:Simon Kinberg#Future projects

{{Infobox person

| name = Simon Kinberg

| image = Simon Kinberg Press Conference Logan Berlinale 2017 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Kinberg in 2017

| birth_name = Simon David Kinberg

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1973|8|2}}

| birth_place = London, England

| nationality = American

| education = {{Ubl|Brown University (BA)|Columbia University (MFA)}}

| occupation = {{Hlist|Screenwriter|director|producer}}

| yearsactive = 2000–present

| organization = Genre Films

| spouse = {{Marriage|Mali Heled|July 26, 2001|2017|reason=div}}

| partner = Cleo Wade (engaged)

| children = 4

| father = Jud Kinberg

}}

Simon David Kinberg{{Cite news |date=July 29, 2001 |title=Weddings; Mali Heled, Simon Kinberg |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/style/weddings-mali-heled-simon-kinberg.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527175926/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/style/weddings-mali-heled-simon-kinberg.html |archive-date=May 27, 2015 |access-date=January 15, 2016 |work=The New York Times}} (born August 2, 1973){{Cite news |last=Lovece |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Lovece |date=January 26, 2016 |title=Everyone into the Deadpool: Producer Simon Kinberg helps revive Marvel's raunchy superhero |url=http://www.filmjournal.com/features/deadpool-marvel-simon-kinberg-producer-interview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128182927/http://www.filmjournal.com/features/deadpool-marvel-simon-kinberg-producer-interview |archive-date=January 28, 2016 |work=Film Journal International}} is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced a number of films in the X-Men film franchise for 20th Century Fox, and had produced a number of other projects for Fox, such as The Martian, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Kinberg made his directorial debut in the 2019 X-Men film Dark Phoenix from a script he also wrote.

Early life

Kinberg was born in Hammersmith, London, England to American parents Monica Menell-Kinberg and Jud Kinberg, a New York City-born writer and producer.{{Cite web |title=Index entry |url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Z8ijbjktMJrGVn0mnpfnRw&scan=1 |accessdate=January 14, 2022 |work=FreeBMD |publisher=ONS}} From age six, he was raised in Los Angeles, California.{{Cite news |last=Siegel |first=Tatiana |date=October 8, 2015 |title='Martian' Producer Simon Kinberg on 'Fantastic Four' Woes, Jennifer Lawrence's Uncertain 'X-Men' Future and 'Star Wars' Secrets |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martian-producer-simon-kinberg-fantastic-829766 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206163726/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martian-producer-simon-kinberg-fantastic-829766 |archive-date=December 6, 2019 |access-date=January 11, 2016 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}} He is Jewish.{{Cite web |date=September 30, 2005 |title=IGN Interviews Simon Kinberg |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/655/655059p1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005114743/http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/09/30/ign-interviews-simon-kinberg |archive-date=October 5, 2015 |access-date=August 25, 2013 |publisher=IGN}}{{Cite magazine |last=Bloom |first=Nate |author-link=Nate Bloom |date=February 25, 2016 |title=The tribe at the Oscars, 2016 |url=http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-tribe-at-the-oscars-2016/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622230937/https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-tribe-at-the-oscars-2016/ |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |magazine=Jewish Standard |location=New Jersey}} Kinberg graduated from Brentwood High School, and then from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude; in 2003 he received his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, where he won the Zaki Gordon Fellowship for Screenwriting.{{Cite web |title=Simon Kinberg |url=http://arts.columbia.edu/film/simon-kinberg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224205629/http://arts.columbia.edu/film/simon-kinberg |archive-date=December 24, 2015 |access-date=October 5, 2010 |publisher=Columbia University School of the Arts: Film}}

Career

While still in film school, Kinberg sold a pitch to Warner Bros., then went on to write scripts for Disney, Sony, and DreamWorks, working with Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer, among others. After finishing school, Kinberg moved to Hollywood, where his first screenwriting credit was a sequel to the hit action film XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005). His next screenwriting venture was the screenplay for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman and starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The script began as Kinberg's thesis project for film school. Kinberg also wrote the pilot episode for a television adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith for ABC. He also appears in the movie, in a scene with Brad Pitt.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

Kinberg's next screenwriting job was the third movie in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series: X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), which he co-wrote with Zak Penn. Comic-book writer Chris Claremont, who wrote the Dark Phoenix storyline that served as the primary source material for the film, also wrote the novelization of the film and made Kinberg a character in the book.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

Kinberg reunited with director Doug Liman for the film Jumper (2008). Kinberg wrote and produced the film, which stars Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen, and Diane Lane. The following year, Kinberg was writer of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. In April 2010, his production company, Genre Films, signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox.{{Cite magazine |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=April 14, 2010 |title=Simon Kinberg Signs First Look Fox Deal |url=https://deadline.com/2010/04/kinberg-signs-first-look-fox-deal-31960/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403215446/http://deadline.com/2010/04/kinberg-signs-first-look-fox-deal-31960/ |archive-date=April 3, 2015 |access-date=January 10, 2016 |magazine=Deadline Hollywood}}

Kinberg was the producer of X-Men: First Class (2011), and both writer and producer of This Means War (2012). He was also co-screenwriter and an executive producer of the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in that same year. In 2013, Kinberg produced Elysium.

The following year, Kinberg was the writer and the producer of the film X-Men: Days of Future Past. That same year, he produced Let's Be Cops. In 2015, Kinberg produced the Neill Blomkamp film Chappie and the live-action version of Cinderella at Walt Disney Pictures. He also worked on Fantastic Four as writer and producer. His final film of the year was The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott.

He wrote and produced X-Men: Apocalypse, the next film in the X-Men franchise following X-Men: Days of Future Past. Kinberg produced 2016's Deadpool, 2017's Logan, 2018's Deadpool 2, 2019's Dark Phoenix (the latter of which also served as his directorial debut) and The New Mutants, all of which are X-Men spin-off films. He also produced Murder on the Orient Express, an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.

The Hollywood Reporter initially reported that Lawrence Kasdan, writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and Kinberg would write and produce Episodes VIII and IX of the new Star Wars films.{{Cite web |last=Kit |first=Borys |date=November 20, 2012 |title=Sources: Lawrence Kasdan, Simon Kinberg Lock Deals to Write and Produce 'Star Wars' Installments |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-lawrence-kasdan-simon-393459 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103040939/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-lawrence-kasdan-simon-393459 |archive-date=January 3, 2016 |access-date=November 21, 2012 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}} A week later the publication stated that Kasdan and Kinberg would be working on future Star Wars projects, but not necessarily on Episodes VIII and IX.{{Cite web |last=Kit |first=Borys |date=November 28, 2012 |title=Star Wars: How Writers Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg Will Expand the Galaxy |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/post-george-lucas-star-wars-394910 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105141721/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/post-george-lucas-star-wars-394910 |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}}

In television, he is an executive producer on ABC's Designated Survivor starring Kiefer Sutherland, Legion created by Noah Hawley for FX, and The Gifted on Fox. He executive produced the third revival of the science fiction anthology series, The Twilight Zone which premiered in 2019 on CBS All Access (now Paramount+).

In July 2019, it was announced that Kinberg and his production company Genre Films was leaving Fox after 20 years.{{Cite magazine |date=July 9, 2019 |title=Underway On '355' At Uni With 'The War of the Worlds' Series For Apple, Simon Kinberg Ends Long Fox Run |url=https://deadline.com/2019/07/simon-kinberg-exits-fox-355-war-of-the-worlds-series-apple-genre-films-neuromancer-legion-the-twilight-zone-1202643741/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201185300/https://deadline.com/2019/07/simon-kinberg-exits-fox-355-war-of-the-worlds-series-apple-genre-films-neuromancer-legion-the-twilight-zone-1202643741/ |archive-date=December 1, 2019 |magazine=Deadline Hollywood}}

On November 7, 2024, it was announced that Kinberg has been hired by Lucasfilm to write and co-produce a new trilogy of Star Wars films along with Kathleen Kennedy.{{cite web |last1=Rubin |first1=Rebecca |title=New 'Star Wars' Trilogy in the Works From 'X-Men' Alum Simon Kinberg |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/news/star-wars-new-trilogy-simon-kinberg-1236203793/ |website=Variety |date=November 7, 2024 |access-date=November 19, 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Kit |first1=Borys |title='Star Wars': Simon Kinberg to Write, Produce New Trilogy for Lucasfilm |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-wars-simon-kinberg-trilogy-1236055848/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=November 7, 2024 |access-date=November 19, 2024}}

Personal life

Kinberg married Mali Heled in a Jewish ceremony on July 26, 2001. They have two sons. The couple separated in 2014 and were divorced in early 2017.{{Cite web |title=Mali Heled Kinberg vs Simon David Kinberg |url=https://unicourt.com/case/ca-la2-mali-heled-kinberg-vs-simon-david-kinberg-151373 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200717232600/https://unicourt.com/case/ca-la2-mali-heled-kinberg-vs-simon-david-kinberg-151373 |archive-date=July 17, 2020 |access-date=July 17, 2020 |publisher=Unicourt |quote=06/13/2014 Declaration - UCCJEA (- On Behalf of: Petitioner: Kinberg, Mali); Filed by Petitioner. ... 02/22/2017 Abstract - of Judgment (- Issued on 2017-03-09)}} By November 4, 2019, Kinberg became engaged to writer Cleo Wade.{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |date=November 4, 2019 |title=On tour a lot of you asked if Simon and I got engaged bc of the ring I was wearing. We did. |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bmOCPpk2B/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321222817/https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bmOCPpk2B/ |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |access-date=January 10, 2020 |publisher=Cleo Wade verified Instagram account}} They have two daughters; born in 2020 and 2021.{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |date=January 24, 2020 |title=On Monday, @simondavidkinberg and I welcomed our daughter, Memphis Love Kinberg into the world. |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/B7uq8TUpYJg/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321222818/https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/ |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |access-date=January 25, 2020 |publisher=Cleo Wade verified Instagram account}} [https://bibliogram.pussthecat.org/p/B7uq8TUpYJg Non-loginwalled link at bibliogram.pussthecat.org]

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!width=65|Writer

!width=65|Producer

!Director

!Notes

rowspan="2" |2005

|XXX: State of the Union

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

|Lee Tamahori

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

|Doug Liman

|Role: Investment Banker #1

2006

|X-Men: The Last Stand

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

|Brett Ratner

2008

|Jumper

|{{Yes}}

|Doug Liman

2009

|Sherlock Holmes

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

|Guy Ritchie

2011

|X-Men: First Class

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Matthew Vaughn

2012

|This Means War

|{{Yes}}

|McG

2013

|Elysium

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Neill Blomkamp

rowspan="2" |2014

|X-Men: Days of Future Past

|{{Yes}}

|Bryan Singer

Let's Be Cops

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Luke Greenfield

rowspan="4" |2015

|Fantastic Four

|{{Yes}}

|Josh Trank

Cinderella

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Kenneth Branagh

Chappie

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Neill Blomkamp

The Martian

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Ridley Scott

rowspan="2" |2016

|Deadpool

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Tim Miller

X-Men: Apocalypse

|{{Yes}}

|Bryan Singer

rowspan="2" |2017

|Logan

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|James Mangold

Murder on the Orient Express

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Kenneth Branagh

2018

|Deadpool 2

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|David Leitch

2019

|Dark Phoenix

|{{Yes}}

|Himself

|Directorial debut

2020

|The New Mutants

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Josh Boone

2022

|The 355

|{{Yes}}

|Himself

2023

|A Haunting in Venice

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Kenneth Branagh

2024

|Lift

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|F. Gary Gray

2025

|The Running Man

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|Edgar Wright

Executive producer

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Death on the Nile (2022)
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Creative consultant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Thanks credit

Star Wars: The Force Awakens{{Cite web |date=January 25, 2013 |title=Star Wars Is Being Kick-Started with Dynamite |url=http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-is-being-kick-started-with-dynamite-jj-abrams-to-direct-star-wars-episode-vii.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105234339/http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-is-being-kick-started-with-dynamite |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |access-date=January 4, 2014 |publisher=StarWars.com}} (2015)
Rogue One (2016)

=Television=

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Director

!Writer

!Executive
producer

!Creator

!Notes

2014–2018

|Star Wars Rebels

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

2016–2019

|Designated Survivor

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

rowspan="2" |2017–2019

|The Gifted

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

| rowspan="2" |Part of the X-Men film franchise

Legion

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

2019–2020

|The Twilight Zone

|{{Yes}}

|{{Yes|Developer}}

|Directed "Blurryman" and wrote "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet"

2021

|Invasion

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

2024

|Sugar

|{{No}}

|{{Yes}}

|{{No}}

Awards and nominations

He received a lifetime achievement award from the Saturn Awards in 2016.

He was named #61 on the list of 100 most powerful people in Hollywood by The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. The same year, The Hollywood Reporter named Kinberg as the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood with a record {{USD|16 million}} for two X-Men scripts, and named him as one of the highest-paid producers in Hollywood with {{USD|40 million}} for Deadpool in their annual Hollywood Salaries issue.

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Category

!Award

!Title

!Result

rowspan="5" |2015

|Golden Globe Awards

|Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

| rowspan="5" |The Martian

|{{Won}}

Academy Awards