Chris Columbus (filmmaker)
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| Chris Columbus | |||||||
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| Born | September 10, 1958 Spangler, Pennsylvania |
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| Years active | 1984 - present | ||||||
| Spouse(s) | Monica Devereux (1983–present) (4 children) | ||||||
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Chris Columbus (born September 10, 1958, Spangler, Pennsylvania) is an American filmmaker.
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[edit] Film career
[edit] Start in the industry
Columbus graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio. After that he attended New York University's film school at the Tisch School of the Arts. There he was a schoolmate of Charlie Kaufman[1].
After finishing film school, Columbus started in the industry as a screenwriter with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions, working on Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He created and wrote the first episodes of the animated series Galaxy High (1986-87).
Columbus made his directorial debut with the teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting (1987). He had huge success with the first Home Alone film (1990) starring Macaulay Culkin.
[edit] Return to prominence
In 1995, Columbus started his own production company named 1492 Pictures. This refers to Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus, who arrived in the New World that year.
His later directorial work includes Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Bicentennial Man (1999), the first two Harry Potter films and Rent (2005), an adaptation of the popular Broadway musical.
Commercially, he has been hugely successful, despite the occasional flop, but like his one-time mentor, Steven Spielberg, he has met with critical accusations of excessive sentimentality and catering to children, as well as being described as a "bean counter" by British film critic Mark Kermode in criticism to his bland and straight-forward direction.
Chris Columbus had been rumored to direct the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; but David Yates, the director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has retained the position. He had expressed interest in directing the seventh film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, however David Yates has since been chosen to direct both parts of the film.
As of August 2006, Columbus optioned the film rights to Christopher Moore's best-selling novel A Dirty Job.[2]
Columbus lives in San Francisco, California; his daughter Eleanor appeared in the Harry Potter films as Susan Bones, a girl in Harry's year in Hufflepuff house.
[edit] Partial filmography
- The Lightning Thief (2009) (Director)
- I Love You, Beth Cooper (2008) (Director, Producer)
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) (Executive Producer)
- Night at the Museum (2006) (producer)
- Rent (2005) (Director)
- Fantastic Four (2005) (Executive Producer)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (producer)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (exec. producer, director)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (exec. producer, director)
- Bicentennial Man (1999) (producer, director)
- Stepmom (1998) (producer, director, writer)
- Nine Months (1995) (director)
- Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (director)
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) (director)
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) (writer)
- Only the Lonely (1991) (director, writer)
- Home Alone (1990) (director)
- Heartbreak Hotel (1988) (director, writer)
- Adventures in Babysitting (1987) (director)
- Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (writer)
- The Goonies (1985) (writer)
- Gremlins (1984) (writer)
- Reckless (1984) (writer)
[edit] Personal life
Columbus has been married to Monica Devereux since 1983. [3] They have four children together, Eleanor, Violet, Brendan and Isabella.
His daughter Eleanor Columbus appeared as the character Susan Bones in the two Potter films he directed, making her, along with cousin Robert Ayres (Boy in Study Hall #2 in his second Potter film), the only Americans cast as students. She also had a small cameo along with her father in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
His other children, Violet and Brendan, also appeared in even more minor, unnamed cameo roles in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
His wife Monica made a small appearance in Home Alone 2 as the Plaza telephone operator.
