Timothy Harris (writer)
Encyclopedia
Timothy Hyde Harris is an American author, screenwriter and producer. He has been publishing works of fiction since the late 1960s and has been involved in filmmaking since the early 1980s. For his work in film, Harris has been nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
as well as an Annie Award
for Writing in a Feature Production.
, Harris has lived in several countries throughout Europe and Northern Africa. After his parents divorced at a young age, his stepfather—an architect—worked in different countries and the family moved frequently. At the age of five, he was sent to a boarding school in Northern Africa. He then lived in Italy, Netherlands and England before his family moved back to the United States. Since then, he has moved between Europe and the United States several times.
In an interview in 2004, Harris claimed that he wrote his first book when he lived in London and was "seven or eight" years old. He was ill "for about a month" and wrote the book while bedridden. His first published work was Kronski/McSmash which he wrote around the age of 20 and had it published in 1969 in the United Kingdom and 1970 in the United States.
. With Weingrod, Harris collaborated on several projects writing stories and screenplays for films such as Trading Places
, Brewster's Millions
, Twins, Kindergarten Cop
and Space Jam
. The pair also produced Joel Schumacher
's 1993 film Falling Down
. In reviewing Woody Allen
's film Zelig
for The New York Times
in July of 1983, film critic Vincent Canby
said "Trading Places is one of the best American comedies in a long time, but I'd be hard-put to assign more responsibility for the film's success to its director, John Landis, than to Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod, who wrote it...". Harris and Weingrod were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay award at the 37th British Academy Film Awards
for their work on Trading Places but ultimately lost the award to Paul D. Zimmerman for The King of Comedy
. In spite of such success and recognition, in a 1991 article written for Miami New Times
, Ben Greenman
wrote about the duo that their "resume reads like a catalogue of the past decade's most irritating films." Harris was again nominated for writing honors in 2010 when he was nominated for the award for Writing in a Feature Production at the 37th Annie Awards
. His nomination was for the screenplay he wrote for the 2009 animated film Astro Boy
but he lost this award to Wes Anderson
and Noah Baumbach
for Fantastic Mr. Fox
.
BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
The BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay is the British Academy Film Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. It has been awarded since 1984, when the original category was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted...
as well as an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...
for Writing in a Feature Production.
Early life
Born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Harris has lived in several countries throughout Europe and Northern Africa. After his parents divorced at a young age, his stepfather—an architect—worked in different countries and the family moved frequently. At the age of five, he was sent to a boarding school in Northern Africa. He then lived in Italy, Netherlands and England before his family moved back to the United States. Since then, he has moved between Europe and the United States several times.
In an interview in 2004, Harris claimed that he wrote his first book when he lived in London and was "seven or eight" years old. He was ill "for about a month" and wrote the book while bedridden. His first published work was Kronski/McSmash which he wrote around the age of 20 and had it published in 1969 in the United Kingdom and 1970 in the United States.
Film career
Harris' film career started in the 1980s when he struck a friendship with Herschel WeingrodHerschel Weingrod
Herschel Alan Weingrod is an American screenwriter. He has written and co-written a number of Hollywood blockbusters including Twins, 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Kindergarten Cop with fellow writer Murray Salem and the 1996 movie Space Jam...
. With Weingrod, Harris collaborated on several projects writing stories and screenplays for films such as Trading Places
Trading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...
, Brewster's Millions
Brewster's Millions (1985 film)
Brewster's Millions is a 1985 comedy film starring Richard Pryor and John Candy based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, with a screenplay by Herschel Weingrod & Timothy Harris...
, Twins, Kindergarten Cop
Kindergarten Cop
Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 American comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective, who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch drug dealer Cullen Crisp , before Crisp can get to his...
and Space Jam
Space Jam
Aside from Jordan, a number of NBA players and coaches appeared in the film. Larry Bird portrays a friend of Jordan who joins him for a game of golf. When the Monstars steal the NBA players' talent, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks' Patrick...
. The pair also produced Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
's 1993 film Falling Down
Falling Down
Falling Down is a 1993 crime-drama film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster , a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer...
. In reviewing Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's film Zelig
Zelig
Zelig is a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.The film was shot almost entirely in...
for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in July of 1983, film critic Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
said "Trading Places is one of the best American comedies in a long time, but I'd be hard-put to assign more responsibility for the film's success to its director, John Landis, than to Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod, who wrote it...". Harris and Weingrod were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay award at the 37th British Academy Film Awards
37th British Academy Film Awards
The 37th British Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1984, honoured the best films of 1983.-Best Film: Educating Rita *Heat and Dust*Local Hero*Tootsie-Best Actor:...
for their work on Trading Places but ultimately lost the award to Paul D. Zimmerman for The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy (1983 film)
The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...
. In spite of such success and recognition, in a 1991 article written for Miami New Times
Miami New Times
The Miami New Times is a free weekly newspaper published in Miami and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered near Miami's Design District.-Overview:...
, Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman is an American writer and magazine editor.-Biography:Greenman was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Palmetto High School and then Yale University where he worked on the Yale Herald...
wrote about the duo that their "resume reads like a catalogue of the past decade's most irritating films." Harris was again nominated for writing honors in 2010 when he was nominated for the award for Writing in a Feature Production at the 37th Annie Awards
37th Annie Awards
The 37th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2009, were held on February 6, 2010 at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.-Best Animated Feature:*Up*Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs*Coraline*Fantastic Mr...
. His nomination was for the screenplay he wrote for the 2009 animated film Astro Boy
Astro Boy (film)
Astro Boy, also called in Japan, is a 2009 computer-animated film loosely based on the long-running Japanese series of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Imagi Animation Studios, the animation production company of TMNT. The studio announced the project in September 2006...
but he lost this award to Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
and Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach is an American writer, director and independent filmmaker.-Background and education:Baumbach was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of novelist/film critic Jonathan Baumbach and Village Voice critic Georgia Brown. He graduated from Brooklyn's Midwood High School in 1987 and ...
for Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...
.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Cheaper to Keep Her Cheaper to Keep Her (film) Cheaper to Keep Her is a 1981 comedy film directed by Ken Annakin. It stars singer-turned-actor Mac Davis as Bill Dekkar, a newly divorced swinger who goes to work as a detective. His assignments have him track down men who have reneged on their alimony, a twist of irony considering his... |
Writer |
| 1983 | Trading Places Trading Places Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet... |
Writer |
| 1985 | Brewster's Millions Brewster's Millions (1985 film) Brewster's Millions is a 1985 comedy film starring Richard Pryor and John Candy based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, with a screenplay by Herschel Weingrod & Timothy Harris... |
Writer |
| 1988 | Street of Dreams Street of Dreams (film) Street of Dreams is a 1988 American action/thriller film directed by William A. Graham and starring Ben Masters and Morgan Fairchild. Made as a television film, Street of Dreams was originally aired on October 7, 1988, on CBS and was subsequently released on DVD on January 10, 2005... |
Writer (books - Good Night and Good-Bye and Kyd for Hire), co-executive producer |
| Twins | Writer | |
| My Stepmother Is an Alien My Stepmother Is an Alien My Stepmother Is An Alien is a 1988 comedy science fiction film produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group for release through Columbia Pictures, directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, with featured performances by Jon Lovitz and Alyson Hannigan.-Plot:Celeste is... |
Writer | |
| 1990 | Kindergarten Cop Kindergarten Cop Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 American comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective, who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch drug dealer Cullen Crisp , before Crisp can get to his... |
Screenplay |
| 1991 | Pure Luck Pure Luck Pure Luck is a 1991 American comedy film starring Martin Short and Danny Glover. It is remake of the popular French comedy film La Chèvre .- Plot :... |
Screenplay |
| 1993 | Falling Down Falling Down Falling Down is a 1993 crime-drama film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster , a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer... |
Producer |
| 1996 | Space Jam Space Jam Aside from Jordan, a number of NBA players and coaches appeared in the film. Larry Bird portrays a friend of Jordan who joins him for a game of golf. When the Monstars steal the NBA players' talent, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks' Patrick... |
Writer |
| 2009 | Astro Boy Astro Boy (film) Astro Boy, also called in Japan, is a 2009 computer-animated film loosely based on the long-running Japanese series of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Imagi Animation Studios, the animation production company of TMNT. The studio announced the project in September 2006... |
Screenplay |