Steven M. Lisberger (born April 24, 1951) is an American film director, producer and writer famous for directing ''
Tron'' in 1982.
Early life and education
Lisberger was born in 1951 in
New York City and grew up in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Of his ethnic background, he said that his father was
Jewish while his mother's side was half Jewish and half Christian, both native German. Lisberger attended
The Hill School in
Pottstown, and Tufts University. He went on to become a 1974 graduate of the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...
in
Boston,
Massachusetts.
Career
While attending
Tufts University, Lisberger and five associates formed Lisberger Studios. Their first project of note was ''Cosmic Cartoon,'' which earned a
Student Academy Award nomination in 1973. It was also featured in the nationally-released anthology film, ''
Fantastic Animation Festival
Fantastic Animation Festival is a package film of animation segments, set mostly to music and released to theaters in 1977. It was one of the earliest of the sort of collections typified by Computer Animation Festival and Spike and Mike's Sick an ...
,'' in 1977. Through his company, Lisberger Studios, Lisberger directed the production of commercials, title sequences, and feature segments for programs, such as ''
Make a Wish'' and ''
Rebop''.
In 1978, after moving to
Venice, California, Lisberger and his business partner
Donald Kushner conceived and produced a 90-minute animated film, ''
Animalympics'', for
NBC's coverage of the
1980 Olympics. They then turned their creative efforts to the development of ''
Tron'' at
The Walt Disney Company. It was released in 1982 and has since become a
cult classic.
His film ''
Hot Pursuit'' (1987) features one of
Ben Stiller's first speaking roles.
In 1989, Lisberger directed ''
Slipstream'', though the film was a critical and commercial failure.
Lisberger spent most of the 1990s and 2000s writing screenplays, with several being optioned by various studios.
In 2007, it was announced that he and
Jessica Chobot were working together on a film project called ''Soul Code'', though it was never produced.
Lisberger tried for years to convince Disney to develop a ''Tron'' sequel, though the project frequently languished in
development hell
Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...
. Eventually, Disney green-lit ''
Tron: Legacy'', and it was released in 2010 for which Lisberger served as producer. The film was a success at the box office and was followed by a television series, ''
Tron: Uprising''.
Lisberger and his wife, Peggy, live in
Santa Monica, California and have a son named Carl.
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisberger, Steven
American animated film directors
American animated film producers
1951 births
Animators from New York (state)
Film producers from New York (state)
American male screenwriters
Film directors from New York City
The Hill School alumni
Living people
Film directors from Pennsylvania
Science fiction film directors
Screenwriters from New York (state)
American people of Jewish descent
Tufts University alumni