Dan Harris (born August 29, 1979) is an American screenwriter and director best known for working with

Michael Dougherty Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty’s a ...

and

Bryan Singer Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series. After graduating from the Univ ...

, and whose writing credits include ''

Superman Returns ''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris, based on the DC Comics character Superman. It serves as a homage ...

'', '' X2'' and '' X-Men: Apocalypse''.

Early life

Harris was raised in

Kingston, Pennsylvania Kingston is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. Kingston was first settled in the early 17 ...

. He went to Wyoming Valley West Middle and High schools, and graduated from Wyoming Seminary. Before he received his bachelor's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, Harris's short film ''Urban Chaos Theory'' won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the NoDance Film Festival, and the following winter, his short film, "''The Killing of Candice Klein"'', played at the 2002

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Career

Harris made his feature film directing debut with '' Imaginary Heroes'', starring

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accolades, including two Primetime ...

Emile Hirsch Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor. His portrayal of Chris McCandless in '' Into the Wild'' (2007) earned him acclaim and multiple award nominations. Other notable roles include '' The Girl Next Door'' (2004), '' ...

and

Michelle Williams Michelle Williams or Michele Williams may refer to: * Michelle Ann Williams (born circa 1965), American public health scholar * Michelle Williams (singer) (born 1979), American singer, previously a member of Destiny's Child * Michelle Williams (actr ...

. The film had its world premiere at the 29th

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and opened Winter 2005 after being given special recognition for excellence in filmmaking from the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

. In addition to ''Superman Returns'', Harris and his writing partner

have co-written many films, including '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'' and ''X2'', which he wrote at the age of 22 for director Bryan Singer, an assignment offered to him after the director read the screenplay for ''Imaginary Heroes''. In the same year, he was honored as one of Variety’s top 10 screenwriters to watch. Harris directed '' I, Lucifer'', a film based on the novel which he adapted with Michael Dougherty. Harris and Dougherty opted out of writing the upcoming Superman sequel. Harris co-wrote '' X-Men: Apocalypse'' with Singer, Dougherty and

Simon Kinberg Simon David Kinberg (born August 2, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced a number of films in the X-Men (film series), ''X-Men'' film franchise for 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Fox, and had produced a number of other projec ...

. Also with Dougherty and Singer, Harris wrote the ''Superman Returns'' prequel comic books for

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. Harris' photography has twice been published by New York fashion and arts landmark '' Visionaire'' and he was part of ''Vanity Fair's'' "Hollywood Portfolio" in 2005.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Dan 1979 births American male screenwriters Living people People from Kingston, Pennsylvania Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Film directors from Pennsylvania Wyoming Seminary alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni