Lawrence Kasdan

Kasdan was born Jewish[1] in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah (née Landau), an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.[2] His brother is the writer/producer Mark Kasdan. He was raised in Morgantown, West Virginia,[3] where he graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966.

He graduated from the University of Michigan with an MA in Education, originally planning on a career as an English teacher. He lived at the Eugene V. Debs Cooperative House for a time while in Ann Arbor.[4] Kasdan won a Hopwood Award for writing during the time of his studies.[5] He was a student of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.

Upon graduation, Kasdan was unable to find a teaching position, so he became an advertising copywriter, a profession he did not enjoy, but remained in for five years, earning a Clio Award for his work. Kasdan began his career in Detroit, later relocating to Los Angeles where he began to write screenplays.

Kasdan's introduction into the film business came in the mid-1970s when, after being rejected 67 times,[6] his script for The Bodyguard was sold to Warner Bros. as a vehicle for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen. The script became stuck in "development hell" and became one of several screenplays successively called "the best un-made script in Hollywood"; it was eventually produced as a 1992 film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

After he sold his screenplay Continental Divide to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas commissioned Kasdan to write the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, based on a story written by Philip Kaufman and himself. Lucas then hired Kasdan to rework some dialogues of his screenplay for his Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980).[7][8] Kasdan made his directing debut with Body Heat (1981), which he also wrote. Lucas later commissioned Kasdan again to rework the dialogue for his screenplay for Return of the Jedi (1983).

Kasdan is known for both writing and directing his films, which have ranged from Westerns and romantic comedies to thought-provoking dramas. He has received four Academy Award nominations, for screenplays to The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, and The Accidental Tourist, for which he also earned a nomination for Best Picture. Grand Canyon won the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.[9]

From 1994 to 2003, he made a set of films that, in contrast to the hits he had in the 1980s, failed to break the bank in receipts; among these films were Wyatt Earp and Dreamcatcher, the latter based on the Stephen King best seller. The exception was 1995's French Kiss, which grossed $100 million.

He made cameo appearances as the lawyer of River Phoenix's character in I Love You to Death, the director of Steve Martin's character's latest action film in Grand Canyon, and in James L. Brooks' comedy As Good as It Gets as the fed-up psychiatrist of Jack Nicholson's novelist. In 2001, Kasdan was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2006, Kasdan received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.

Kasdan directed the 2012 dramedy Darling Companion, starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline.

In October 2013, it was announced that J. J. Abrams had taken over screenwriting duties for the seventh episode of the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens, working alongside Kasdan, following the departure of Michael Arndt.[10] After his involvement with Solo: A Star Wars Story, he left the Star Wars universe, and has no involvement in Episodes VIII and IX, The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker.[11]

On May 22, 2016, Kasdan was honored by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and ArtsATL.org as the inaugural recipient of their "ICON Award for Contributions to the Cinematic Arts" in a ceremony held at the Woodruff Arts Center.[12]

• Lawrence Kasdan on IMDb