Blade

Background:

“I love casting against type and doing things you wouldn’t expect, because I think you get more interesting performances that way. Hollywood loves to pigeonhole people and there’s nothing an actor loves more than to do something different.” David Goyer

Scriptwriter David Goyer is most likely known for his work in the successful franchise Blade (1998), Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004, also directed), which starred Wesley Snipes. Several years later, he was once more applauded for penning the notable prequel Batman Begins (2005), directed by Christopher Nolan. For his brilliant effort in the Batman film, Goyer was handed a Saturn Award. Goyer also won a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award and received a Saturn nomination after working in Dark City (1998).

Apart from writing scripts, Goyer is also popular as a writer of comic books. He co-authored, with Geoffrey Irons, “JSA (Justice Society of America)” for DC Comics. Goyer has now written about 50 issues of “JSA.”


Death Warrant

Childhood and Family:

Spending his childhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan, David Goyer loved writing as a child. Although at first planning to attend Michigan State University to be a homicide investigator, David was eventually encouraged by his teachers at Huron High School to pursue his writing talent. He then studied screenwriting at the USC School of Cinema-Television, where he became the teaching assistant to screenwriter Nelson Gidding. Several months after graduation (1988), David sold his first screenplay, Death Warrant (1990).


Batman Begins

Career:

Kicking off his movie career, David Goyer saw his first script developed into the Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring Death Warrant (1990). He quickly followed it up with the sequel project Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991, also served as associate producer) and the horror film Demonic Toys (1992). Goyer next co-wrote the direct-to-video movie Arcade (1993) and co-adapted the novel by Robert A. Heinlein in The Puppet Masters (1994), starring Donald Sutherland.

After reviving James O’Barr’s comic book series and comic strip in The Crow: City of Angels (1996), Goyer collaborated with director/screenwriter Alex Proyas and Lem Dobbs to do the fantasy thriller Dark City (1998), which chronicled a man’s fight against some evil beings with telekinetic powers. For their exceptional effort, the threesome shared a Film Critics Circle of Australia award for Best Original Screenplay and a Saturn award nomination for Best Writer.

“Each of the Blade films are quite different from the others. That also really liberated me. I wasn’t trying to do a Norrington film [director of Blade]. I wasn’t trying to do a Del Toro [director of Blade 2] film. I was putting my own imprint on the story.” David Goyer on directing Blade: Trinity (2004)

The same year, the scriptwriter enjoyed commercial success after writing for Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998), featuring Wesley Snipe as the titular heroic vampire character. Goyer, who made his first directing attempt with ZigZag (2002, adaptation of Landon J. Napoleon’s novel), later completed the trilogy by penning Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004, also directed).

“We definitely set it up and kind of provided Warner Bros. a rough plan of what the next three movies would be. So it’s not like we’ll do one and then figure on the next. There is a road map of what the next three movies would be and who the various characters would be.” David Goyer on Batman Begins (2005)

In 2005, Goyer explored the origins of the Batman legend in the prequel movie Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan. The star-studded project was supported by the performance of Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe and Morgan Freeman. Besides scoring major commercial success with the Batman film, Goyer was also handed a Saturn award for Best Writing. The second part of Goyer-Nolan’s Batman film will be The Dark Knight (2008).

Almost at the same time, Goyer also went to the small screen where he served as a writer and producer for the sci-fi series “Threshold” (2005) and created the spin-off “Blade: The Series” (show began in 2006). Also in 2006, he continued his filmmaking journey with the comic book adaptation The Flash (directed, wrote, and produced).

Goyer, who will executive produce the upcoming Ghost Rider (2007) and direct the drama thriller The Invisible (2007), is now filming his adaptation of Steven Gould’s novel titled Jumper, set for release in 2008. Next, Goyer will work in two other superhero stories, Thor (2009) and Captain America (2009).


Awards:

- Saturn: Best Writing, Batman Begins, 2006
- Film Critics Circle of Australia: Best Screenplay – Original, Dark City, shared with Alex Proyas and Lem Dobbs, 1999