Roger Avary

Roger Roberts Avary was born in Flin Flon, Manitoba, in Canada on August 23, 1965, to a Brazilian-raised father, who worked as a mining engineer, and a German mother, who worked as a physical therapist. They later moved to Oracle, Arizona, and later Torrance, California, before settling in Manhattan Beach.{{Additional citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In 1993 Avary directed his feature film debut with Killing Zoe. The film follows an American safe-cracker (Eric Stoltz) who travels to Paris to aid a childhood friend (Jean-Hugues Anglade) with a bank heist. Along the way he meets and befriends a sex worker (Julie Delpy) whose fate becomes tied with the crime.{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/killing-zoe-1994 |title=Killing Zoe |website=rogerebert.com |accessdate=2017-05-02}} The film premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Prize award at the 5th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. {{cite web|url=http://yubarifanta.com/index_pc.php?ct=archive.php&langue=21002 |title=YUBARI INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL'94 |website=Yubarifanta.com |accessdate=2009-09-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407040236/http://yubarifanta.com/index_pc.php?ct=archive.php&langue=21002 |archivedate=April 7, 2004 }}

Avary and Quentin Tarantino worked on the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, for which they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.{{Cite web |title=Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches - Search Results {{!}} Margaret Herrick Library {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences |url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/067-24/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=aaspeechesdb.oscars.org}} According to Tarantino, Avary originally came up with the plot of the boxer Butch Coolidge and his gold watch from a screenplay named Pandemonium Reigns, which Avary had written himself.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-23 |title=Roger Avary: The forgotten co-writer of 'Pulp Fiction' |first=Calum |last=Russell |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/roger-avary-the-forgotten-co-writer-of-pulp-fiction/ |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}

In 1995 Avary wrote and directed the science fiction film Mr. Stitch for Syfy, then The Sci-Fi Channel. Loosely a modern take on Frankenstein, the film features Wil Wheaton, Rutger Hauer, Nia Peeples, and Ron Perlman.{{cite news|last1=Todd Everett|title=Review: 'Mr. Stitch'|url=https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/mr-stitch-1200446390/ |access-date=9 June 2015|work=Variety|date=August 15, 1996 }}

In 2002, Avary directed the film adaptation for The Rules of Attraction, based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel, which he also executive produced.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=collegecomedy.htm |title=Comedy - College Movies at the Box Office |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=2012-10-27}} The Rules of Attraction was the first studio film to be edited on Apple's Final Cut Pro editing system.{{cite web |url=http://www.macworld.com/news/2002/01/15/finalcut/ |title=More don't miss stories from Macworld page 1 |publisher=Macworld.com |date=2002-01-15 |access-date=2012-10-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829210257/http://www.macworld.com/news/2002/01/15/finalcut/ |archive-date=2008-08-29 }} Avary became a spokesperson for Final Cut Pro product,{{Cite web|url=https://www.apple.com/ca/pro/film/avary/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051106211139/http://www.apple.com/ca/pro/film/avary/|url-status=dead|title=Apple.com|archivedate=November 6, 2005}} appearing in Apple print and web ads worldwide. In 2005, Avary, at the request of his friend, actor James Van Der Beek, played the part of a peyote-taking gonzo film director Franklin Brauner in the film Standing Still.{{cite news | author=Clint Morris | url=http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20060901_exclusive_interview_james_van.html | title=Exclusive Interview : James Van Der Beek | publisher=Moviehole.net | access-date=21 January 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061013113529/http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20060901_exclusive_interview_james_van.html |archive-date = 13 October 2006}}

The film Glitterati was finished in 2004 and stars Kip Pardue. It can never be released because of legal and ethical concerns.

In 2006, Avary wrote a screenplay adaptation to the Konami video game, Silent Hill (2006), with French director and friend, Christophe Gans, and Killing Zoe producer Samuel Hadida. Avary and Gans being long time gamers and fans of the Silent Hill series, collaborated on the film.

{{cite news | author=Matt Withers | url=http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11029 | title=INT: Roger Avary | publisher=JoBlo.com | date=20 April 2006 | access-date=21 January 2007 }}

Avary and novelist Neil Gaiman wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film Beowulf which was directed by Robert Zemeckis.{{Cite web|url=http://www.stv.tv/content/out/film/videointerviews/display.html?id=opencms:/out/films/video_interviews/neil_gaiman_roger_avary|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213220918/http://www.stv.tv/content/out/film/videointerviews/display.html?id=opencms%3A%2Fout%2Ffilms%2Fvideo_interviews%2Fneil_gaiman_roger_avary|url-status=dead|title=Stv.tv|archivedate=December 13, 2007}}

In September 2017 Avary directed his own screenplay, Lucky Day, a semi-sequel of Killing Zoe.{{Cite web|url=https://meaww.com/lucky-day-director-roger-avary-interview-starring-nina-dobrev-luke-bracey-prison-manslaughter-french|title = Director Roger Avary wrote 'Lucky Day' during year-long incarceration with 'dialogues, ruminations and themes' from 'cell block C4'| date=12 October 2019 }} In 2018 he shot an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's play La voix humaine that remains unreleased.

After Pulp Fiction, Avary had a falling-out with Tarantino that lasted nearly twenty-five years.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/lucky-day-review-1203369353/ |title=Film Review: 'Lucky Day' |date=14 October 2019 }} The two rekindled their friendship after Tarantino heard Avary being interviewed on a 2019 episode of Bret Easton Ellis's podcast. In 2021, Quentin Tarantino announced that he and Avary would launch a podcast titled The Video Archives Podcast.{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=2022-06-02 |title=Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary Set to Launch 'The Video Archives Podcast' |url=https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/quentin-tarantino-roger-avary-video-archives-podcast-1235283963/ |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} The point of the podcast is to discuss films from the actual Video Archives collection that they would recommend to customers when they worked there. The set is surrounded by actual VHS copies of films from Video Archives that Tarantino bought after the store went out of business. They are joined by podcast announcer, Gala Avary, Roger Avary's daughter. The first episode premiered on July 19, 2022. The duo discussed John Carpenter's Dark Star (1974) and Ulli Lommel's Cocaine Cowboys (1979).

After winning an Oscar for Pulp Fiction, he was originally attached to direct an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic book The Sandman, which merged the "Preludes and Nocturnes" storyline with that of "The Doll's House". Avary was fired after disagreements over the creative direction with executive producer Jon Peters. It was due to their meeting on the Sandman film project that Avary and Gaiman collaborated on the script for Beowulf.{{Cite web|url= https://www.aintitcool.com/node/2571| title= Moriarty takes a look at what Jon Peters has done with Neil Gaiman's Sandman property|date=November 29, 1998|work= Ain't It Cool News|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131202225513/http://www.aintitcool.com/node/2571|archive-date= December 2, 2013|url-status= live}} Avary had originally intended upon directing his script of Beowulf himself as a live action film, to be shot in Iceland with a $10 million budget. "I wanted it to be like an early Terry Gilliam film, like Jabberwocky," he said. The film was ultimately directed by Robert Zemeckis and instead produced using motion capture technology.{{cite podcast|author=Rogan, Joe|author-link=Joe Rogan|title=Joe Rogan Experience #2240 - Roger Avary & Quentin Tarantino|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u5vPHuAXXg|publisher=PowerfulJRE|date=December 10, 2024|access-date=December 12, 2024|via=YouTube|format=video}}

In the late 1990s, Avary reached out to Don Coscarelli and expressed an interest in writing a Phantasm sequel.{{cite web|last=Jenkins|first=Jason|title='Phantasm 1999' – Don Coscarelli Details the Wild Post-Apocalyptic Sequel We Never Saw|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/exclusives/3716689/phantasm-1999-don-coscarelli-details-the-wild-post-apocalyptic-sequel-we-never-saw-phantom-limbs/|website=Bloody Disgusting|date=May 30, 2022|access-date=October 7, 2023}} Entitled Phantasm 1999, the film would have taken place in an apocalyptic future United States divided into three zones: Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; and the Plague Zone. The Plague Zone would be controlled by the Tall Man where he infects people with his "bag plague". Reggie must lead a secret government operation, called the "S Squad", into the Plague Zone to defeat the Tall Man. Avary and Coscarelli spent years trying to get the film made and even had financing in place in 1997 before that company changed hands and the deal evaporated. Eventually, Coscarelli made Phantasm IV without Avary, although as of 2022 Coscarelli still had interest in filming Avary's script, now entitled Phantasm’s End as 1999 has come and gone.

Through the 90s and early 2000s Avary attempted to direct a film based on the life of Salvador Dalí that had Al Pacino attached to star as the painter at one stage, but the project fell apart and never came to fruition.{{cite web |url=https://www.salon.com/2002/10/15/avary/ |title="It seems like exactly the wrong film to make" |last=Schwartz |first=Ben |work=Salon |date=October 15, 2002| access-date=December 12, 2024}}

After The Rules of Attraction and Glitterati, Avary had intentions to film his screenplay of Bret Easton Ellis's 1998 novel Glamorama.{{cite web|url=https://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/21175|title=Roger Avary gets lifetime rights to Ellis' GLAMORAMA! Rock and roll!|website=Ain't It Cool News|date=September 6, 2005|access-date=December 12, 2024}} Kip Pardue was attached to reprise his role as Victor Ward. The project never moved beyond the pre-production stage. When asked about the film's status in a 2010 interview, Ellis said: "I think the days of being able to make that movie are over."{{cite web|url=http://movieline.com/2010/05/19/bret-easton-ellis-on-rules-of-attraction-and-its-sexy-illicit-spinoff-youll-never-see/2/|title=Bret Easton Ellis on The Rules of Attraction and Its Sexy, Illicit Spinoff You'll Never See|website=Movieline|date=May 19, 2010|access-date=December 12, 2024}} However, the following year Ellis confirmed that Avary was planning to shoot the feature in 2012.{{cite web|last=Fischer|first=Russ|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/518034/bret-easton-ellis-roger-avary-direct-glamorama-year/|title=Bret Easton Ellis Says Roger Avary Will Direct 'Glamorama' Next Year|website=/Film|date=October 13, 2011|access-date=December 12, 2024}}

In 2006, French director Alexandre Aja was set to direct a feature film adaptation of the Black Hole comics, with Neil Gaiman and Avary attached to adapt the screenplay.{{cite web|first=Scott|last=Weinberg|title=GAIMAN, AVARY, AND AJA TO VISIT A "BLACK HOLE"|url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/gaiman-avary-and-aja-to-visit-a-black-hole/|date=March 8, 2006|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=May 28, 2024}} By 2008, it was reported by MTV that Gaiman and Avary had left the production and that their script would not be used for David Fincher's planned version,{{cite web |url=http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/10/21/neil-gaiman-escapes-a-black-hole/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022211355/http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/10/21/neil-gaiman-escapes-a-black-hole/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 22, 2008 |title=Neil Gaiman On Adapting Charles Burns' Graphic Novel 'Black Hole' |last=Vineyard |first=Jennifer |publisher=MTV |date=2008-10-21 |access-date=2017-03-13}} which was ultimately not produced. He was also attached to write and direct a Castle Wolfenstein film adaptation both in 2007 and 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/01/castle-wolfenstein-movie-announced |title=Castle Wolfenstein Movie Announced |last=Vejvoda |first=Jim |publisher=IGN |date=November 1, 2012 |access-date=June 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309112054/http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/01/castle-wolfenstein-movie-announced |archive-date=March 9, 2014}}

While in prison, Avary came across an "old Penguin paperback" on a book cart of a Robin Hood story written by E. Charles Vivian and decided to adapt the material, sending the pages he wrote to his lawyer to have his daughter type up into a script. "I was crying when I wrote it," Avary noted. "When you're writing like that and you're feeling that much, it's not a bad thing."

Following his prison sentence, Avary had worked on adapting Paul Verhoeven's book Jesus of Nazareth for Verhoeve to direct, oversaw rewrites on the screenplay for a planned Duncan Jones-directed biopic on James Bond creator Ian Fleming, and additionally had plans to adapt the early William Faulkner novel Sanctuary.{{cite web|last=Kohn|first=Eric|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/roger-avarys-first-post-prison-interview-where-his-career-will-take-him-next-45780/|title=Roger Avary's First Post-Prison Interview: Where His Career Will Take Him Next|website=IndieWire|date=August 6, 2012|access-date=December 12, 2024}} Also in 2012, Avary was planning to reteam with author Bret Easton Ellis to direct an adaptation of his novel Lunar Park, with financing from Wild Bunch. Ellis himself took to Twitter in 2011, praising Avary's script as "great" and saying he "hopes he makes it."{{cite tweet|number=142895190812794880|user=BretEastonEllis|title=Roger Avary wrote a great script for Lunar Park and I hope he makes it.|date=December 3, 2011}} Also according to Ellis, Avary planned to shoot the project in September 2012, and hinted about Aaron Eckhart's potential involvement.{{cite tweet|number=225453039903981570|user=BretEastonEllis|title=Director/writer of "Lunar Park" is Roger Avary who has written a great, scary-as-hell script. He plans to shoot in September. Aaron Eckhart?|date=July 18, 2012}}

At some point after John Milius' stroke, Avary, along with his daughter Gala, worked with Milius to retool his unproduced feature script on Genghis Khan in the form of a limited-run series. As of 2018, Avary was slated to direct Unwind, co-written with his daughter Gala and based on the dystopian novel of the same name.{{Cite web |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |date=2016-05-05 |title=Roger Avary Directing ‘Unwind’, Voltage Teaming With Constantin Films: Cannes |url=https://deadline.com/2016/05/voltage-pictures-constantin-film-cannes-1201750066/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}} Avary has also written an as-yet unproduced script based on The Devil Soldier by Caleb Carr, which was in development with Antoine Fuqua directing and Mark Burman producing.{{cite web | url=https://movieweb.com/ambush-director-mark-burman-interview/ | title=Exclusive: Ambush Writer-Director Mark Burman Discusses His New Vietnam War Film | date=21 February 2023 }}

On January 13, 2008, Avary was arrested under suspicion of manslaughter and DUI, following a car crash in Ojai, California, in which his passenger, Andreas Zini, was killed. The Ventura County Sheriff's department responded to the crash after midnight Sunday morning on the 1900 block of East Ojai Avenue. Avary was released from jail on $50,000 bail.

{{cite news | title = 'Pulp Fiction' screenwriter Avary arrested after fatal Ojai crash | publisher = Ventura County-Star | date = 13 January 2008 | url = http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/13/no-headline---nxxfcfatal14/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130205152257/http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/13/no-headline---nxxfcfatal14/ | archive-date = 5 February 2013 }} In December 2008, he was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, gross vehicular manslaughter and two felony counts of causing bodily injury while intoxicated.{{cite news | author = Catherine Saillant | title = Screenwriter Roger Avary charged with gross vehicular manslaughter | url = http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-avary13-2008dec13,0,6148916.story | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 13 December 2008 }} He changed his plea to guilty on August 18, 2009.{{cite news | author = The Associated Press | title = Roger Avary pleads guilty to manslaughter | url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/roger-avary-pleads-guilty-manslaughter-87954/ | work = The Hollywood Reporter | date = 21 August 2009 }} On September 29, 2009, he was sentenced to one year in work furlough (allowing him to go to his job during the day and then report back to the furlough facility at night) and five years of probation.{{cite web |url=http://ovnblog.com/?p=2035 |title=Avary Given Work Furlough at Ojai Valley News Blog |publisher=Ovnblog.com |access-date=2012-10-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301123116/http://ovnblog.com/?p=2035 |archive-date=2012-03-01 }} However, after making several tweets about the conditions of his stay on Twitter, Avary was sent to Ventura County Jail to serve out the remainder of his term.{{cite news | title = Screenwriter Roger Avary moved from work furlough program to jail after tweeting episode | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 27 November 2009 | url = http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/screenwriter-is-moved-from-work-furlough-program-to-jail-after-twittering-episode.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130628183104/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/screenwriter-is-moved-from-work-furlough-program-to-jail-after-twittering-episode.html | archive-date = 28 June 2013 }}

Unreleased film

{{reflist}}

{{commons}}

• {{official website}}
• {{IMDb name|812}}
• [http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2005/09/roger_avary_tal.php Roger Avary talks to Edge Magazine about Silent Hill]
• [http://suicidegirls.com/words/Roger+Avary/ Roger Avary Interview on Suicide Girls]
• [http://www.webwombat.com.au/entertainment/movies/rules_int.htm Webwombat.com Interview]
• [http://www.screenit.com/movies/2002/the_rules_of_attraction.html Screen-It deconstructs the sex, drugs, and violence in The Rules of Attraction]
• [http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11029 JoBlo.com Interview on Silent Hill]

{{Roger Avary}}

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{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1981-2000}}

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{{Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay}}

{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay}}

{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay}}

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