John Gatins

John Gatins (born April 16, 1968[1]) is an American screenwriter, director, and actor. For writing the drama film Flight (2012), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

John Gatins
Born	April 16, 1968[1] Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Vassar College (1990)
Occupation	screenwriter, actor, director
Years active	1993–present

Gatins made his directorial feature debut by filming his screenplay for Dreamer (2005), and also wrote or co-wrote Coach Carter (2005), Real Steel (2011), and Kong: Skull Island (2017). As an actor, he has collaborated three times with Eddie Murphy, on Norbit (2007), Meet Dave (2008) and A Thousand Words (2012).

Early life and education

Gatins was born in Manhattan, New York, where his father worked as a New York City police officer.[2] Later, his family relocated to the Poughkeepsie area, where Gatins went on to attend Arlington High School[3] and Vassar College.[2] He graduated in 1990 with a degree in drama.[2]

Career

After graduation, Gatins moved to Los Angeles with the intention of pursuing acting.[2] His first role was in the low budget 1993 horror film Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway, followed by a role in the 1994 movie Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings.[2] As he won small roles in larger-budget productions, including 1999's Varsity Blues and 2002's Big Fat Liar,[2] Jeremy Kramer, a fellow Vassar grad and employee at Fox, paid him $1,000 to write a teen comedy by the name of Smells Like Teen Suicide.[4] Varsity Blues was directed by Brian Robbins and produced by Michael Tollin, the latter of whom would, in 2001, direct Gatins's first screenplay, a romantic comedy entitled Summer Catch, while Robbins produced it.[2] Tollin returned in 2002 to direct Gatins's second screenplay, a dramedy called Hardball.[2] While continuing to act, Gatins wrote Coach Carter which was released in 2005.[2] The same year, he presented his first directorial effort, Dreamer, which he also wrote.[2]

At the suggestion of Steven Spielberg, Gatins was brought in to work on Real Steel, a science fiction film based on a 1956 Richard Matheson short story.[5] Gatins considered the draft of the screenplay which he received when he began working on the project to be very dark, and he adapted it to focus more on the family aspects, such as the film's father-son relationship, about which he was accustomed to writing in his previous works.[5] Real Steel was released October 7, 2011.[5]

Since 1999, Gatins had been working on Flight, an original screenplay which, by 2009, was 149 pages.[4] Robert Zemeckis picked up the script; and the resulting film, starring Denzel Washington, was released to critical acclaim in 2012.[4] Gatins received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) at the 85th Academy Awards for his screenplay.[6]

DreamWorks tapped Gatins to write a sequel to Real Steel before the film was released based on positive test screenings of the movie.[7] He and his brother, George Gatins, also adapted the Electronic Arts videogame series Need for Speed into an eponymous film.[8]

Gatins rewrote Kong: Skull Island (2017) for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.[9]

Filmography

Year	Film	Credit	Notes
2000	Ready to Rumble	Co-producer
2001	Summer Catch	Screenplay by Co-producer	Co-wrote with Kevin Falls
	Hardball	Screenplay by
2005	Coach Carter	Written by	Co-wrote with Mark Schwahn
	Dreamer	Director Written by
2006	Ciggies	Special thanks	Short film
2007	Eagle vs Shark	Special thanks
2009	Harmony and Me	Thanks
2011	Real Steel	Screenplay by
	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Thanks
2012	Flight	Written by
2014	Need for Speed	Story by Producer	Co-wrote with George Gatins
2016	Spectral	Uncredited script contributions
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Story by
	Power Rangers	Screenplay by Executive producer
	The House of Tomorrow	Special thanks

As an actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway	Russel
1994	Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings	Young Caspar Dixon	Direct-to-video
1995	Leprechaun 3	Scott McCoy	Direct-to-video
1998	Gods and Monsters	Kid Saylor	Uncredited
	Another Day in Paradise	Phil
1999	Varsity Blues	Smiling Man
2002	Impostor	Patient-Soldier
	Big Fat Liar	Tow Truck Driver
2006	The Shaggy Dog	Homeless Guy
2007	Norbit	Attendant
2008	Meet Dave	Air Traffic Controller
2009	Harmony and Me	Homeless Tom
2010	Fred: The Movie	Car Wash Clerk #1	TV movie
	Terriers	Beach Bum	TV series, episode "Hail Mary"
2011	Real Steel	Kingpin	Screenwriter also
	Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred	Dishwasher
2012	A Thousand Words	Valet
2017	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	Jeff Channington	TV series, episode "Getting Over Jeff"[10]
2019	Lying and Stealing

References

1. "'Flight': Screenwriter John Gatins confronts his fears". Los Angeles Times. November 2, 2012. the 44-year-old Gatins
2. "John Gatins Biography". Tribute Entertainment Media Group. January 7, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
3. "Poughquag's own John Gatins among Oscar nominees". Poughkeepsie Journal. January 11, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
4. Appelo, Tim (December 20, 2012). "Oscar Hopeful John Gatins on 'Flight' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
5. Campbell, Josie (September 29, 2011). "Gatins, Montford And Murphy Bet On The Family Drama Of Real Steel". Spinoff Online. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
6. "FLIGHT". The Oscars. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
7. Fleming Jr, Mike (April 14, 2011). "DreamWorks Revs Up 'Real Steel' Sequel". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
8. Graser, Marc; Jeff Sneider; Justin Kroll (April 12, 2012). "EA feeling the 'Need for Speed' movie". Variety. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
9. Fleming Jr., Mike (October 30, 2014). "King Kong Tale 'Skull Island' Gets Rewrite From 'Flight' Scribe John Gatins". Deadline Hollywood.
10. Shoemaker, Allison (December 8, 2017). "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend gives us the gift of a sad, sweet mid-season finale". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 10, 2017.

External links

• John Gatins at IMDb