Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive,

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. The former president of production at both

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

and DreamWorks, De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Picture. De Luca formerly served as the chairman of the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

Motion Picture Group and currently serves as a co-chairperson and CEO of

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of li ...

Group.

Early life

De Luca was born and raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. His mother was a German-Jewish immigrant, and his father, who was Italian American and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, worked at ConEdison. De Luca began pursuing a career in show business in 1986. Originally tapped to work as a story editor, he rose fairly quickly through the ranks, thanks in part to his mentor, chair and co-founder of New Line Cinema Robert Shaye. De Luca completed his degree from

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

in 1995.

Career

In 1990, De Luca made his debut in the film industry as an associate producer on '' Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III''. De Luca has been collecting comics since childhood and is a huge fan of

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s and

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s, in particular the works of Frank Miller, and sci-fi properties such as ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

''. He wrote the 1994

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

In the Mouth of Madness ''In the Mouth of Madness'' is a 1994 American supernatural horror film directed and scored by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca. It stars Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner and Charlton Heston. Neill stars as ...

'', directed by

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

. De Luca co-wrote the story for the 1995

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of the popular British comic book character Judge Dredd, starring

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

as the eponymous lead. In 1996, De Luca, a self-proclaimed "Trekkie", was approached by the producers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore for '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and pitched an idea which turned into an opportunity to write an episode for the series, Threshold. De Luca is a former President of Production for

. During his tenure at New Line Cinema, he oversaw a variety of films that would come to define the studio, including '' Seven'', ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

'', ''

Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic fi ...

'', ''

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced ...

'', ''

Rush Hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: o ...

'', ''

Blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

'', '' American History X'', and ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

''. De Luca wrote and produced '' Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare'', the sixth entry in the long-running '' Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise''.'' After New Line Cinema, De Luca became President of Production at DreamWorks, his tenure lasting from 2001 and 2004. After his contract with DreamWorks ended, De Luca signed a production deal with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

and started his own production company, Michael De Luca Productions. His first release under his production company was ''

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

'' (2007) starring

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

, followed by '' 21'' and ''

The Love Guru ''The Love Guru'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Marco Schnabel in his directorial debut, written and produced by Mike Myers, and starring Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, ...

'' (both 2008) starring Mike Myers. He was nominated for the

Best Picture Oscar The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...

two years in a row for 2010's '' The Social Network'' (2010) and ''Moneyball'' (2011). He received a third nomination in 2014 for producing Paul Greengrass' '' Captain Phillips''. De Luca also produced the 2011 remake of the cult classic vampire horror film ''

Fright Night ''Fright Night'' is a 1985 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Tom Holland (in his directorial debut) and produced by Herb Jaffe. It stars Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark, D ...

''. De Luca and Dana Brunetti reunited for ''

Fifty Shades of Grey ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the ''Fifty Shades'' novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, ...

,'' the 2015 film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name. It was a massive financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing R-rated films of all time. On January 3, 2020, it was announced that De Luca had been appointed Chairman of the MGM Motion Picture Group. In July 2022 he and Pamela Abdy left for

Group, taking up the roles of co-chairpersons and CEOs.

Personal life

De Luca was previously in a relationship with actress

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, ...

, star of New Line's ''

''. In 2009, he married actress Angelique Madrid (born 1974) from Ft. Worth, Texas, who was a contestant on the first season of ABC's '' The Bachelor''. They have a daughter, and a son, Caden (born 2012).

Filmography

Film

;Miscellaneous crew ;Thanks

Television

TV specials * 89th Academy Awards (2017) *

90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...

(2018) Executive producer Writer ;Miscellaneous crew ;As an actor

References

External links

*
DeLuca Interview at ColliderDeLuca at Hollywood
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Luca, Michael 1965 births Living people American male screenwriters American television writers American male television writers American people of German-Jewish descent American writers of Italian descent Film producers from New York (state) Golden Globe Award-winning producers Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives Screenwriters from New York (state) Tisch School of the Arts alumni Writers from Brooklyn