Lawrence Kasdan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lawrence Kasdan
Kasdan at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Lawrence Edward Kasdan (1949-01-14) January 14, 1949 (age 76) Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Occupation	Screenwriter film director film producer
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Meg Goldman ​ (m. 1971)​
Children	Jake Jonathan
Relatives	Mark Kasdan (brother)

Lawrence Edward Kasdan, born on January 14, 1949, is an American filmmaker. He is famous for writing and directing many popular movies. You might know his work from the Star Wars films like The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He also helped write The Force Awakens (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

Kasdan also wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which is part of the Indiana Jones series. He directed and wrote films such as The Big Chill (1983) and Silverado (1985).

He is known for giving a fresh look to classic movie styles like science fiction and Westerns. His films often have clever conversations and explore modern ideas. As a director, he likes to make movies that look closely at people and different generations.

Kasdan has been nominated for four Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. He often works with his family, including his wife Meg, his brother Mark, and his sons Jonathan Kasdan and Jake Kasdan. Actors like Kevin Kline and William Hurt have appeared in many of his films.

Early Life and Inspiration

Kasdan was born in Miami Beach, Florida. His mother was an employment counselor, and his father managed an electronics store. Kasdan is Jewish. He has an older brother, Mark Kasdan, who also worked on some of his films. Kasdan grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia. He felt lucky to have a normal childhood in the 1950s, calling it a "safe place."

His parents both dreamed of being writers. His father wanted to be a playwright. His mother sold stories to magazines and hoped to write her own book. Kasdan later realized that his mother's love for stories might have inspired him to become a writer.

Many of Kasdan's movies were inspired by his childhood. He said he looked for more stable things in his work or explored why growing up was sometimes challenging.

Going to the movies was one of the happiest parts of his childhood. He especially loved films like The Great Escape (1963) and The Magnificent Seven (1960). These movies helped shape his ideas about heroes. He wanted to live in the exciting worlds he saw on screen.

In 1963, his brother Mark took him to see Lawrence of Arabia. Kasdan was so amazed by the director, David Lean, that he decided he wanted to be a filmmaker too.

He graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966. To pay for college, he worked various jobs, including at a glass factory and a supermarket. He chose the University of Michigan because it had a good writing contest. He studied drama writing there.

Kasdan won the Hopwood Award for writing four times between 1968 and 1970. This award gave him $2,000 and showed him that his dream of being a writer was possible. He said it changed his life forever.

While in college, he protested the Vietnam War. He also made one short film, which was a funny look at a professor. He was determined to become a director and decided that writing screenplays was the best way to start.

He briefly moved to Los Angeles for a writing program but found it frustrating. He moved back to Ann Arbor, where he worked in a record store and kept writing scripts. He earned a master's degree in education in 1971. He planned to teach English until he could get into Hollywood. However, teaching jobs were hard to find. He later found that his experience as a student teacher helped him direct films. He learned that yelling less is more effective.

Career Beginnings

Since he couldn't find a teaching job, Kasdan worked as an advertising writer in Detroit. He didn't enjoy it, but he was good at it, even winning an award for his first TV commercial. He called his five years in advertising "hellish" and continued writing screenplays at night.

Screenwriter

Early Films (1970s)

The Bodyguard In 1975, Kasdan wrote a screenplay about a singer who falls in love with her bodyguard. This script, called The Bodyguard, helped him get a film agent. He moved to Los Angeles and continued to write. His script was rejected 67 times over two years.

Finally, in 1977, Warner Bros. bought the script for $20,000. It was rewritten many times over the years. Kasdan had imagined Steve McQueen as the bodyguard. Later, Kevin Costner read the script when Kasdan directed him in Silverado. In 1991, Costner asked Kasdan to make The Bodyguard with him in the lead role. Kasdan was busy directing another film, so he decided to produce it with Costner instead. They hired Mick Jackson to direct, and Whitney Houston was cast as the superstar singer.

Kasdan was not happy with the final movie, but it was a huge success at the box office. It earned over $411 million worldwide.

Continental Divide While The Bodyguard was being considered, Kasdan wrote Continental Divide. This script was about a journalist from Chicago who falls in love with a woman studying eagles in the mountains. It was like an old-fashioned romantic comedy.

His agent showed the script to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg loved it and had Universal buy it for $150,000 in 1977. Spielberg wanted to be an executive producer. He said Kasdan was an excellent writer who brought back the style of old movies.

The movie was made several years later, starring John Belushi and Blair Brown. It was directed by Michael Apted and released in 1981, shortly after Kasdan's first film as a director, Body Heat. Kasdan felt the movie turned out very differently from his original script.

Big Franchise Writing (1980s-2010s)

Raiders of the Lost Ark Spielberg was so impressed with Kasdan that he hired him to write Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg was developing this film with George Lucas. Kasdan said they were looking for someone who could write a strong hero and a strong woman character, like in old adventure movies.

Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan brainstormed the entire movie in about five days. They recorded their ideas, and Kasdan then wrote the screenplay in six months.

For the hero, Indiana Jones, Kasdan wanted him to be like classic Hollywood stars such as Errol Flynn and Clark Gable. Lucas wanted Indy to be more like James Bond, but Kasdan preferred to show Indy's two sides: a professor and an adventurer.

The film was released on June 12, 1981, and earned over $390 million worldwide. It won five Academy Awards. Kasdan later said he was very proud of the movie. He was asked to write the sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but he declined because he didn't like the story. He did help with some dialogue for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2007.

Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back George Lucas first hired Leigh Brackett to write the sequel to Star Wars (1977). But Brackett passed away, and Lucas was not happy with her script. Lucas wrote the next draft himself but needed help with the dialogue. After Kasdan delivered his Raiders script, Lucas asked him to rewrite The Empire Strikes Back.

Most of the story and characters were already set. Kasdan helped make the film darker than the first Star Wars. He said Lucas was open to this change because the second movie in a trilogy is often when things get tougher for the heroes.

When The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, it was the first time Kasdan's name appeared in a movie's credits. He felt his main contribution was developing the characters.

Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi After writing The Empire Strikes Back, Kasdan started directing his own films and wasn't eager to write another Star Wars movie. However, Lucas had supported him on his film Body Heat. So, when Lucas asked him to write the third Star Wars movie (then called Revenge of the Jedi), Kasdan felt he should help.

He spent the summer of 1981 co-writing the script with Lucas. Kasdan said that in both Star Wars movies, it was really Lucas's story. They worked closely on the script for Return of the Jedi.

Return of the Jedi was released on May 25, 1983, and made $475 million. Lucas had talked about making more Star Wars movies, including prequels and sequels. Kasdan thought this would be his last Star Wars film, but things changed years later.

Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens When Disney bought Lucasfilm and planned more Star Wars movies, Kathleen Kennedy, the new head of Lucasfilm, asked Kasdan to get involved. He initially said no because he felt he had already done enough. But then they mentioned making a movie about Han Solo, and that got his attention.

Kennedy had hired Michael Arndt to write Episode VII, and she asked Kasdan to help with that script too. Kasdan always felt that Han Solo was the most interesting character, even more than Luke Skywalker. He had wanted to kill off Han in Return of the Jedi to make the story more exciting, but George Lucas didn't agree at the time. In The Force Awakens, Kasdan and actor Harrison Ford finally got their wish for Han Solo's story.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released on December 18, 2015. It earned over $2 billion worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films ever. Critics praised Kasdan's writing, saying it felt like his earlier work on Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Kasdan, along with J. J. Abrams and Michael Arndt, won an award for Best Writing for The Force Awakens. This was his first win for a Star Wars film. He later talked with Abrams, Lucas, and Rian Johnson about the story for the final movie in the saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Kasdan wrote the screenplay for a Han Solo origin story with his son, Jonathan Kasdan. This was the project he originally agreed to do for Disney and Lucasfilm. Jonathan had acted in his father's movies before, but this was their first time writing a script together.

Solo: A Star Wars Story tells the character's early life. It shows how he got his name, how he met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, and how he started to become the hero we know. Alden Ehrenreich played the young Han Solo. The movie had some challenges during production, including a change in directors. It was released on May 25, 2018.

Director

Body Heat (1981)

After writing Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, Kasdan had enough influence to direct his own film.

Alan Ladd Jr., who was important in the Star Wars films, gave Kasdan a deal to direct. The producers wanted a famous actor, but Kasdan insisted on William Hurt, a stage actor who was new to films. He also cast Kathleen Turner, who was not well-known at the time. The story was originally set in New Jersey, but filming was delayed, so they moved the location to Miami.

Body Heat opened on August 28, 1981. It made over $24 million on a $7 million budget and received good reviews. Critics praised Kasdan's confident directing debut. He was nominated for Best Director by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

The Big Chill (1983)

Kasdan and The Big Chill co-writer Barbara Benedek at a hockey game in 2010.

While editing Body Heat, Kasdan had an idea for a film with many characters. He co-wrote the script with Barbara Benedek. They created characters based on people they knew and parts of themselves.

Kasdan had trouble finding a studio to buy the film because it had eight main characters instead of just one hero. Studios usually wanted a single main character. But Johnny Carson's company at Columbia agreed to make The Big Chill.

The cast included William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, and others. The film was shot in a real house in South Carolina. The soundtrack, chosen by Kasdan's wife Meg, featured 1960s pop songs and became one of the best-selling soundtracks ever.

The Big Chill was released on September 30, 1983. It was very popular, earning over $56 million on an $8 million budget. It received mostly positive reviews.

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay. Kasdan was also nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award. He was surprised by how popular the film became because it was so personal to him.

Silverado (1985)

Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay for Silverado with his brother, Mark Kasdan. This Western story, set in 1880, is about a group of cowboys who team up to protect a small town from a corrupt sheriff.

He cast Kevin Kline again, along with Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, and Kevin Costner. Kasdan's son Jonathan and wife Meg also had small roles.

The film was shot in New Mexico in 1984. An entire town set was built near Santa Fe, which was later used in other movies. The production faced challenges like blizzards and floods.

Silverado was popular at test screenings, so Columbia rushed its release. It came out on July 10, 1985, and did well, earning $32 million on a $26 million budget. Reviews were mostly positive. The film received Oscar nominations for best sound and best music.

The Accidental Tourist (1988)

After Silverado, Kasdan was offered to direct The Accidental Tourist, a novel by Anne Tyler. He loved the story, which was about creating a new family to replace a difficult one.

Kasdan wrote his own version of the script. He cast William Hurt for the third time in the lead role. He also reunited with Kathleen Turner from Body Heat. For the role of the dog trainer, Muriel, Kasdan cast Geena Davis, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

The Accidental Tourist was a surprise hit when it was released on December 23, 1988. It made over $32 million and received much praise from critics. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Kasdan said he was very proud of The Accidental Tourist and was amazed by how many people went to see it.

I Love You to Death (1990)

After the serious film The Accidental Tourist, Kasdan wanted to make something light and funny. He found a script based on a true story about a woman who tried to harm her husband multiple times. Kasdan found the story fascinating.

This was the first film he directed that he didn't write himself. It starred Kevin Kline as the husband and Tracey Ullman as his wife. The cast also included William Hurt, River Phoenix, and Keanu Reeves. The film was shot in Tacoma, Washington.

Kasdan later said he had regrets about I Love You to Death. He felt he changed the script too much based on early audience reactions, making the movie worse. He learned not to rely on those test screenings again.

I Love You to Death was released on April 6, 1990. It made $16 million, and reviews were mostly negative or mixed.

Grand Canyon (1991)

In his 40s, as his oldest son was leaving for college, Kasdan began writing a screenplay about marriage and parenting. He wrote it with his wife, Meg. The story grew to include themes of race relations in Los Angeles and life's big questions.

With a $20 million budget, Kasdan cast two of his regular actors, Kevin Kline and Danny Glover, along with Steve Martin and others. The film follows separate but connected stories of different characters in Los Angeles. It explores ideas about fate, relationships, and violence in movies. The music was composed by James Newton Howard, who has worked with Kasdan on many films.

Grand Canyon was released on December 25, 1991. It was compared to The Big Chill because of its ensemble cast and social commentary. Reviews were mostly positive.

The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Some critics found the ending, where the characters look at the Grand Canyon, to be too simple.

Months after the film's release, the 1992 Los Angeles riots happened. Kasdan said that anyone in Los Angeles at the time could feel the tension, and the riots were a natural explosion that could have been predicted.

Wyatt Earp (1994)

Kevin Costner approached Kasdan in 1992 with a script for a long miniseries about the life of Wyatt Earp. Kasdan agreed to write a new screenplay for a movie version, and he wrote it in three months.

Kasdan was happy with his script, but Costner still wanted to include parts from the original miniseries idea. Kasdan ended up sharing writing credit. He later felt they should have decided not to make the movie to protect their friendship, but they went ahead with it.

The cast included Costner as Earp, along with Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday. Quaid lost a lot of weight for his role, and Kasdan called his performance the most satisfying part of the movie.

Wyatt Earp was a very ambitious production. It was shot in 1993 over 19 weeks in New Mexico, with huge sets built to look like different Western towns. It had over 100 speaking roles and thousands of extras.

The film did not do well at the box office, making $20 million on a $60 million budget. This was partly because another film about Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell, was released six months earlier and was more popular.

Later Films (1995-Present)

Meg Ryan asked Kasdan to direct a script she had for herself. It was about a woman who overcomes her fear of flying and goes to Paris to confront her cheating fiancé, but then falls for a French thief. Kasdan was interested because he wouldn't have to write a new script, and he loved France.

He cast Timothy Hutton as the fiancé and Kevin Kline as the thief. French Kiss was released on May 5, 1995. It earned nearly $39 million in the U.S. and over $101 million worldwide.

Mumford (1999) After French Kiss, Kasdan wrote a fantasy film script called Sojourner. It was a very expensive project, and he went into pre-production with Mel Gibson attached to star. However, he decided not to make it and instead wrote the screenplay for Mumford.

The story is about a psychologist named Mumford who moves to a town also called Mumford and helps its troubled residents. Kasdan cast Loren Dean in the main role, along with Hope Davis, Jason Lee, and others. It was released on September 24, 1999, and did not do well at the box office, making only $4.5 million. Critics had mixed opinions.

Dreamcatcher (2003) Kasdan's film Dreamcatcher was an adaptation of a book by Stephen King. The story is about four friends and a boy with special powers, involving aliens and telepathy.

Kasdan co-wrote the adaptation with William Goldman, a famous screenwriter. Dreamcatcher was filmed in British Columbia. The cast included Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, and Damian Lewis. It was released on March 21, 2003, and made $82 million worldwide.

Darling Companion (2012) Nine years passed between Dreamcatcher and Kasdan's next film, Darling Companion. During this time, he worked on other projects that didn't get made. He eventually decided to make an independent film based on a real event from his and Meg's life: their dog got lost in the mountains.

Darling Companion was made with a small budget of $5 million. The cast, including Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton, and Richard Jenkins, worked for lower salaries. Kasdan filmed it digitally for the first time, on location in Utah. It was released on April 27, 2012.

Future Projects

As of 2025, Kasdan is working on a documentary about a record label executive named Mo Ostin. He is also adapting a novel called November Road.

Kasdan has said that directing is the best job, but it's also very hard work. He wants to keep working as long as he enjoys it and has the energy.

Style and Influences

As a screenwriter, Kasdan was influenced by classic English literature, plays, and old movies from the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. He believes in classic story structure, where the plot builds on itself.

He says his scripts always start with the characters, not the plot. He wants to create interesting people, and then the story follows.

About his directing style, Kasdan says he is shy and conservative. He aims for the camera to be in the perfect spot, not to show off. He admires directors like Akira Kurosawa for their precise camera work.

When working with actors, he looks for those who are good listeners and support other actors. He wants performances that show the "secrets of life" through reactions, not just actions.

In 2012, Kasdan shared his list of ten greatest films of all time. These included:

• Army of Shadows (1969)
• The Battle of Algiers (1966)
• Dr. Strangelove (1963)
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Out of the Past (1947)
• The Rules of the Game (1939)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947)

Producer and Acting Roles

Kasdan has produced several films that he did not direct, including Cross My Heart (1987) and Immediate Family (1989). He also produced films directed by his sons, like The TV Set (2006) by Jake Kasdan and In the Land of Women (2007) by Jonathan Kasdan.

He has made small appearances in his own films. For example, he played a lawyer in I Love You to Death, a director in Grand Canyon, and a gambler in Wyatt Earp. He also played a psychiatrist in the movie As Good as It Gets (1997).

Filmography

Films

Filmmaking Credits

Acting Credits

Television Series

Awards and Recognition

Besides his four Oscar nominations, Kasdan has received other important awards. He won the Distinguished Screenwriter Award from the Austin Film Festival in 2001. In 2006, he received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America. He also has three honorary doctorates from universities.

In 2016, he was honored with the ICON Award for Contributions to the Cinematic Arts at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

Personal Life

Lawrence Kasdan has been married to Meg Kasdan (born Mary Ellen Goldman) since November 28, 1971. They met at the University of Michigan, where they both studied English. Their two sons, Jake Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan, are also involved in the film industry as actors, writers, producers, and directors. Lawrence and Meg have three grandchildren.

See also

In Spanish: Lawrence Kasdan para niños