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Ivan Reitman

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Ivan Reitman
OC
Reitman in March 2011
Born (1946-10-27) October 27, 1946 (age 78)
Komárno, Slovakia
NationalitySlovak, Canadian
Alma materMcMaster University
Occupation(s)Film director, film producer
Years active1968–present
Spouse
Geneviève Robert
​
(m. 1976)​
ChildrenJason, Catherine, Carolyn

Ivan Reitman, OC (born October 27, 1946) is a Slovak-Canadian film producer and director, best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.

Notable films he has directed include Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993) and Junior (1994). Reitman has also served as producer for such films as Beethoven (1992) and Up in the Air (2009), the latter of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early life

Reitman was born in Komárno, Slovakia, the son of Klara and Ladislav "Leslie" Reitman. Reitman's parents were Jewish; his mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and his father was an underground resistance fighter.[1][2][3] His family came to Canada as refugees in 1950. Reitman attended Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and was a member of the Twintone Four singing group.[citation needed]

Reitman attended McMaster University,[4] receiving a Bachelor of Music in 1969. At McMaster he produced and directed many short films.[5]

Career

Reitman's first producing job was with the then-new station CITY-TV in Toronto. CITY was also the home of the first announcing job of his later friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd. However, Reitman's tenure at CITY was short and he was fired during his first year by station owner Moses Znaimer.[citation needed]

In Toronto, he produced the stage production Spellbound (1973) which evolved into Broadway production The Magic Show.

Reitman's first commercial film ventures were as producer of two films for director David Cronenberg, Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1976). His big break came when he produced National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978 and directed Meatballs in 1979. From there, he directed and produced a number of comedies including Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984),[6] Legal Eagles (1986), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989),[7] Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993), Junior (1994), Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), Evolution (2001), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), and No Strings Attached (2011).

In the early 1990s, Reitman began to direct fewer films, but increased his role as a producer and executive producer through his company, Northern Lights Entertainment.[8] He helped to produce the animated film Heavy Metal (1981), as well as the live-action films Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Beethoven (1992), Beethoven's 2nd (1993), Space Jam (1996), Howard Stern's film Private Parts (1997), Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), EuroTrip (2004) and Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006).

In 2007, Reitman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[9] Reitman founded The Montecito Picture Company, a film production company located just south of Santa Barbara, founded in 2000.[citation needed]

He next produced the comedy I Love You, Man (2009), starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Also in 2009, he produced the Academy Award-nominated film, Up in the Air, directed by his son Jason Reitman. Later, Reitman had planned to direct the erotic thriller Chloe (2009), but he couldn't attract the cast he wanted; so Reitman decided to only serve as a producer and asked Atom Egoyan to direct the film.[10] Chloe has since enjoyed commercial success and became Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.[11]

Reitman co-produced the biographical film Hitchcock, released on November 23, 2012. Reitman also directed the 2014 sports drama Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner.

Unmade and upcoming projects

In the early 1980s, Tom Mankiewicz wrote a script for a film entitled The Batman, with Reitman attached to direct. He planned to cast Meatballs star Bill Murray as Batman, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth, William Holden as Commissioner James Gordon, and singer David Bowie as The Joker.[12] However, due to Holden's and Niven's death and the rewrites of the script, Reitman left the project and Gremlins director Joe Dante entered in the project, but the film never materialized.

In April 1996, it was reported that Reitman was attached to produce, and possibly direct, a Wonder Woman film.[13] However, three years later, he passed the project on to writer Jon Cohen and left for unknown reasons.

In March 2007, New York magazine, citing no sources, stated that Sony Pictures Entertainment wanted to replace Reitman on Ghostbusters III with a younger director, but that Reitman's original contract precluded this.[14] In early 2010, it appeared as if Reitman would direct the film,[15] but in September 2014, after Harold Ramis' death, Paul Feig was officially set to direct a new film, which was released in 2016 as a reboot of the franchise.[16][17] In Mid January of 2019, news of Ghostbusters 3 came through with Ivan's Son [Jason Reitman|Jason] taking over as co-writer and producer. A few days later a Teaser trailer was released showing a general Summer 2020 release date. [Ernie Hudson] during the 2019 NAACP awards was quoted as saying "Ivan Reitman is there and everybody is in" and that Dan Aykroyd was the one who helped do story treatment with Sony .[18]

In March 2012, it was reported that a sequel of Twins, entitled Triplets, was in the works, and that Reitman will co-produce the film.[19][20] A release date wasn't given since the announcement.

In 2013, it was revealed that Reitman had plans to make a sequel to Evolution,[21] but plans for a sequel never materialized.

In May 2016, Reitman revealed that he was in talks with Warner Bros. chairman Bob Daly about his possible involvement in Space Jam 2, the sequel of Space Jam.[22] A month later, it was reported that Reitman will produce the upcoming animated series Ghostbusters: Ecto Force.[23]

Personal life

Reitman has been married to Geneviève Robert since 1976. Reitman has a son and two daughters. His son, Jason Reitman, is a film director best known for his films Juno, Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air, for which he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay. His daughter Catherine Reitman is a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles. His other daughter, Caroline Reitman, is a sophomore at Santa Barbara City College. Reitman's wife is a convert to Judaism.[24]

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries".[25]

In April 2011 he received the Mayor's Prize at his native city of Komárno, Slovakia.

Recurring cast members

Actor Meatballs
(1979) 		Stripes
(1981) 		Ghostbusters
(1984) 		Legal Eagles
(1986) 		Twins
(1988) 		Ghostbusters II
(1989) 		Kindergarten Cop
(1990) 		Dave
(1993) 		Junior
(1994) 		Evolution
(2001) 		No Strings Attached
(2011) 		Draft Day
(2014)
Dan Aykroyd ☒N ☒N ☒N
Danny DeVito ☒N ☒N
Brian Doyle-Murray ☒N ☒N
Kevin Dunn ☒N ☒N ☒N
Ernie Hudson ☒N ☒N
Kevin Kline ☒N ☒N
Frank Langella ☒N ☒N ☒N
David Margulies ☒N ☒N
Rick Moranis ☒N ☒N
Bill Murray ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Annie Potts ☒N ☒N
Harold Ramis ☒N ☒N ☒N
Pamela Reed ☒N ☒N
Arnold Schwarzenegger ☒N ☒N ☒N1 ☒N
Sigourney Weaver ☒N ☒N ☒N

1 Schwarzenegger's appearance is a cameo as himself when he was chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Filmography

Year Film Director Producer Other Notes
1971 Foxy Lady
☒N
☒N
 Composer and editor
1973 Cannibal Girls
☒N
 Executive producer
1975 Shivers
☒N
 Music supervisor
1976 Death Weekend
☒N
 Music supervisor
1977 Rabid Executive producer, Music supervisor
1978 Animal House
☒N
1979 Meatballs
☒N
 Golden Reel Award
1981 Stripes
☒N
☒N
Heavy Metal
☒N
1984 Ghostbusters
☒N
☒N
 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film
1986 Legal Eagles
☒N
☒N
 Writer
1988 Twins
☒N
☒N
1989 Ghostbusters II
☒N
☒N
1990 Kindergarten Cop
☒N
☒N
1992 Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
☒N
Beethoven
☒N
1993 Dave
☒N
☒N
1994 Junior
☒N
☒N
1996 Space Jam
☒N
1997 Fathers' Day
☒N
☒N
Private Parts
☒N
1998 Six Days, Seven Nights
☒N
☒N
2000 Road Trip
☒N
2001 Evolution
☒N
☒N
2006 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
☒N
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
☒N
2009 Post Grad
☒N
Up in the Air
☒N
 Nominated—Academy Award for Best Picture
Chloe
☒N
2011 No Strings Attached
☒N
☒N
2012 Hitchcock
☒N
2014 Draft Day
☒N
☒N
2016 Ghostbusters
☒N
2017 Baywatch
☒N
Father Figures
☒N
TBA Triplets
☒N
☒N

References

  1. ^ "Director Shows His 'Stripes'".
  2. ^ "Ivan Reitman Biography (1946-)". www.filmreference.com.
  3. ^ Bloom, Nate (January 21, 2011). "Jewish Stars 1/21". Cleveland Jewish News.
  4. ^ "McMaster University Alumni". Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  5. ^ "McMaster University Alumni Community".
  6. ^ "Ghostbusters 3 Director Confirmed!".
  7. ^ "Ivan Reitman Verbally Confirms He'll Direct 'Ghostbusters 3'".
  8. ^ Britton, Bonnie. "Director of 'Junior' has delivered plenty of hits." The Indianapolis Star (November 25, 1994).
  9. ^ "Canada's Walk of Fame: Ivan Reitman". canadaswalkoffame.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Warner, Andrea (March 24, 2010). "Atom Egoyan lets 'Chloe' put words in his mouth". thewriterlylife.blogspot.hk.
  11. ^ Pevere, Geoff (December 7, 2010). "The Digital Revolution: Part 1". The Star.
  12. ^ "10 Batman films that almost happened". 5 July 2013.
  13. ^ "Comic movies".
  14. ^ Brodesser-Akner, Claude. "Vulture Exclusive: Columbia Wants a Younger Director for Ghostbusters III, But Ivan Reitman's Contract Says Otherwise", New York, March 17, 2010.
  15. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (January 13, 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: 'Ghostbusters 3' Script Is In, Ivan Reitman Confirms He WILL Direct". MTV. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Kit, Borys (August 2, 2014). "'Ghostbusters 3' Targets Paul Feig as Director". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  17. ^ Squires, John (March 10, 2015). "Latest on New Ghostbusters Movie Universe; Chris Pratt in the Mix? Four Films?!". Dread Central.
  18. ^ https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/01/ernie-hudson-ghostbusters-3/
  19. ^ "'Twins' Sequel 'Triplets' in the Works for Arnold, DeVito...and Eddie Murphy (Exclusive)".
  20. ^ Red Carpet News TV (22 January 2013). "Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms Terminator 5, Conan and Twins Sequels" – via YouTube.
  21. ^ "Are there any plans to make a sequel to the film Evolution (2001)". Movies & TV Stack Exchange.
  22. ^ "Original 'Space Jam' Director Warns Against Doing a Sequel: "Don't Do It. It's Doomed"".
  23. ^ "Original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman to produce futuristic Ghostbusters cartoon". 21 June 2016.
  24. ^ ""He and his French-Canadian wife, who converted to Judaism, are bringing up their children in the same tradition."".
  25. ^ "Governor General Announces 57 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. December 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
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