Stanley Weiser is an American
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.
...
.
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
and is a graduate of the
NYU Film School
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 ...
. His screen credits include ''
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...
'' and ''
W.'', both directed by
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sca ...
.
[ He also wrote the 20th Century Fox film, '' Project X''. He is credited for creating characters in the sequel to ''Wall Street'': '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''. In addition, he served as script consultant on Oliver Stone's '']Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
'' and ''Any Given Sunday
''Any Given Sunday'' is a 1999 American sports drama film directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, including Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, J ...
''.
Weiser's other projects include two civil rights dramas, developed as feature films, but made for television. ''Murder in Mississippi
''Murder in Mississippi'' is a 1990 television film which dramatized the last weeks of civil rights activists Michael "Mickey" Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, and the events leading up to their disappearance and subsequent murder ...
'', a chronicle of the 1964 Freedom Summer movement and the lives and deaths of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman, the three young civil rights workers who were killed by the Ku Klux Klan, which aired on NBC in 1990. It was nominated for four Emmys and won the Directors Guild of America Award for best TV movie. ''Freedom Song
Freedom songs were songs which were sung by participants in the civil rights movement. They are also called "civil rights anthems" or, in the case of songs which are more hymn-like, they are called "civil rights hymns."
Freedom songs were an impo ...
'', a semi-fictional account of the early SNCC movement in Mississippi, was co-written with Phil Alden Robinson, who also directed. They shared a Writers Guild of America Award and Humanitas nomination for the 2000 TNT film.
Weiser also adapted the novel, ''Fatherland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...
'', by Robert Harris, for HBO. It was nominated for three Golden Globe awards and Miranda Richardson won for best supporting actress in a TV or cable movie. He wrote the NBC four-hour mini-series ''Witness to the Mob
''Witness to the Mob'' is a made-for-TV film which premiered on Sunday, May 10, and concluded on Monday, May 11, 1998.
Plot
Based on a true story, the film follows the rise of Sammy Gravano in ranks in the Gambino crime family, one of the "Five F ...
'' in 1998, which was produced by Robert De Niro. He also wrote '' Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story'', for which he received a Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers G ...
nomination for best TV movie.
As of 2012, he wrote a biopic on the life of Rod Serling, the writer and ''The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television program, television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dysto ...
'' creator.
Weiser began his career as a production assistant for Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leadin ...
on ''Phantom of the Paradise
''Phantom of the Paradise'' is a 1974 American rock musical comedy horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma and scored by and starring Paul Williams. In the film, a naïve young singer-songwriter (played by William Finley) is tricked ...
'', and as an assistant cameraman on the Martin Scorsese documentary, ''Street Scenes
The street scenes are a work of art by the artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made between 1913 and 1915. They are dubbed to be one of the most important works of German expressionism. It consists of eleven paintings, 32 pages from sketchbooks, 15 ink ...
''.
He is married and lives in Santa Monica, California. He is a founding member of the West Los Angeles Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center.
Filmography
*'' Coast to Coast'' (1980)
*'' Project X'' (1987)
*''Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...
'' (1987)
*''Murder in Mississippi
''Murder in Mississippi'' is a 1990 television film which dramatized the last weeks of civil rights activists Michael "Mickey" Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, and the events leading up to their disappearance and subsequent murder ...
'' (1990)
*''Fatherland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...
'' (1994)
*''Witness to the Mob
''Witness to the Mob'' is a made-for-TV film which premiered on Sunday, May 10, and concluded on Monday, May 11, 1998.
Plot
Based on a true story, the film follows the rise of Sammy Gravano in ranks in the Gambino crime family, one of the "Five F ...
'' (1998)
*''Freedom Song
Freedom songs were songs which were sung by participants in the civil rights movement. They are also called "civil rights anthems" or, in the case of songs which are more hymn-like, they are called "civil rights hymns."
Freedom songs were an impo ...
'' (2000)
*'' Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story'' (2003)
*'' W.'' (2008)
References
External links
*
Interview
on '' W.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiser, Stanley
American male screenwriters
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Writers from New York City
Living people
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Writers Guild of America Award winners