Ruben Samuel Fleischer (born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director who lives in Montclair, New Jersey. He is best known as the director of '' Zombieland'' (2009), his first feature film, and its sequel '' Zombieland: Double Tap'' (2019). He has also directed the films '' 30 Minutes or Less'', '' Gangster Squad'', ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across th ...

'', and 2018's ''

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...

'' featuring the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

character of the same name. Prior to features, he directed television commercials for such brands as

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

, Eurostar,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant ch ...

, and music videos for such artists as M.I.A., Electric Six,

DJ Format Matt Ford, better known as DJ Format (a near-inversion of his birth name), is a hip hop DJ born in Southampton, England who lives in Brighton. He collaborates frequently with Abdominal on the album '' Music For the Mature B-Boy'' and with Abd ...

and

Gold Chains Gold Chains is an electro rap musician (born Christopher LaFata) from San Francisco, California. Gold Chains has performed along with Sue Cie (real name Sue Costabile), a video artist also from the San Francisco area. Early life LaFata grew up ...

Early life

Fleischer was born and raised in Washington, D.C, the son of Karen Lee (née Samuel) and David Elliot Fleischer, who is a physician at the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staf ...

in Arizona and a professor of medicine. His brother, Lucas, works in new media. His father was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, while his mother

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. ...

. Fleischer was raised in

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

. After graduating with a major in history from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, Fleischer moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, where he worked as a freelance HTML programmer, unsure what he wanted to do with his life.

Career

Taking the advice of close friend Mike White (also a Wesleyan graduate), Fleischer worked as a PA in the writers' office of '' Dawson's Creek''. He eventually turned to directing and worked his way through the industry, tackling music videos and television commercials before landing his first feature film, '' Zombieland'', in 2009. His second feature, '' 30 Minutes or Less'', opened in theaters on August 12, 2011. Fleischer directed '' Gangster Squad'', a 2013 action thriller film, based on the special tactical group created by the

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

to combat the Los Angeles crime family. He next directed ''

'', a film about

character

Eddie Brock Edward Charles Allan "Eddie" Brock is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, making a cameo appearance in '' Web of Spider-Man'' #1 ...

, starring Tom Hardy; it was released on October 5, 2018. In 2019, he directed '' Zombieland: Double Tap'', reuniting the four original leads. In February 2020, he was hired to direct ''

'', based on the video game series of the same name. In September 2022, he was hired to direct '' Now You See Me 3''.

Filmography

Feature films

Producer * '' Two Night Stand'' (2014) * ''

Unicorn Store ''Unicorn Store'' is a 2017 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed and co-produced by Brie Larson (in her feature film directorial debut). It stars Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack, Bradley Whitford, Karan Soni, Mamoudou Athie, Mar ...

'' (2017) * ''

Bad Trip A bad trip (also known as challenging experiences, acute intoxication from hallucinogens, psychedelic crisis, or emergence phenomenon) is an acute adverse psychological reaction to classic hallucinogens. With proper screening, preparation, and su ...

'' (2021)

Television

Short films

Music videos

Commercials

Collaborations

Like many directors, Fleischer has worked with certain actors on two or more of his films:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischer, Ruben 1974 births American music video directors American Reform Jews Comedy film directors Film directors from San Francisco Film directors from Washington, D.C. Horror film directors Living people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from San Francisco Writers from Washington, D.C.