Martin Hynes is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and film producer.

Life and career

Hynes was born and raised in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, and has a bachelor's degree in history 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 ...

. Hynes wrote and directed '' The Go-Getter'', starring

Lou Taylor Pucci Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Spec ...

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...

Jena Malone Jena Laine Malone (; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress. Born in Sparks, Nevada, Malone spent her early life there and in Las Vegas, while her mother acted in local theater productions. Inspired to become an actress herself, Malone ...

, and

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. He became widely known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015), for which he received the Television Critics Association Award fo ...

, which premiered to critical acclaim at the

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 ...

. He co-wrote the story for the

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 ...

-winning ''

Toy Story 4 ''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' (2010). It was dire ...

''. Hynes collaborated with

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

on a musical feature film originally titled ''Atlantis'', which was originally in development at

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

, before the project moved to

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, and was retitled '' Golden'', which was now permanently cancelled. He had written the

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

Kate DiCamillo Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American author of children's fiction. She has published over 25 novels, including '' Because of Winn-Dixie'' (2000), '' The Tiger Rising'' (2001), '' The Tale of Despereaux'' (2003), '' T ...

's novel, ''

The Magician's Elephant ''The Magician's Elephant'' is a children's novel by American author Kate DiCamillo. It was released on September 8, 2009, and illustrated by Yoko Tanaka. Synopsis Orphan Peter Augustus Duchene has one question for the fortuneteller: If his ...

'', released by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in 2022. As an actor, Hynes starred as a young

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

in the short film ''

George Lucas in Love ''George Lucas in Love'' is a 1999 American parodical short film directed by Joe Nussbaum. A parody of ''Shakespeare in Love'', it depicts a young George Lucas and his real-life inspirations behind the characters and plot of ''Star Wars''. Upon ...

'', for which he received a Best Actor award in San Sebastián. Prior to this, he wrote the script ''Stealing Stanford'', which served as the inspiration for the film ''

Stealing Harvard ''Stealing Harvard'' is a 2002 American slapstick action comedy film directed by Bruce McCulloch and written by Martin Hynes and Peter Tolan, about a man who resorts to crime to pay for his niece's Harvard tuition. The film stars Jason Lee and ...

'', although many changes were made to the script that were contrary to Hynes's wishes.Martin Hynes - Biography
His first film, ''Al as in Al'' was written and filmed while Hynes was a student at the

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

graduate film school, which he attended on the

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Fellowship. ''Al as in Al'' premiered at

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and was chosen by USC as one of the best films in the film school's history.

References

External links

* American male screenwriters Film directors from Oregon American male film actors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Male actors from Eugene, Oregon Columbia College (New York) alumni Screenwriters from Oregon Businesspeople from Eugene, Oregon {{US-film-bio-stub