Bruce A. Evans

Bruce Anslie Evans (born September 19, 1946) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his work on Stand by Me (1986), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and Mr. Brooks (2007).

Bruce A. Evans
Born	Bruce Anslie Evans September 19, 1946 Long Beach, California, US
Occupation	Screenwriter, film director, film producer
Years active	1979–present

Career

Evans's first writing credit was on the 1984 film Starman with his partner Raynold Gideon, with whom he first worked on 1979's A Man, a Woman, and a Bank starring Donald Sutherland.[1] Their second film, 1986's Stand by Me, which Evans also produced, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature; his and Gideon's screenplay in particular was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium), the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.[2] Evans and Gideon went on to write and produce the 1987 film Made in Heaven before writing Kuffs (1992), which Evans directed and Gideon produced.[3] The film, featuring Christian Slater, won the Special Jury Prize at the 1992 Festival du Film Policier de Cognac. The pair were given story credit for the 1995 film Cutthroat Island after performing a rewrite of "a completely different version" of the script.[4]

After writing 1997's Jungle 2 Jungle, a remake of the 1994 French film Un indien dans la ville, Evans and Gideon wrote "screenplays and rewrites and all of that kind of stuff" before their next credited film.[5] They struggled to have their subsequent scripts produced as each demanded too high a budget for most studios, including what they regarded as a "great World War I love story", until they wrote the 2007 film Mr. Brooks, starring Kevin Costner as the title character.[5] With the idea of a seemingly normal business man who leads a second life as a serial killer, they hoped to "make an adult film" and "change our image" as writers in the film industry.[5] They originally conceived the project as a television series, which they pitched to a number of television producers and studios in Hollywood. Their original version was considered "too soft", and their revised story, which was deemed "too dark", was written instead as a film spec script.[6] Fifteen years since Kuffs, Evans said that, with Mr. Brooks, directing again "was kind of like riding a bicycle".[4]

In addition to Evans and Gideon's intention of making two sequels to Mr. Brooks,[5] Evans said that "we have two originals in mind" and "there are a few [scripts] that are kind of on hold that I would direct that other people have written".[3]

Filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year	Film	Credit
1984	Starman	Associate producer
1986	Stand by Me
1987	Made in Heaven
1995	Assassins

As writer

Year	Film
1979	A Man, a Woman, and a Bank
1984	Starman
1986	Stand by Me
1987	Made in Heaven
1992	Kuffs
1995	Cutthroat Island
1997	Jungle 2 Jungle
2007	Mr. Brooks
TBA	Only the Lonely
	Starman

As director

Year	Film
1992	Kuffs
2007	Mr. Brooks

Script and continuity department

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	Any Given Sunday	Script revisions	Uncredited

Miscellaneous crew

Year	Film	Role
1989	Honey, I Shrunk the Kids	Production consultant

References

1. Callaghan, Dylan (2007). "No More Mr. Nice Guys". Writers Guild of America, west. Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
2. "Stand By Me (1986): Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
3. Jacobs, Evan (October 22, 2007). "EXCLUSIVE: Bruce A. Evans Dissects Mr. Brooks". MovieWeb.com. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
4. Topel, Fred (May 27, 2007). "Writer/Director Bruce A Evans Talks About Mr Brooks". About.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2008. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
5. Topel, Fred (June 13, 2007). "Bruce A Evans and Raynold Gideon Talk Mr. Brooks". CraveOnline.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
6. Luce, Patrick (October 18, 2007). "M&C Interview: Director Bruce Evans talks Mr. Brooks". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved March 1, 2009.

External links

• Bruce A. Evans at IMDb