John Orloff
| John Orloff | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Notable works |
Band of Brothers, A Mighty Heart, Legend of the Guardians |
John Orloff is an American screenwriter known for creating and adapting complex stories in widely disparate genres.
Life and career
Orloff was born in Los Angeles, California, where he was raised in a "Hollywood" family. His father, also named John Orloff, was a TV commercial director. His grandmother was B-Movie actress Peggy Knudsen, and his great-grandparents were the real-life married couple of Fibber McGee and Molly, stars of TV and radio.
Orloff studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles Film School, and on graduation went to work in the advertising business.
After ten years working on TV commercials in various positions, he met a TV Movie development executive, now his wife, from the HBO television network. When she continually brought home what he felt were "awful" screenplays, he decided to write his own; a 16th-century English melodrama based on the Shakespeare authorship question, which ended up being sent to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
They were not interested in producing his project, but Hanks asked Orloff, a keen "World War II buff", to write for the 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Orloff wrote episode 2, "Day of Days" and episode 9, "Why We Fight". His work earned him a Christopher Award,[1] and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.[2] Band of Brothers has a 9.6 rating on IMDb—higher than any feature film in the database—and is the single highest grossing and best-selling TV DVD of all time, and one of the highest grossing DVD's of any kind.[3]
In 2003, Warner Bros. paid over US$500,000 for filming rights for Mariane Pearl's memoir A Mighty Heart, and Orloff was assigned to adapt the screenplay by producer Brad Pitt.[4] New York Times film reviewer Manohla Dargis declared the finished film "a surprising, insistently political work of commercial art". Orloff's script for the film earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay.[5] In a 2011 interview with 60 Minutes' Bob Simon the film's star, Angelina Jolie mentioned that A Mighty Heart is her favorite film starring herself.[6]
Changing genres, Orloff next adapted the children's fantasy book series Legend of the Guardians, based on the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series of books written by Kathryn Lasky. The animated 3-D film was directed by Zack Snyder, and was released in 2010.[7]
Orloff is currently creating two miniseries for HBO. One, about World War 2 for producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks based on Don Miller's "Masters of the Air," and a second one for producer Brad Pitt about an unknown subject.
Filmography
Films/TV
| Year | Title | Credit | Note(s) |
| 2001 | Band of Brothers | Writer | |
| 2007 | A Mighty Heart | Writer | |
| 2010 | Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole | Writer | |
| 2011 | Anonymous | Writer, Exec. Producer |
References
- ↑ "The 2002 Christopher Award Winners". The Christophers. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
- ↑ "10 Questions: John Orloff". IGN. May 14, 2004. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
- ↑ "War, What is it Good For?". The Raygun.
- ↑ Christian Moerk (August 25, 2005). "Dueling visions of Daniel Pearl". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
- ↑ Patrick Walsh (23 January 2008). "The Write Stuff: Interview with "A Mighty Heart" Screenwriter John Orloff". Cinematical. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
- ↑ Simon, Bob. "Angelina Jolie: Behind the camera". 60 Minutes Transcript. CBS News.
- ↑ Fleming, Michael (13 April 2008). "Snyder to watch over 'Guardians'". Variety.