Mark Boal

{{Infobox person

|name = Mark Boal

|image = Mark Boal 02 cropped.jpg

|caption =Boal in 2012

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1973|01|23}}

|birth_place = New York City, U.S.

|alma_mater = Oberlin College (1995)

|occupation = Journalist, screenwriter, film producer

|relatives = {{nowrap|Christopher Stetson Boal (half-brother)}}

}}

Mark Boal (born January 23, 1973) is an American journalist, screenwriter, and film producer. Boal initially worked as a journalist, writing for outlets like Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Salon, and Playboy. Boal's 2004 article "Death and Dishonor" was adapted for the film In the Valley of Elah, which Boal also co-wrote.

In 2008, he wrote and produced The Hurt Locker, for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2012 he wrote and produced Zero Dark Thirty, teaming again with director Kathryn Bigelow, about the tracking and killing of Osama bin Laden. The film earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. The pair collaborated a third time for 2017's Detroit.

Boal has won two Academy Awards (with another two nominations), a BAFTA Award, two Writers Guild of America Awards, and a Producers Guild of America Award, and also has four Golden Globe Award nominations.

Early life

Mark Boal was born on January 23, 1973, in New York City, the son of Lillian Firestone and William Stetson Boal, Jr., a producer of educational films.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6ToAAAAMAAJ&q=Lillian+Firestone+Boal|title=Marquis Who's Who Index to Who's Who Books|date=11 May 1976|publisher=Marquis Who's Who, Incorporated|isbn=9780837914039 |accessdate=11 May 2023|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgQhhkp_ErU|title=GILGAMESH - with Lillian Firestone, the mother of Oscar-winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker).|date=March 9, 2010 |accessdate=11 May 2023|via=www.youtube.com}} His half–brother is Christopher Stetson Boal, a playwright and screenwriter. His mother was born to a Jewish family and his father converted to Judaism.[https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-the-news-oscar-time Tampa Jewish Federation "Jews in the News: Oscar Time!"] retrieved March 19, 2017[https://web.archive.org/web/20170805140822/http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/Interfaith_Celebrities_85th_Annual_Academy_Awards.shtml.upl 85th Annual Academy Awards] Boal attended Bronx High School of Science and was on the high school's Speech and Debate Team. He earned his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Oberlin College in 1995.Shauna Siggelkow, [http://www.oberlinreview.org/article/cuff-mark-boal-oscar-winner/ OFF THE CUFF: Mark Boal, Oscar Winner] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808142910/http://oberlinreview.org/article/cuff-mark-boal-oscar-winner/ |date=2012-08-08 }}, The Oberlin Review, September 27, 2010

Career

Boal has worked as a freelance journalist and screenwriter. He has contributed articles to such magazines as The Village Voice, Salon,{{cite web|work=Salon.com|date= July 19, 1999|title=One step ahead of the law |first=Mark |last=Boal |author-link=Mark Boal|url=http://www.salon.com/1999/07/19/kingpin/}} Rolling Stone and Playboy.

Boal's 2004 article "Death and Dishonor", about the 2003 murder of veteran Richard T. Davis after his return to the United States, was published in Playboy magazine. It inspired writer/director Paul Haggis, who adapted it for his fictional screenplay as the film In the Valley of Elah, which he also directed. Boal and Haggis have writing credit for the story.[http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/death-and-dishonor/death-and-dishonor-p1.html Mark Boal, "Death and Dishonor"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013052613/http://playboy.com/magazine/features/death-and-dishonor/death-and-dishonor-p1.html |date=2007-10-13 }}, Playboy

As a journalist, Boal was embedded with troops and bomb squads in 2004 during the Iraq War. He wrote an article about one of the bomb experts, Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver, in an article entitled, "The Man in the Bomb Suit",{{cite web|author=Boal, Mark|work=Playboy|title=The Man in the Bomb Suit|url=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:2010cv09034/488129/1/1.pdf?ts=1318612376|publisher=Docs.justia.com|date=September 2005}} published in September 2005 in Playboy magazine.

Boal went on to write an original screenplay, titled The Hurt Locker, about a fictional set of characters and events based on his interviews and observations in Iraq. He was also a producer for the 2009 film adaptation set in Iraq, about a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) bomb squad. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, his business partner and co-producer.

In March 2010 (five days before the Academy Awards ceremony), Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver announced he was suing the producers of The Hurt Locker because Boal allegedly based the main character and "virtually all of the situations" in the film on events involving him. Sarver also claimed to have coined the phrase "the hurt locker".[https://abcnews.go.com/WaterCooler/wireStory?id=9998421 " 'Hurt Locker' Producers Sued Days Before Oscars"], ABC News, Retrieved March 6, 2010.

The producers' spokesperson has reiterated that the screenplay is fictional.[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6220HO20100304?type=entertainmentNews Bernie Woodall, "U.S. bomb expert says 'Hurt Locker' stole his story"], Reuters, 4 March 2010, accessed 8 March 2010 Citations for the phrase, "the hurt locker", date back to 1966 during the years of the Vietnam War. The phrase has been used among military members for decades.[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2159 "Sorry, Sgt. Sarver"], Language Log, University of Pennsylvania, 5 March 2010, Retrieved March 6, 2010 In the December 8, 2011 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, it was reported that Sarver's lawsuit was thrown out by the court, and a federal judge ordered him to pay more than $180,000 in attorney fees.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hurt-locker-lawsuit-jeremy-renner-jeffrey-sarver-271605 "Iraq War Vet Ordered to Pay $187,000 in Failed Lawsuit Against 'Hurt Locker' Producers"]. The Hollywood Reporter

In March 2011, Boal published an article in Rolling Stone about the Maywand District murders titled: The Kill Team: How U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Murdered Innocent Civilians.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-kill-team-how-u-s-soldiers-in-afghanistan-murdered-innocent-civilians-169793/|title=The Kill Team: How U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Murdered Innocent Civilians|first=Mark|last=Boal|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=28 March 2011|accessdate=11 May 2023}}

Boal wrote the film Zero Dark Thirty, which was released in December 2012. The film opened to much critical acclaim. Some commentators criticized its implication that torture revealed evidence that strongly contributed to the capture of bin Laden. Others, who deemed the production design inaccurate and oversimplified, criticized the film for its depiction of Pakistan, and found the Arabic–speaking locals in the film (Pakistan's national language is Urdu) to be problematic.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/27/zero-dark-thirty-view-from-pakistan Zero Dark Thirty: View From Pakistan], The Guardian, January 27, 2013

Boal was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He lost to Quentin Tarantino{{Cite web|url=https://abc.com/shows/oscars/collection/nominees|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110203809/http://oscar.go.com/nominees|url-status=dead|title=The Oscars 2023 | 95th Academy Awards|archive-date=10 January 2013|website=ABC|access-date=11 May 2023}} who was nominated for Django Unchained. Boal was nominated for Writing in a Drama by the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers for his work on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.{{cite web|title=NAVGTR Awards (2014)|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0003381/2015|website=IMDB}}

In 2021, it was announced that Boal was in negotiations with Netflix to write a film based on the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021.{{cite web |last1=Fleming |first1=Mike Jr. |title=Netflix Finalizing GameStop Stock Movie Package; Mark Boal In Talks To Write, Noah Centineo Attached, Scott Galloway To Consult |url=https://deadline.com/2021/02/netflix-gamestop-stock-movie-screenwriter-mark-boal-noah-centineo-scott-galloway-makeready-1234684568/ |website=Deadline |date=February 2021 |publisher=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=2 February 2021}}

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"
Year	Film	Credit	Notes
2007 \|In the Valley of Elah \|Story by \|Co-wrote story with Paul Haggis
2008 \|The Hurt Locker \|rowspan="2"\|Written by Producer \|
2012 \|Zero Dark Thirty \|
2013 \|After Earth \|Script consultant \|
2017 \|Detroit \|Written by Producer \|
2019 \|Triple Frontier \|Screenplay by Story by Executive producer \|Co-screenwriter with J. C. Chandor

class="wikitable"

Year

Film

Credit

Notes

2007

|In the Valley of Elah

|Story by

|Co-wrote story with Paul Haggis

2008

|The Hurt Locker

|rowspan="2"|Written by
Producer

2012

|Zero Dark Thirty

2013

|After Earth

|Script consultant

2017

|Detroit

|Written by
Producer

2019

|Triple Frontier

|Screenplay by
Story by
Executive producer

|Co-screenwriter with J. C. Chandor

=Television=

class="wikitable"
Year	Title	Credit	Notes
2018 \| Class of Lies \|Executive producer \|
2022 \| Echo 3 \| Creator, writer, director, executive producer \| Wrote 6 episodes, directed 3 episodes

class="wikitable"

Year

Title

Credit

Notes

2018

| Class of Lies

|Executive producer

2022

| Echo 3

| Creator, writer, director, executive producer

| Wrote 6 episodes, directed 3 episodes