Christopher Wilkinson

Christopher Wilkinson (born March 29, 1950) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Nixon (1995).[1] He also wrote the screenplays for Ali (2001)[2] and Copying Beethoven (2006), the latter of which he also produced.[3] Most of his scripts are historically based and co-written with Stephen J. Rivele.

For the British swimmer, see Christopher Wilkinson (swimmer). For people with a similar name, see Chris Wilkinson.
Christopher Wilkinson
Born (1950-03-29) March 29, 1950
New York, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materTemple University
OccupationScreenwriter, producer, director
Years active1979–present
Spouse(s)Cathy Guisewite (1997-2011)
Children2

Early life and education

Wilkinson was born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia. He began his career as a musician before attending film school at Temple University.[4]

Career

Wilkinson has written several biopics with frequent writing partner Stephen J. Rivele, starting with Nixon (1995)[5] and including Ali (2001)[2] and Copying Beethoven (2006).[3][6] He was a writer and executive producer on Pawn Sacrifice (2014) and Miles Ahead (2015), and wrote and directed the PBS film Virtuosity (2014).

Wilkinson worked on the screenplays for Mercury, a biopic about Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury,[7] the long-planned All Eyez on Me, about rapper Tupac Shakur,[8][9][10] and Birth of the Dragon, inspired by the real-life no-rules fight between Bruce Lee and Chinese kung fu master Wong Jack Man.[11]

Personal life

Wilkinson lives in Los Angeles, California, with his son.[12] He was formerly married to cartoonist Cathy Guisewite (creator of the comic strip Cathy).

Filmography
  • Echoes (1980) - writer/director/producer
  • Engine 2, Ladder 3 (1982) - writer/director/producer
  • The River (1984) - second unit director
  • Nuts (1987) - writer (uncredited)
  • Penrod (1990) - writer/director/producer
  • Nobody's Home (1990) - writer/director/producer
  • For the Boys (1991) - second unit director/associate producer
  • Intersection (1994) - second unit director/post-production supervisor
  • Nixon (1995) - writer
  • Ali (2001) - writer
  • Copying Beethoven (2006) - writer/producer
  • Virtuosity (2014) - writer/director/producer
  • Pawn Sacrifice (2014) - writer/executive producer
  • Miles Ahead (2015) - writer/executive producer
  • Birth of the Dragon (2016) - writer/producer
  • All Eyez on Me (2017) - writer
  • Gemini Man (2019) - co-writer

References
  1. “The Oscars: A Scorecard,” The New York Times, March 25, 1996.
  2. Claude Brodesser, “Smith laces up for ‘Ali’,” Variety, May 15, 2001.
  3. Michael Wilmington, “Movie review: ‘Copying Beethoven’,” Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Chicago Tribune, November 9, 2006.
  4. Chris Wehner, “10 Questions with Nixon & Ali Screenwriter Chris Wilkinson,” Archived 2010-11-27 at the Wayback Machine Screenwriter's Utopia, March 29, 2005.
  5. Janet Maslin, “Stone’s Embrace of a Despised President,” The New York Times, December 20, 1995.
  6. Manohla Dargis, “Handmaiden to a Maestro and Midwife to His Symphony,” The New York Times, November 10, 2006.
  7. Jeff Sneider, “Frears frontrunner to helm Freddie Mercury pic,” Variety, May 9, 2012.
  8. Daniel Kreps, “Tupac Movie to Focus on Rapper’s Final Day,” Rolling Stone, August 27, 2010.
  9. Claude Brodesser-Akner, “A New Tupac Shakur Biopic Will Answer Why He Was Killed, If Not By Whom,” Vulture, August 26, 2010.
  10. Chris Coplan, “Tupac biopic finally going into production,” Consequence of Sound, September 19, 2013.
  11. Borys Kit, “Bruce Lee Origin Story Heading to Big Screen,” The Hollywood Reporter, February 19, 2013.
  12. Biography for Christopher Wilkinson, IMDb. Accessed October 10, 2013.
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