Ken Kwapis
Encyclopedia
Ken Kwapis is an American
film
and television director
and screenwriter
. He specialized in the single-camera
sitcom
in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird
, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
, and He's Just Not That Into You
.
, Illinois
, and grew up in neighboring Belleville
. He is of Polish descent and was raised Catholic
, attending the Jesuit
preparatory academy St. Louis University High School. He earned a Bachelor's degree
at Northwestern University
's School of Speech, after which he traveled west to enroll in the M.F.A.
program at the USC School of Cinema-Television. Kwapis’ twenty-four minute thesis film, For Heaven's Sake, won the Student Academy Award in 1982. The film is a contemporary adaptation of Mozart's one-act opera
Der Schauspieldirektor
(The Impresario).
Kwapis is married to Marisa Silver
, with whom he has two sons.
' Afternoon Playhouse, followed by Summer Switch for ABC
's Afterschool Special. Starring Robert Klein
, Summer Switch is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, the sequel to a young adult fantasy, Freaky Friday
. For the Scholastic Book Company, Kwapis directed The Beniker Gang
, starring Andrew McCarthy
.
Kwapis’ first feature film was Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird
(Warner Bros.
, 1985). The film was not only Kwapis’ big-screen debut, but also the big-screen debut of the Sesame Street
ensemble (Big Bird
, Oscar the Grouch
, The Count, Bert & Ernie, et al.). Follow That Bird tells the story of Big Bird’s quest to live with a family of his own kind; namely, birds. A social worker arranges for Big Bird to move in with a family of Dodo Birds in Oceanview, Illinois.
In 1987, Kwapis made his prime time
television debut, directing an installment of Steven Spielberg
’s Amazing Stories
.
Kwapis’ second feature Vibes (Columbia
, 1988) was made under Ron Howard
and Brian Grazer
's fledgling Imagine
banner. Written by Lowell Ganz
and Babaloo Mandel
, Vibes is the tale of two psychics (Jeff Goldblum
and Cyndi Lauper
) who are enlisted by a fortune hunter (Peter Falk
) to divine the whereabouts of a treasure hidden in the Andes
. The film was shot on location in Ecuador
, and features a pan pipe-flavored score by James Horner
.
(Paramount
, 1991)—co-directed by his now-wife Marisa Silver
. The film, written by Brian Hohlfeld
, is a romantic comedy in which the same events are recounted twice—once from each partner’s point-of-view. The woman's (Elizabeth Perkins
) portion of the film was directed by Silver and the man's (Kevin Bacon
) by Kwapis. The film also features Sharon Stone
and Nathan Lane
. Soon after the release of He Said, She Said, the film’s title (coined by Silver) entered the vernacular as shorthand for any situation involving "testimony in direct conflict".
Kwapis then moved into series television, directing the pilot of HBO’s comedy The Larry Sanders Show
. He directed twelve episodes of the series.
Kwapis also contributed two episodes to the sci-fi series Eerie, Indiana
.
Kwapis’ fourth feature, Dunston Checks In
(Twentieth Century Fox, 1996), stars Jason Alexander
as the manager of a grand hotel in New York City
, which is owned and operated by a tyrant in the Leona Helmsley
mold (Faye Dunaway
). An aristocrat of dubious origin (Rupert Everett
) checks into the hotel with an orangutan jewel thief.
Kwapis’ next film, The Beautician and the Beast
(Paramount
, 1997), evokes the Ruritanian comedies of Ernst Lubitsch
. Fran Drescher
plays a New York cosmetologist who is mistakenly hired to tutor the children of the despotic president of Slovetzia (Timothy Dalton
).
In the late '90s, Kwapis directed two episodes of NBC
’s short-lived Freaks and Geeks
and nineteen episodes of Fox
’s Malcolm in the Middle
, winning an Emmy nomination for his work as a producer-director.
for Fox, directing the pilot and ten additional episodes, including the series finale, "Bernie’s Angels". Also for Fox, Kwapis was one of the main creative forces behind Grounded for Life
, a hybrid comedy combining single- and multi-camera techniques. Kwapis experimented with the form even further in the pilot of Watching Ellie
, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
' follow-up to Seinfeld
. The distinctive pilot has a story that unfolds in real time, with an on-screen clock. Playing the role of Ellie’s ex-boyfriend is Steve Carell
, with whom Kwapis would shortly collaborate on his next major project.
In 2005, Kwapis worked on The Office which was a reworking of the BBC
mockumentary
from Slough
to Scranton. He directed the pilot and twelve additional episodes, including the 100th episode of the series, “Company Picnic.” His work on the third season premiere, “Gay Witch Hunt
” earned him a second Emmy nomination.
For Showtime Independent Pictures, Kwapis wrote and directed Sexual Life
(2005), loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler
’s satiric story taking place in fin-de-siècle Vienna
, La Ronde
.
Kwapis’ next feature was another adaptation, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Warner Bros.
, 2006), based on the bestselling young adult novel by Ann Brashares
. Sisterhood, a coming-of-age story about four sixteen-year old friends, stars Amber Tamblyn
, Alexis Bledel
, America Ferrera
, and Blake Lively
(her screen debut).
His next feature, License to Wed
(Warner Bros., 2007), follows a young couple (Mandy Moore
and John Krasinski
), as they embark upon an unorthodox pre-marital course, devised by a highly mischievous and somewhat perverse minister (Robin Williams
). Designed to determine their compatibility, the course compresses the first ten years of marriage into one week.
Kwapis' most recently released feature is a look at romantic entanglements, He's Just Not That Into You
(New Line Cinema
, 2009). The film is adapted from the bestselling advice book by Greg Behrendt
and Liz Tuccillo
, which encouraged people to learn to read romantic signals correctly. The film stars Ben Affleck
, Jennifer Aniston
, Drew Barrymore
, Jennifer Connelly
, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper
, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson
, and Justin Long
.
, a half-hour comedy for NBC. Adapted from the 2006 feature film of the same name, Outsourced tells the story of a Kansas City-based novelties company that ships all of its customer service jobs to India
. The one American employee not to be fired, Todd Dempsey (Ben Rappaport
), goes to Mumbai
to oversee the call center.
For Working Title Films
, and Universal Pictures
, Kwapis directed the rescue adventure Big Miracle
, starring Drew Barrymore
and John Krasinski
. Based on a real event that took place in 1988, the film tells the tale of a small town newsman (Krasinski) and a Greenpeace
volunteer (Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of gray whale
s trapped in the ice of the Arctic Ocean
. Shot during fall 2010 in Alaska, it is currently in post-production.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lizardi-outsourced-20110321-22,0,885246.story
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tb/tb100913nbcs_controversial_o
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He specialized in the single-camera
Single-camera setup
The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, is a method of filmmaking and video production. A single camera—either motion picture camera or professional video camera—is employed on the set and each shot to make up a scene is taken individually...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird
Sesame Street presents Follow That Bird
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird is a 1985 American road film directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters . This was the first of two Sesame Street feature films, followed in 1999 by The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland...
, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron.The film's production budget was $25 million...
, and He's Just Not That Into You
He's Just Not That Into You
He's Just Not That Into You is a self-improvement book written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo that was published in 2004 and later adapted into a film by the same name...
.
Personal life
Kwapis was born in East St. LouisEast St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and grew up in neighboring Belleville
Belleville, Illinois
Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county...
. He is of Polish descent and was raised Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, attending the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
preparatory academy St. Louis University High School. He earned a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
's School of Speech, after which he traveled west to enroll in the M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
program at the USC School of Cinema-Television. Kwapis’ twenty-four minute thesis film, For Heaven's Sake, won the Student Academy Award in 1982. The film is a contemporary adaptation of Mozart's one-act opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor , K. 486, is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor....
(The Impresario).
Kwapis is married to Marisa Silver
Marisa Silver
Marisa Silver is an American author, screenwriter and film director.Silver was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to Raphael Silver, a film director and producer, and Joan Micklin Silver, a director....
, with whom he has two sons.
1980s
In 1983, Kwapis directed Revenge of the Nerd for CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Afternoon Playhouse, followed by Summer Switch for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Afterschool Special. Starring Robert Klein
Robert Klein
Robert Klein is an American stand-up comedian, singer and actor.-Early life:Klein was born in the Bronx, the son of Frieda and Benjamin Klein, and was raised in a "prototypical 1950s Bronx Jewish" environment. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, Klein planned to study medicine...
, Summer Switch is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, the sequel to a young adult fantasy, Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday is a classic comedic children’s novel written by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972, and adapted for film several times.-Plot:...
. For the Scholastic Book Company, Kwapis directed The Beniker Gang
The Beniker Gang
The Beniker Gang is a 1984 drama film. The story was written by Judie Angell and directed by Ken Kwapis. The movie stars Andrew McCarthy as Arthur Beniker, Jennifer Dundas as Cassie Beniker, Charles Fields as Edmund Beniker, and Danny Pintauro as Ben Benniker. The movie is about five orphans who...
, starring Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
.
Kwapis’ first feature film was Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird
Sesame Street presents Follow That Bird
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird is a 1985 American road film directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters . This was the first of two Sesame Street feature films, followed in 1999 by The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland...
(Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, 1985). The film was not only Kwapis’ big-screen debut, but also the big-screen debut of the Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
ensemble (Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
, Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
, The Count, Bert & Ernie, et al.). Follow That Bird tells the story of Big Bird’s quest to live with a family of his own kind; namely, birds. A social worker arranges for Big Bird to move in with a family of Dodo Birds in Oceanview, Illinois.
In 1987, Kwapis made his prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
television debut, directing an installment of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
’s Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
.
Kwapis’ second feature Vibes (Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, 1988) was made under Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
and Brian Grazer
Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
's fledgling Imagine
Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.Its productions include the television series 24 and Arrested Development and the films Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code .-Organization:Karen...
banner. Written by Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.-Life and career:...
and Babaloo Mandel
Babaloo Mandel
Marc "Babaloo" Mandel is an American writer. His writing credits include the television series Happy Days and the movie Night Shift. He is the long-time writing partner of Lowell Ganz. Mandel was born in New York City, the son of a taxi driver...
, Vibes is the tale of two psychics (Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
and Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
) who are enlisted by a fortune hunter (Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
) to divine the whereabouts of a treasure hidden in the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. The film was shot on location in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and features a pan pipe-flavored score by James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
.
1990s
Kwapis began the 1990s with a feature-film project, He Said, She SaidHe Said, She Said
He Said, She Said is a 1991 romantic comedy starring Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Perkins, Nathan Lane and Sharon Stone.-Synopsis:It is the story of the relationship between journalists Dan Hanson and Lorie Bryer twice – once from each perspective. The man's story was directed by Ken Kwapis and the...
(Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, 1991)—co-directed by his now-wife Marisa Silver
Marisa Silver
Marisa Silver is an American author, screenwriter and film director.Silver was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to Raphael Silver, a film director and producer, and Joan Micklin Silver, a director....
. The film, written by Brian Hohlfeld
Brian Hohlfeld
Brian Hohlfeld is an American screenwriter best known for writing He Said, She Said and his work with the Winnie the Pooh franchise.Hohlfeld is responsible for numerous uncredited feature rewrites including work on The Mighty Ducks. Before moving to Los Angeles, California, he taught film...
, is a romantic comedy in which the same events are recounted twice—once from each partner’s point-of-view. The woman's (Elizabeth Perkins
Elizabeth Perkins
Elizabeth Ann Perkins is an American actress. Her film roles have included Big, The Flintstones, Miracle on 34th Street, About Last Night..., and Avalon...
) portion of the film was directed by Silver and the man's (Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
) by Kwapis. The film also features Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
and Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
. Soon after the release of He Said, She Said, the film’s title (coined by Silver) entered the vernacular as shorthand for any situation involving "testimony in direct conflict".
Kwapis then moved into series television, directing the pilot of HBO’s comedy The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
. He directed twelve episodes of the series.
Kwapis also contributed two episodes to the sci-fi series Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1991 to 1992 and then on syndication on Fox from 1997 to 1998. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creative consultant.-Premise:...
.
Kwapis’ fourth feature, Dunston Checks In
Dunston Checks In
Dunston Checks In is a 1996 film starring Jason Alexander, Eric Lloyd, Faye Dunaway, Rupert Everett, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and introducing Sam the Orangutan as Dunston...
(Twentieth Century Fox, 1996), stars Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan , better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director, producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998...
as the manager of a grand hotel in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which is owned and operated by a tyrant in the Leona Helmsley
Leona Helmsley
Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley was an American businesswoman and real estate entrepreneur. She was a flamboyant personality and had a reputation for tyrannical behavior that earned her the nickname Queen of Mean...
mold (Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
). An aristocrat of dubious origin (Rupert Everett
Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s...
) checks into the hotel with an orangutan jewel thief.
Kwapis’ next film, The Beautician and the Beast
The Beautician and the Beast
The Beautician and the Beast is a 1997 American family comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Fran Drescher and Timothy Dalton as the title characters. The story follows the misadventures of a New York City beautician who is mistakenly hired as the school teacher for the children of the...
(Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, 1997), evokes the Ruritanian comedies of Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
. Fran Drescher
Fran Drescher
Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher is an American film and television actress, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer, author, singer, talk show host, political lobbyist and health activist...
plays a New York cosmetologist who is mistakenly hired to tutor the children of the despotic president of Slovetzia (Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
).
In the late '90s, Kwapis directed two episodes of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
’s short-lived Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is an American teen comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
and nineteen episodes of Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
’s Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, winning an Emmy nomination for his work as a producer-director.
2000s
In 2001, Kwapis helped develop The Bernie Mac ShowThe Bernie Mac Show
The Bernie Mac Show is an American sitcom featuring comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana and Vanessa. The show aired for five seasons , concluding with a half-hour series finale on Fox....
for Fox, directing the pilot and ten additional episodes, including the series finale, "Bernie’s Angels". Also for Fox, Kwapis was one of the main creative forces behind Grounded for Life
Grounded for Life
Grounded for Life is an American television sitcom that debuted on January 10, 2001 as a mid-season replacement on the FOX Network. It was created by Mike Schiff and Bill Martin. It ran for two seasons on the network until being cancelled only two episodes into its third season...
, a hybrid comedy combining single- and multi-camera techniques. Kwapis experimented with the form even further in the pilot of Watching Ellie
Watching Ellie
Watching Ellie is an American sitcom that starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus and was created by her husband, Brad Hall. It aired on NBC from February 2002 to May 2003, though only sixteen episodes were broadcast before it was canceled due to low ratings....
, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress and comedienne, widely known for her sitcom roles in Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine....
' follow-up to Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. The distinctive pilot has a story that unfolds in real time, with an on-screen clock. Playing the role of Ellie’s ex-boyfriend is Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, with whom Kwapis would shortly collaborate on his next major project.
In 2005, Kwapis worked on The Office which was a reworking of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
from Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
to Scranton. He directed the pilot and twelve additional episodes, including the 100th episode of the series, “Company Picnic.” His work on the third season premiere, “Gay Witch Hunt
Gay Witch Hunt
"Gay Witch Hunt" is the third season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's twenty-ninth episode overall. Written by executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis, the episode first aired in the United States on September 21, 2006...
” earned him a second Emmy nomination.
For Showtime Independent Pictures, Kwapis wrote and directed Sexual Life
Sexual Life
Sexual Life is a 2005 comedy-drama film written and directed by Ken Kwapis. Cast members include Azura Skye, Carla Gallo, Anne Heche, Elizabeth Banks, Tom Everett Scott, and Steven Weber.It is adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's play La Ronde.- Cast :...
(2005), loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
’s satiric story taking place in fin-de-siècle Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, La Ronde
La Ronde (play)
La Ronde is a 1900 play by Arthur Schnitzler. It scrutinizes the sexual morals and class ideology of its day through a series of encounters between pairs of characters . By choosing characters across all levels of society, the play offers social commentary on how sexual contact transgresses...
.
Kwapis’ next feature was another adaptation, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, 2006), based on the bestselling young adult novel by Ann Brashares
Ann Brashares
Ann Brashares is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series of books....
. Sisterhood, a coming-of-age story about four sixteen-year old friends, stars Amber Tamblyn
Amber Tamblyn
Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and poet. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine, followed by a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia portraying the title character...
, Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.-Early life:Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas...
, America Ferrera
America Ferrera
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...
, and Blake Lively
Blake Lively
Blake Christina Lively is an American actress and model who stars as Serena van der Woodsen in the television teen drama series Gossip Girl...
(her screen debut).
His next feature, License to Wed
License to Wed
License to Wed is a 2007 romantic comedy film starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski and directed by Ken Kwapis. The film was released in theaters on July 3, 2007.-Plot:...
(Warner Bros., 2007), follows a young couple (Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore
Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. In 2007, she took an adult pop-folk direction with the release of...
and John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
), as they embark upon an unorthodox pre-marital course, devised by a highly mischievous and somewhat perverse minister (Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
). Designed to determine their compatibility, the course compresses the first ten years of marriage into one week.
Kwapis' most recently released feature is a look at romantic entanglements, He's Just Not That Into You
He's Just Not That into You (film)
He's Just Not That Into You is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis, based on the self-help book of the same name by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, which in turn was inspired by a line of dialogue in Sex and the City...
(New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, 2009). The film is adapted from the bestselling advice book by Greg Behrendt
Greg Behrendt
Gregory Behrendt is an American stand-up comedian and author. His work as a script consultant to the HBO sitcom Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, paved the way for co-authoring of the New York Times bestseller He's Just Not That into You , later adapted into a film by the same name...
and Liz Tuccillo
Liz Tuccillo
Liz Tuccillo is an American writer and actress best known for her work on the HBO comedy series Sex and the City and for co-authoring the self-help book He's Just Not That Into You...
, which encouraged people to learn to read romantic signals correctly. The film stars Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
, Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
, Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress, who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America...
, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper is an American film, theater, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Hangover, The A-Team, and Limitless. In 2011, People magazine named Cooper "Sexiest Man Alive".-Early life:...
, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
, and Justin Long
Justin Long
Justin Jacob Long is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Galaxy Quest, Jeepers Creepers, Dodgeball, Live Free or Die Hard, He's Just Not That into You, Drag Me to Hell, and Youth in Revolt, and his personification of a Mac in Apple's "Get a...
.
2010s
Kwapis launched his seventh series and directed his tenth feature film in 2010. He is the executive producer and director of the pilot of OutsourcedOutsourced (TV series)
Outsourced is an American television sitcom set in an Indian workplace. It was based on the John Jeffcoat film of the same name and adapted by Ken Kwapis and Universal Media Studios for NBC. The series originally ran from September 23, 2010 to May 12, 2011...
, a half-hour comedy for NBC. Adapted from the 2006 feature film of the same name, Outsourced tells the story of a Kansas City-based novelties company that ships all of its customer service jobs to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The one American employee not to be fired, Todd Dempsey (Ben Rappaport
Ben Rappaport
Bennett Eli "Ben" Rappaport is an American actor. He played the role of Todd Dempsy in the NBC sitcom Outsourced, which aired during the 2010–2011 television season. The series marked Rappaport's debut acting role on screen....
), goes to Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
to oversee the call center.
For Working Title Films
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
, and Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, Kwapis directed the rescue adventure Big Miracle
Big Miracle
Big Miracle is an upcoming romantic drama film starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. The film, directed by Ken Kwapis, is based on the 1989 book Freeing the Whales by Tom Rose, which covers Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 international effort to rescue gray whales from being trapped in ice...
, starring Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
and John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
. Based on a real event that took place in 1988, the film tells the tale of a small town newsman (Krasinski) and a Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
volunteer (Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of gray whale
Gray Whale
The gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about , a weight of , and lives 50–70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were...
s trapped in the ice of the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
. Shot during fall 2010 in Alaska, it is currently in post-production.
Filmography
- Big MiracleBig MiracleBig Miracle is an upcoming romantic drama film starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. The film, directed by Ken Kwapis, is based on the 1989 book Freeing the Whales by Tom Rose, which covers Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 international effort to rescue gray whales from being trapped in ice...
(2012) - He's Just Not That into YouHe's Just Not That into You (film)He's Just Not That Into You is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis, based on the self-help book of the same name by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, which in turn was inspired by a line of dialogue in Sex and the City...
(2009) - License to WedLicense to WedLicense to Wed is a 2007 romantic comedy film starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski and directed by Ken Kwapis. The film was released in theaters on July 3, 2007.-Plot:...
(2007) - The Sisterhood of the Traveling PantsThe Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron.The film's production budget was $25 million...
(2005) - Sexual LifeSexual LifeSexual Life is a 2005 comedy-drama film written and directed by Ken Kwapis. Cast members include Azura Skye, Carla Gallo, Anne Heche, Elizabeth Banks, Tom Everett Scott, and Steven Weber.It is adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's play La Ronde.- Cast :...
(2005) - The Beautician and the BeastThe Beautician and the BeastThe Beautician and the Beast is a 1997 American family comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Fran Drescher and Timothy Dalton as the title characters. The story follows the misadventures of a New York City beautician who is mistakenly hired as the school teacher for the children of the...
(1997) - Dunston Checks InDunston Checks InDunston Checks In is a 1996 film starring Jason Alexander, Eric Lloyd, Faye Dunaway, Rupert Everett, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and introducing Sam the Orangutan as Dunston...
(1996) - He Said, She SaidHe Said, She SaidHe Said, She Said is a 1991 romantic comedy starring Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Perkins, Nathan Lane and Sharon Stone.-Synopsis:It is the story of the relationship between journalists Dan Hanson and Lorie Bryer twice – once from each perspective. The man's story was directed by Ken Kwapis and the...
(1991) - Vibes (1988)
- Sesame Street presents Follow That BirdSesame Street presents Follow That BirdSesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird is a 1985 American road film directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters . This was the first of two Sesame Street feature films, followed in 1999 by The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland...
(1985)
External links
- Ray Pride, "Where have the Grown-ups Gone?", Pride Unprejudiced, 28 June 2005, http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/pride/2005/050628.html . An interview with Kwapis.
- Madelyn Ritrosky-Winslow, "Ken Kwapis’s Sexual Life – His Film, That Is," Entertainment Magazine, http://emol.org/film/archives/sexuallife/. Overview of Sexual Life and Kwapis' work in 2005.
- Margy Rochlin, "Keeping Things Human Size, Despite the Stars", NY Times, January 20, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/movies/01roch.html . Profile of Kwapis.
- Geetika Tandon Lizardi, "Don't hate 'Outsourced'", "LA Times", March 21, 2011,
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lizardi-outsourced-20110321-22,0,885246.story
- Kim Masters, "NBC's controversial 'Outsourced' and directing TV pilots", "KCRW", September 13, 2010,
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tb/tb100913nbcs_controversial_o