Gary Goetzman

Gary Goetzman
Goetzman (right) with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in 2010
Born	Gary Michael Goetzman (1952-11-06) November 6, 1952 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Producer, actor
Years active	1967–present

Gary Goetzman (born November 6, 1952) is an American film and television producer, and co-founder of the production company Playtone with actor Tom Hanks.

Life and career

Born in Los Angeles, Gary began his career as a child actor.

In 1984, he produced the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense with director Jonathan Demme. That initiated a successful run as a music supervisor, on such films as Something Wild, Colors, Modern Girls and Married to the Mob, among many others. In 1991, producer Gary and director Demme again collaborated to make The Silence of the Lambs, which garnered the top five Academy Awards including Best Picture.

In 1993, Gary was executive producer of Demme's Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks, beginning a working relationship with Hanks. Gary co-produced Hanks's 1996 directorial debut, That Thing You Do!. The two then co-founded Playtone in 1998. Since then, Gary has produced hit films including My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Polar Express, Charlie Wilson's War and Mamma Mia!. Gary has also received several Emmy Awards for HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams, Game Change and Olive Kitteridge.

Aside from producing films, Gary has been known to play small parts in movies he is connected to.

He has also enjoyed a successful parallel career as a music composer and producer, working with such artists as Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, Jane Child, Thelma Houston, and The Staples Singers.

He currently sits on the National board of directors for the Producers Guild of America.

Gary is executive producer (with Tom Hanks and Mark Herzog) of the CNN exclusive documentary miniseries The Sixties (2014), The Seventies (2015) and The Eighties (2016).

Filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year	Film	Credit
1986	Modern Girls
1990	Miami Blues
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Executive producer
1993	Amos & Andrew
	Philadelphia	Executive producer
1995	Devil in a Blue Dress
1996	That Thing You Do!
1998	Beloved
2002	My Big Fat Greek Wedding
2004	The Polar Express
2006	The Ant Bully
	Starter for 10
2007	Evan Almighty	Executive producer
	Charlie Wilson's War
2008	The Great Buck Howard
	Mamma Mia!
	City of Ember
2009	My Life in Ruins	Executive producer
	Where the Wild Things Are
2011	Larry Crowne
2013	Parkland
2015	Ricki and the Flash
	Ithaca	Executive producer
2016	My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
	A Hologram for the King
2017	The Circle
2018	Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2020	Greyhound
	News of the World

As an actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	Divorce American Style	Jonathan Harmon
1968	Yours, Mine and Ours	Greg Beardsley
1974	Caged Heat	Sparky	Uncredited
1977	Handle with Care	RV Salesman
1979	Last Embrace	Tour Guide
1980	Melvin and Howard	Melvin's Cousin Fred
1981	The Incredible Shrinking Woman	Newscaster
	Bustin' Loose	Store Manager
1984	Swing Shift	'Swing Shift' Bandleader
1986	Something Wild	Guido Paonessa
	Modern Girls	Undercover Cop
1988	And God Created Woman	Al Lawrence
	Married to the Mob	The Guy at the Piano
1990	Miami Blues	Hotel Desk Clerk
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Guido Paonessa	Uncredited
1993	Family Prayers	Irate Driver
	Philadelphia	Guido Paonessa

Music department

Year	Film	Role
1982	Jinxed!	Radio source music
1984	Swing Shift	Lyricist: Additional original songs
1986	Something Wild	Musical consultant
1988	And God Created Woman	Music supervisor
	Colors	Music consultant
	The Prince of Pennsylvania	Music supervisor
	Married to the Mob
1989	Lost Angels
	Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills
	Little Monsters
1990	A Shock to the System
	Catchfire
	The Hot Spot
	Reversal of Fortune
1991	Queens Logic
	Point Break
1992	Freejack

Soundtrack

Year	Film	Song
1984	Heavenly Bodies	Producer: "At Last You're Mine"
1985	Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment	Producer: "Temporary Insanity" Writer: "Dirty Work"
	Just One of the Guys	Writer: "Gone Too Far"
	Fright Night	Producer: "Boppin' Tonight" Writer: "Boppin' Tonight"
1986	Thrashin'	Producer: "Don't Think Twice" "Dancin' in Jamaica" Writer: "Arrow Through My Heart" "Dancin' in Jamaica"
	Something Wild	Lead vocal: "Before the Next Teardrop Falls"
1988	Dominick and Eugene	Writer: "Game of Love" "Lucky at Love"
1990	Miami Blues	Writer: "Island Blues" "Floatin'"
1993	Philadelphia	Performer: "All the Way"
1996	That Thing You Do!	Writer: "Mr. Downtown" "Voyage Around the Moon" "Hold My Hand, Hold My Heart" "Will You Marry Me?"
2000	Big Momma's House	Writer: "Radio"

Production manager

Year	Film	Role
1974	Caged Heat	Unit manager

Thanks

Year	Film	Role
1991	Straight Out of Brooklyn	Thanks
	Fires Within	Special thanks
2002	The Truth About Charlie	Very special thanks
2005	The Wedding Date	Thanks
2008	Surfer, Dude	Very special thanks
2009	I Hate Valentine's Day	Special thanks
2014	Inherent Vice	Thank you
2018	Hotel Artemis	Special thanks
2019	A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood	The producers wish to thank

Television

Year	Title	Credit	Notes
2000	West Point	Executive producer
2001	Band of Brothers	Co-executive producer
	We Stand Alone Together	Co-executive producer	Television special
2006	We're with the Band	Executive producer	Television special
2007	Big Love: In the Beginning	Executive producer
2008	John Adams	Executive producer
	David McCullough: Painting with Words		Television special
2009	25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts	Executive producer	Television special
2010	The Pacific	Executive producer
2006−11	Big Love	Executive producer
2011	The 3 Minute Talk Show	Executive producer
2012	Game Change	Executive producer	Television film
	The 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Executive producer	Television special
	Electric City	Executive producer
2013	The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Executive producer	Television special
	The Assassination of President Kennedy	Executive producer	Documentary
2014	The Sixties	Executive producer	Documentary
	Olive Kitteridge	Executive producer
	The Concert for Valor	Executive producer	Television special
2015	The Seventies	Executive producer	Documentary
2016	The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Co-executive producer	Television special
	The Eighties	Executive producer	Documentary
2017	The 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Executive producer	Television special
	The Nineties	Executive producer	Documentary
2018	Notes from the Field	Executive producer	Television film
	1968: The Year That Changed America	Executive producer	Documentary
	The 2000s	Executive producer	Documentary
2019	The Movies	Executive producer	Documentary
2020	My Gift: A Christmas Special from Carrie Underwood	Executive producer	Television special
TBA	Masters of the Air	Executive producer

As an actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	McHale's Navy	Tonio
1979	Hot Rod	Security Guard	Television film
1978−80	Family	Steven / Sam
2012	Electric City	—

Soundtrack

Year	Title	Song
1984	Kidd Video	Writer: "Video Romeo"

Miscellaneous crew

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	The Concert for Valor	Tribute film executive producer	Television special

Thanks

Year	Title	Role
2012	POV	Special thanks

External links

• Gary Goetzman at IMDb