David Mickey Evans

{{short description|American film director and screenwriter|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox person

| name = David Mickey Evans

| image = David Mickey Evans 2013.jpg

| caption = Mickey Evans in 2013

| birthname =

| birth_place = Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|10|20}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Film director|screenwriter}}

| yearsactive = 1987{{ndash}}present

| spouse =

}}

David Mickey Evans (born October 20, 1962) is an American film director and screenwriter. His films tend to focus on children and the challenges of childhood. A baseball fan, Evans directed and co-wrote The Sandlot (1993).

Life and career

Evans was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on October 20, 1962.{{cite news|url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/david_mickey_evans#:~:text=Explore%20the%20filmography%20of%20David%20M.%20Evans%20on%20Rotten%20Tomatoes! |publisher=rottentomatoes.com|title=David Mickey Evans |access-date= 5 October 2024}} In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles for college. Evans attended Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a film degree in 1984. He got his start writing action-thriller films, but found his niche in the 1990s with family-oriented films that appealed to adults, children and critics alike.

Evans became one of the highest paid screenwriters during this time, selling the screenplays to both Radio Flyer and The Sandlot for over $1,000,000 each. The former was originally to be directed by Evans, but he was replaced by Richard Donner due to his inexperience. Reshoots followed after poor test screenings and the film budget jumped from $15,000,000 to $30,000,000. The original script called for more fantasy sequences involving a worm man and zombies, but these ideas were scrapped when Richard Donner replaced Evans. Radio Flyer opened to mostly mixed reviews from critics while The Sandlot received much more positive reviews and better box office results.

Success for Evans became fleeting by the late 1990s, with films like First Kid{{cite news|url= https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/david-mickey-evans/credits/3030438662/ |publisher= tvguide.com|title=David Mickey Evans Credits |access-date= 5 October 2024}} and Ed bombing with critics and at the box office. He switched to more adult-oriented humor and material with After School Special, but did not fare much better. Since then, Evans has written and directed numerous made-for-TV and direct-to-DVD films, including The Sandlot 2.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/89189/David-Mickey-Evans|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621114204/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/89189/David-Mickey-Evans|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-06-21|department=Movies & TV Dept.|publisher=Baseline & All Movie Guide|date=2008|title=The New York Times}}