James Schamus
Production
Born: September 7, 1959 (age 66) · Detroit, Michigan, USA
Highest Rated
Biography
James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989. Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family.He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian, with whom he has two children. His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee) and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin. At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Coraline, and The Kids Are All Right. In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, he has also taught at Yale University and at Rutgers University. He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word, published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and Tracy Letts, and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016. He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal, as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Centre for the Humanities. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stephen Rosenbaum, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Brokeback Mountain
2005
Hulk
2003
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2000
Sense and Sensibility
1995
Suffragette
2015
Happiness
1998
Lust, Caution
2007
The Ice Storm
1997
The King's Daughter
2022
The Assistant
2020
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
2023
Taking Woodstock
2009
Photos (2)
Movies (4)
Self / Appearances (5)
Directing (4)
Writing (21)
The Boroughs
Writer
Hulk
Story
Hulk
Screenplay
Lust, Caution
Screenplay
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Screenplay
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Lyricist
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
Script Consultant
The Ice Storm
Screenplay
The King's Daughter
Screenplay
Somos.
Writer
Eat Drink Man Woman
Screenplay
The Wedding Banquet
Screenplay
The Wedding Banquet
Original Film Writer
Son-in-Law
Writer
The Wedding Banquet
Writer
Taking Woodstock
Screenplay
Ride with the Devil
Screenplay
Indignation
Screenplay
Tortilla Soup
Original Film Writer
Pushing Hands
Writer
That Film About Money
Writer
Producing (52)
The Boroughs
Consulting Producer
Hulk
Producer
Lust, Caution
Executive Producer
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Executive Producer
Brokeback Mountain
Producer
Sense and Sensibility
Co-Producer
The Ice Storm
Producer
Somos.
Executive Producer
Eat Drink Man Woman
Associate Producer
Suffragette
Executive Producer
The Wedding Banquet
Producer
The Assistant
Producer
Son-in-Law
Producer
Safe
Executive Producer
Happiness
Executive Producer
The Wedding Banquet
Producer
Taking Woodstock
Producer
Auto Focus
Executive Producer
She's the One
Producer
Buffalo Soldiers
Executive Producer
Ride with the Devil
Producer
Alone in Berlin
Producer
Poison
Executive Producer
In the Soup
Associate Producer
We Grown Now
Executive Producer
Indignation
Producer
Office Killer
Executive Producer
McVeigh
Executive Producer
Pushing Hands
Executive Producer
Driveways
Producer
The Myth of Fingerprints
Executive Producer
The Brothers McMullen
Executive Producer
The Tomorrow Man
Producer
Lola and Billy the Kid
Executive Producer
Adam
Producer
What Happened Was...
Executive Producer
Dayveon
Executive Producer
Walking and Talking
Producer
Arresting Gena
Executive Producer
Casting JonBenet
Producer
Surviving Desire
Associate Producer
Furlough
Executive Producer
Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier
Executive Producer
Junction 48
Executive Producer
MOTV (My Own TV)
Coordinating Producer
Love God
Executive Producer
I Was on Mars
Line Producer
Ambition
Producer
That Film About Money
Producer
Thank You and Good Night
Producer
Roy Cohn/Jack Smith
Producer
Wonderland
Executive Producer