Joey McFarland (born April 30, 1972) is an American film producer and the founder of McFarland Entertainment, a content development and production company for both film and television. He was previously vice chairman of

Red Granite Pictures Red Granite Pictures was an American film production and distribution company, co-founded by Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland in 2010. Its productions included ''The Wolf of Wall Street'' and ''Dumb and Dumber To''. It was dissolved in 2018 after be ...

Life and career

Joey McFarland is an American film producer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he attended DeSales High School and the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

. In 2010, with producing partner

Riza Aziz Riza Shahriz bin Abdul Aziz, better known as Riza Aziz, is a Malaysian film producer and the co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, a Los Angeles-based film production company. Career Riza holds a BS degree in Government & Economics and an MS ...

, McFarland co-founded

. In 2011, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' named McFarland to their list of ''Top 10 Producers to Watch''. McFarland's first production under the Red Granite banner was the romantic comedy, ''

Friends with Kids ''Friends with Kids'' is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, who also stars in the film. Adam Scott, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, and Edward Burns also star ...

''. Written and directed by

Jennifer Westfeldt Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film '' Kissing Jessica Stein'', for which she received an ...

, ''

'' also stars

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televis ...

, Adam Scott,

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she jo ...

, Maya Rudolph and

Chris O'Dowd Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy ''The IT Crowd'', which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. He has ...

. In 2012 McFarland went on to executive produce the dramatic thriller, ''

Out of the Furnace ''Out of the Furnace'' is a 2013 American crime drama film directed by Scott Cooper, from a screenplay written by Cooper and Brad Ingelsby. Produced by Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio, the film stars Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody ...

'', starring

Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...

Casey Affleck Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He ...

, Zoe Saldana,

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his f ...

and directed by Scott Cooper. Next McFarland produced '' The Wolf of Wall Street''. ''The Wolf of Wall Street'' is based upon

Jordan Belfort Jordan Ross Belfort (; born July 9, 1962) is an American entrepreneur, speaker, author, former stockbroker, and financial criminal. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to fraud and related crimes in connection with stock-market manipulation and running ...

's best-selling novel of the same name. The book was adapted into a screenplay by

Terence Winter Terence Patrick Winter (born October 2, 1960) is an American writer and producer of television and film. He is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–14). Before creating ''Boardwal ...

. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio,

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including ''Superbad'' (2007), '' Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 21 Jump Street'' (2012), '' This Is the End'' (201 ...

Matthew Mcconaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

Margot Robbie Margot Elise Robbie (; born 2 July 1990) is an Australian actress and producer. Known for her work in both blockbuster and independent films, she has received several accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Golden Glob ...

and was directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

. Released on December 25, 2013 by Paramount Pictures, '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' is a box office success and garnered critical acclaim - including a Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy for star Leonardo DiCaprio and five

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominations including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture for which McFarland received a nomination. In 2013, McFarland completed production on ''

Horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

'', a supernatural thriller starring

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

Juno Temple Juno Temple (born 21 July 1989) is a British actress. She has appeared in the films ''Notes on a Scandal'' (2006), ''Atonement'' (2007), '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008), ''The Three Musketeers'' (2011), ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012), '' Ma ...

and directed by Alexandre Aja. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Joe Hill and was released October 31, 2014 by Dimension-RADiUS. McFarland was also a producer on the sequel '' Dumb and Dumber To'', directed by Pete and Bobby Farrelly. The film featured Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels again playing Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, respectively, and was released on November 14, 2014 by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. It opened number one at the box office to generally negative reviews. McFarland was executive producer on the film '' ''Daddy's Home'' directed by

Sean Anders Sean Anders (born June 19, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. Career He co-wrote and directed the 2005 film '' Never Been Thawed'', the 2008 film ''Sex Drive'', the 2014 film ''Horrible Bosses 2'', the 2015 film '' Daddy's Ho ...

and John Morris. Shot in New Orleans, it re-teamed

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

and

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

for the first time since 2010.

co-produced and co-financed the film with Paramount Pictures, in association with

Gary Sanchez Productions Gary Sanchez Productions was an American film and television production company founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. History Gary Sanchez Productions was founded in 2006 by comedians and filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The company ...

. Paramount Pictures was also the worldwide distribution partner. The film was released on December 25, 2015. McFarland produced '' Papillon'', a remake of the 1973 film of the same name based on the best-selling autobiography by the French convict

Henri Charrière Henri Charrière (; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the novel '' Papillon'', a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a pena ...

. The film starred Charlie Hunnam as

("Papillon"), and Rami Malek as

Louis Dega Louis Dega (sometimes written Louis Delga) is the name of a character in Henri Charrière's novel '' Papillon''. In the 1973 film this character was played by Dustin Hoffman and in the 2017 film the role was played by Rami Malek. Purportedly an ...

. It premiered in September 2017 at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...

. Papillon was released August 24, 2018. In 2018, he formed the independent production company for both television and film called McFarland Entertainment.

1MDB scandal

In 2019, McFarland agreed to voluntarily surrender to the US government a series of luxury goods allegedly bought with money that could be traced back to the Malaysian 1MDB state fund.

Controversy

In November 2022, at the Los Angeles premiere for

Emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...

, McFarland gave a red carpet interview revealing an original 1863 photograph from his pocket of

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

, who the film is based on. McFarland received a variety of criticisms for this action. McFarlad was a producer of the film.

Filmography

''He was producer for all films unless otherwise noted.''

Film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Friends With Kids a first of many for Louisville-born producer
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Joey American film producers 1972 births University of Louisville alumni Living people