not take no for an answer."
"The only way I can work is if I care and am passionate about a project, so the challenge is to find projects that I feel that way about."
"I entered the drama and I have a deep resonance with one of the protagonists. I was very much affected when he first entered a new tribe. Repulsive, because it is not a wild cat but a domestic one. What I also admire is that the values of Warriors are gray, not black and white, good and bad. There is a character, Tigerstar, who often does very ruthless things, but he is very loyal and has one very positive motivation.
"It is true that you have to find a screenwriter and find a way to create your own. A work is definitely thinking about how the protagonist walks from home to the wild, and then becomes such a great character.
"In some ways, many of the skills you have as a producer on independent films also apply to making big tentpole films: You surround yourself with a brilliant director, great script and talented people in every department who are smarter than you."
"I like stories that begin with characters. I like to be engaged and moved by the characters in the story. I want to be moved. I want to leave the cinema and think about what I've seen. My sensibility is quite eclectic and it doesn't matter if they are small or large films, I just want to make good films."
"The films you're making have to be faithful to the material."
"I'm living in the moment. I just try to move each of the stories, scripts and projects that I work on forward. And when they're ready and the people are ready to make them, we'll do that."
"We tell the stories that we want to tell."
"A lot of things change and a lot of things stay the same, they mostly stay the same."
Interesting facts[]
- He has read the Warriors books to his son every night before bed.[15]
Filmography[]
| Title | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Juice | 1992 | Producer |
| Blind Justice | 1994 | Producer |
| The Stöned Age | Producer | |
| Ravenous | 1999 | Producer |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | 2001 | Producer |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | 2002 | Producer |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 2004 | Producer |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 2005 | Producer |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 2007 | Producer |
| I Am Legend | Producer | |
| The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | 2008 | Producer |
| Is Anybody There? | Producer | |
| Yes Man | Producer | |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 2009 | Producer |
| The Nephilim | 2010 | Post-production executive producer |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 | Producer | |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 | 2011 | Producer |
| We're the Millers | 2013 | Executive producer |
| Gravity | Producer | |
| The Thirteenth Tale | Producer | |
| Paddington | 2014 | Producer |
| Testament of Youth | Producer | |
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | 2016 | Producer |
| The Light Between Oceans | Producer | |
| Paddington 2 | 2017 | Producer[16][17] |
| Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | 2018 | Producer |
| Untitled Noah Baumbach Project | 2018 | Producer |
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | 2019 | Producer |
| The History of Love | TBA | Producer |
| Fables | Producer | |
| The Queen of the Tearling | Producer | |
| ACME[18] | Producer | |
| Temple Run | Producer | |
| Untitled Warriors Film Adaptation | Producer[2] |
Awards[]
Heyman's films have won several awards.
- Best feature film for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2[9]
- Hall of Fame Award, Producer of the Decade, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award, Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award, Producer of the Year, for the Harry Potter films[9]
- Best Film - International, Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, Best Theatrical Motion Picture, for Gravity[12]
- Best Comedy and Best Feature Film for Paddington[14]
See also[]
External links[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Revealed on wikipedia.org
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Revealed on hollywoodreporter.com
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Revealed in independent.co.uk
- ↑ Revealed on jewishjournal.com
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ Revealed on ew.com
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Revealed on wikipedia.org
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Revealed on imdb.com
- ↑ Revealed on [1]
- ↑ Revealed on collider.com
- ↑ Revealed on variety.com
- ↑ Revealed on themarysue.com