Daniel Mannix Petrie Jr. (born November 30, 1951) is a

Canadian-American Canadian Americans () are Citizenship of the United States, American citizens or in some uses residents whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadians, Canadian, or citizens of either country who hold dual citizenship. Today, many Canadian American ...

producer,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, and director of

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. He is best known for pioneering the sub-genres of

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

and buddy cop films through films like '' Beverly Hills Cop'' and '' Turner & Hooch''. He served as President of the Writers Guild of America, West between 1997 and 1999, and then again between 2004 and 2005. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors at the Writers Guild Foundation.

Life and career

Petrie was born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to Daniel Petrie Sr., a

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, and Dorothea, a producer, novelist, and actress. He attended Northfield Mount Hermon School and the University of Redlands, earning degrees in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and creative writing. Originally a literary agent, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...

as a

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. His debut screenplay, '' Beverly Hills Cop'', was the result of numerous rewrites and several radically different iterations over the course of a decade. At one point, the film was a serious

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

starring

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

, a project that Stallone later took with him and developed into ''Cobra''. Despite the troubled production history, the film was a massive critical and financial success, grossing over $300 million worldwide from a $15 million budget and earning rave reviews from critics like Janet Maslin and Richard Schickel. In spite of much of the film's comedy having been improvised by the actors, Petrie's contributions earned him accolades in the form of

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

and

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

nominations. Petrie wrote a number of well-known and well-received films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the off-beat crime thriller ''The Big Easy'' starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. He wrote two films for director Roger Spottiswoode, the 1988 thriller film ''Shoot to Kill'' and the Tom Hanks

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

'' Turner & Hooch'', and produced a third, '' The 6th Day''. Much of his work falls under the umbrella of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

. He made his directorial debut with ''Toy Soldiers'', a 1991 action film revolving around a group of teenagers fighting terrorists that have taken over their prep school. He served as the creator and executive producer of '' Combat Hospital'', a television

war drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

series produced in his native

. In addition to his creative pursuits, Petrie has been active in various entertainment industry organizations. He served as Vice President, and later President, of the Writers Guild of America, West, and currently sits on its Board of Trustees. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

; a member of the Board of Governors for the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

; and as a member of the Board of Advisers of the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriting Conference. He is co-founder of Enderby Entertainment, an independent film finance and

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

Filmography

Film

Executive producer only * ''Kangaroo Court'' (1994) (Short film) * '' The 6th Day'' (2000) * ''No Tell Motel'' (2013) * '' A Haunting at Silver Falls'' (2013) * ''Blood Shed'' (2013) * '' Blackway'' (2015) * '' An Ordinary Man'' (2017) * '' Intrigo: Death of an Author'' (2018) * ''A Haunting at Silver Falls 2'' (2019) * ''Intrigo: Dear Agnes'' (2019) * ''Intrigo: Samaria'' (2019) * ''Zero Contact'' (TBA) * ''Fire Watch'' (TBA) Acting credits

Television

TV movies

Personal life

Petrie's father Daniel Petrie was also a

, and his brother Donald is an actor and director. His family was awarded an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. He currently resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and holds dual US-Canadian citizenship. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America,

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

, SAG-AFTRA, Writers Guild of Canada, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and the

Awards and nominations

1984 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay: '' Beverly Hills Cop'' (nomination) - with Danilo Bach 1984 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture: '' Beverly Hills Cop'' (nomination) 1988 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture: ''Shoot to Kill'' (nomination) 2008 Humanitas Prize in 90 Minute Category: ''Pictures of Hollis Woods'' (nomination) - with Ann Peacock and Camille Thomasson 2013 WGA Morgan Cox Award (won)

References

External links

*
Interview with Daniel Petrie Jr
by Paul Rowlands about '' The Big Easy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, Daniel Jr. 1951 births Living people Film directors from Los Angeles American film producers American male screenwriters American people of Canadian descent University of Redlands alumni Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni