Zak Penn
| Zak Penn | |
|---|---|
 Penn at the Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Born |
Template:March 23, 1968 New York, United States |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
| Parent(s) | Arthur Penn |
Zak Penn (born March 23, 1968) is an American screenwriter and director.[1] Penn wrote and directed Incident at Loch Ness and The Grand, and co-wrote the script for X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and the story for The Avengers. With Michael Karnow, Penn is the co-creator of the TV series Alphas on the Syfy network.[2]
Early life
Penn graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990. His screenplay for PCU was based on his experiences at the Eclectic Society house. He is the son of New York businessman and lawyer Arthur Penn, who led the acquisition of the Capital Markets Assurance Corporation from Citicorp.[3]
Career
Films that Penn has been involved in writing include Last Action Hero, Inspector Gadget, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Elektra. Penn wrote early drafts of Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers.
Penn is also a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.[4]
In July 2012, Avatar Press released the first issue of Penn's first comic book, Hero Worship. The six issue series is co-written with Star Wars: The Clone Wars screenwriter Scott Murphy and drawn by Michael DiPascale. It centers on Zenith, an indestructible hero who has fans following every disaster, trying to catch a glimpse of the ultimate celebrity and risking their own lives in the process. One fan becomes so obsessed that it leads to the development of his own powers.
He directed the documentary film Atari: Game Over.
Writing credits
- Last Action Hero (with Adam Leff and Shane Black) (1993)
- PCU (with Adam Leff) (1994)
- Men in Black (uncredited co-writing) (1997) [5]
- The Mask of Zorro (uncredited co-writing) (1998) [6]
- Inspector Gadget (with Kerry Ehrin) (1999)
- Behind Enemy Lines (with David Veloz) (2001)
- X2 (2003) (story only)
- Incident at Loch Ness (with Werner Herzog) (2004) (also director)
- Suspect Zero (with Billy Ray) (2004)
- The Fantastic Four (2005) (video game)
- Elektra (with Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner) (2005)
- X-Men: The Official Game (2006) (video game)
- X-Men: The Last Stand (with Simon Kinberg) (2006)
- The Grand (with Matt Bierman) (2007) (also director)
- The Incredible Hulk (with Edward Norton rewrites) (2008)
- Alphas (co-created with Michael Karnow) (2011) (TV)
- The Avengers (story only, with Joss Whedon) (2012)
- Atari: Game Over (2014) (Director)
- Pacific Rim: Maelstrom (with Guillermo del Toro) (2018)
- Ready Player One (with Ernest Cline and Eric Eason) (2018)
References
- ↑ "The New York Times". The New York Times.
- ↑ Stargazette.com
- ↑ Jefferson Names First Endowed Chair in Department's History, Jefferson.edu.
- ↑ Filmaka Jury Member Zack Penn, Filmaka.com.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/23/magazine/the-blockbuster-script-factory.html?pagewanted=all
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/23/magazine/the-blockbuster-script-factory.html?pagewanted=all