Randall Wallace
Encyclopedia
Randall Wallace is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and songwriter who came to prominence by writing the screenplay for the 1995 film Braveheart
. His work on the film earned him an Oscar
nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America
award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. His other films include The Man in the Iron Mask
, Pearl Harbor
, We Were Soldiers
, and Secretariat
.
, Wallace began writing stories at the age of seven. Wallace graduated from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia
, where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity. He attended Duke University
, where he studied Russian, religion, and literature. He put himself through a graduate year of seminary by teaching martial arts. Wallace holds a black belt
in karate
.
and spent several years writing for television in the late '80s and early '90s.
He gained recognition and commercial success by penning the screenplay for Braveheart
(1995), which was inspired by a trip to Scotland to better get to know his roots as a Scottish American. It was there he learned about the true legend of medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace. Braveheart
became Wallace’s first produced screenplay when it drew the interest of director and star Mel Gibson, and ended up as the film success story of 1995, earning the Academy Award for Best Picture
and Best Director and garnering Oscar and Golden Globe
nominations as well as the Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay for Wallace.
Wallace made his directorial debut with his own screenplay in The Man in the Iron Mask
, starring Leonardo DiCaprio
, John Malkovich
, Gabriel Byrne
, Jeremy Irons
and Gérard Depardieu
. Shortly after, he wrote the screenplay for Pearl Harbor
(2001), directed by Michael Bay and starring Ben Affleck
, Josh Hartnett
and Kate Beckinsale
.
This was followed by Wallace’s second film as director We Were Soldiers
. Moved by its starkly honest account of a singular battle in the Vietnam War, Wallace re-teamed with Mel Gibson
to star in the film. Wallace trained with career soldiers at U.S. Army Ranger School
in order to understand the motivation of his characters.
In 2010, Wallace directed Disney’s Secretariat
, the true story of the racehorse that won the Triple Crown
in 1973. The film chronicled the struggles and courage of owner Penny Chenery-Tweedy
, portrayed by Academy Award
-nominated actress Diane Lane
. Wallace also wrote the end title song, It’s Who You Are, which was released with the Secretariat soundtrack.
In 2008, Wallace wrote several songs with singer/songwriter Richard Marx
. One of those songs, "Flame In Your Fire", appears on Marx's album Emotional Remains.
In interviews he has acknowledged a deep commitment to Christianity, which he credits as an influence on his approach to filmmaking.
He appeared in the seventh season of HBO’s hit comedy series Entourage
as himself.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Wallace is the founder of Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity and the father of two sons. In 1999, he formed his own company, Wheelhouse Entertainment, which is focused on creating entertainment for worldwide audiences based on the classic values of love, courage and honor.
Wallace was the speaker at the Fellowship Foundation National Prayer Breakfast
on 3 February 2011.
Wallace also served as the commencement speaker at the Liberty University
graduation ceremony on May 14, 2011.
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
. His work on the film earned him an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. His other films include The Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)
The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 British/American historical action film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace. It uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It also bears several...
, Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...
, We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L...
, and Secretariat
Secretariat (film)
Secretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
.
Early life
Born in Jackson, TennesseeJackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
, Wallace began writing stories at the age of seven. Wallace graduated from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
, where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a...
fraternity. He attended Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, where he studied Russian, religion, and literature. He put himself through a graduate year of seminary by teaching martial arts. Wallace holds a black belt
Black belt (martial arts)
In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...
in karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
.
Career
After managing an animal show at Nashville’s Opryland, Wallace moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in singing and songwriting. He soon began writing short stories, novels and scripts for movies. Wallace was taken under the wing of leading television producer Stephen J. CannellStephen J. Cannell
Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.-Early life:...
and spent several years writing for television in the late '80s and early '90s.
He gained recognition and commercial success by penning the screenplay for Braveheart
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
(1995), which was inspired by a trip to Scotland to better get to know his roots as a Scottish American. It was there he learned about the true legend of medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace. Braveheart
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
became Wallace’s first produced screenplay when it drew the interest of director and star Mel Gibson, and ended up as the film success story of 1995, earning the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
and Best Director and garnering Oscar and Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nominations as well as the Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay for Wallace.
Wallace made his directorial debut with his own screenplay in The Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)
The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 British/American historical action film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace. It uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It also bears several...
, starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
, John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
, Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
and Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
. Shortly after, he wrote the screenplay for Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...
(2001), directed by Michael Bay and starring 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...
, Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
and Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
.
This was followed by Wallace’s second film as director We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L...
. Moved by its starkly honest account of a singular battle in the Vietnam War, Wallace re-teamed with Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
to star in the film. Wallace trained with career soldiers at U.S. Army Ranger School
Ranger School
The United States Army Ranger School is an intense 61-day combat leadership course oriented towards small-unit tactics. It has been called the "toughest combat course in the world" and "is the most physically and mentally demanding leadership school the Army has to offer". The course is conducted...
in order to understand the motivation of his characters.
In 2010, Wallace directed Disney’s Secretariat
Secretariat (film)
Secretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
, the true story of the racehorse that won the Triple Crown
United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...
in 1973. The film chronicled the struggles and courage of owner Penny Chenery-Tweedy
Penny Chenery
Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweedy is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown...
, portrayed by Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-nominated actress Diane Lane
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
. Wallace also wrote the end title song, It’s Who You Are, which was released with the Secretariat soundtrack.
Other work
Wallace is also the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and the lyricist of the acclaimed hymn "Mansions of the Lord", performed as the closing music for President Ronald Reagan's national funeral.In 2008, Wallace wrote several songs with singer/songwriter Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
. One of those songs, "Flame In Your Fire", appears on Marx's album Emotional Remains.
In interviews he has acknowledged a deep commitment to Christianity, which he credits as an influence on his approach to filmmaking.
He appeared in the seventh season of HBO’s hit comedy series Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
as himself.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Wallace is the founder of Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity and the father of two sons. In 1999, he formed his own company, Wheelhouse Entertainment, which is focused on creating entertainment for worldwide audiences based on the classic values of love, courage and honor.
Wallace was the speaker at the Fellowship Foundation National Prayer Breakfast
National Prayer Breakfast
The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year. The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide...
on 3 February 2011.
Wallace also served as the commencement speaker at the Liberty University
Liberty University
Liberty University is a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty's annual enrollment is around 72,000 students, 12,000 of whom are residential students and 60,000+ studying through Liberty University Online...
graduation ceremony on May 14, 2011.
Filmography
- BraveheartBraveheartBraveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
(1995) – writer - The Man in the Iron MaskThe Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 British/American historical action film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace. It uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It also bears several...
(1998) – writer, director and producer - Pearl HarborPearl Harbor (film)Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...
(2001) – writer and executive producer - We Were SoldiersWe Were SoldiersWe Were Soldiers is a 2002 American war film that dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L...
(2002) – writer, director and producer - Fight or DieFight or DieFight or Die is a television show produced for the Discovery Channel.-Plot summary:The first episode, Valley of Death, tells the real-life story of a group of American soldiers whose lives were made famous in Randall Wallace's motion picture We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson...
(2008) – executive producer, narrator - SecretariatSecretariat (film)Secretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
(2010) – director
Further reading
- Director Randall Wallace on "Secretariat": An in-depth interview on CBN.com
- Christianity Today interview with Wallace
- Duke Divinity School's Divinity Online Edition feature article on Wallace