Gianni Nunnari

Gianni Nunnari (born 10 August 1959) is an Italian film and television producer and executive.[1]

After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business. He is the father of two girls, Giulia, from a previous marriage, and Caterina, with actress Vanessa Hessler, whom he currently resides with in Malibu.

Career

After graduating from Pareto college, Gianni began his career working at Dick Randall, a Hong Kong-based foreign sales company, known for distributing Bruce Le, Bruce Li and also the very first Jackie Chan movies.[2] Soon after the death of his father, he joined Mario Cecchi Gori and his son, Vittorio, to export their commercial italian feature films.

Hollywood

At age 25, Gianni moved to Hollywood to expand the market horizon and product slate for Cecchi Gori Pictures and distribute European films for the US market.[3] Some of the titles include Mediterraneo, Il postino and also the Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful. After some successful years, he was appointed to overview Penta Films, alongside Cecchi Gori and Silvio Berlusconi, to produce Hollywood commercial movies in the style of the Cecchi Gori films. [4] Following his accomplishments in production, Gianni decided to expand his business knowledge into other type of entrepreneurial by opening the popular Los Angeles restaurant Ago, with one of his partners Meir, owner of the critically acclaimed Nobu chain of Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro.[5]

Late 90s

In the late 90s he founded his own production company, Hollywood Gang Productions (HPG). The company went on to produce big budget commercials spots, and became one of the pioneers in using big Hollywood stars, such as Oscar-winners Robert De Niro and director Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso). After developing Se7en right before opening HGP, which became a hit, Gianni then approached his best friend Meir about a small vampire movie he liked. They went to finance and produce From Dusk Till Dawn, starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino for Miramax. It was Clooney’s first movie for the big screen and became an instant success and a cult classic, with millions of followers.

Hollywood Gang Productions

Film production became an unquestionable path and Hollywood Gang Productions went to develop and produce successful films like the 300 franchise, Immortals and several others. In 2016, HGP produced their first TV show, Start Up, released by Sony's streaming services Crackle. With several films and TV shows in development, HGP is currently in production for the anticipated thriller The Domestics, one of the first films to be released by the recently revived Orion Pictures, under the label of MGM Studios.[6]

Lawsuits

In 2010, Nunnari sued fellow producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori over the termination of his contract with the company. Gori counter-sued claiming fraud, alleging that Nunnari had been funneling profits from Cecchi Gori Pictures into HGP. The court dismissed Nunnari's claimed and awarded Cecchi Gori with monetary compensation and the rights to the film adaptation Shusaku Endos Silence, a film Gianni developed for over 20 years. Nunnari's legal team appealed the decision and a settlement agreement was reached by both parties. [7]

Producing Credits

Film Credits
Year Title Director Box Office Notes
1995 Se7en David Fincher $327.3 million[8] as executive producer
1996 From Dusk Till Dawn Robert Rodriguez $25.8 million[9] as producer
1997 The Blackout Abel Ferrara $0.11 million as co-executive producer
1999 From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money Scott Spiegel as producer
1999 From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter P. J. Pesce as producer
2004 Alexander Oliver Stone $167.3 million[10] as executive producer
2005 O Casamento de Romeu e Julieta Bruno Barreto as executive producer
2006 The Departed Martin Scorsese $289.8 million[11] as executive producer
2006 N (Io e Napoleone) Paolo Virzì as producer
2006 300 Zack Snyder $456.1 million[12] as producer
2009 Everybody's Fine Kirk Jones $16.4 million[13] as producer
2010 Shutter Island Martin Scorsese $294.8 million[14] as executive producer
2011 Immortals Tarsem Singh $226.9 million[15] as producer
2014 300: Rise of an Empire Noam Murro $337.6 million[16] as producer
2016 Silence Martin Scorsese $27.3 million as executive producer

Television Credits
Year Title Director Original Release date Notes
2016 StartUp Ben Ketai September 6, 2016[17] as executive producer

References
  1. Simpson, David (November 8, 2011). "Gianni Nunnari & Mark Canton: 'Immortals' Producers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  2. Frater, Patrick. "Gianni Nunnari Talks Rights, Remakes and Real Life Heroes".
  3. Galloway, Stephen. "Martin Scorsese's Journey From Near-Death Drug Addict to 'Silence'".
  4. Ayscough, Suzan. "Berlusconi cuts off PentAmerica".
  5. Wire Image. "Ago Grand Opening".
  6. Frater, Patrick. "Gianni Nunnari Talks Rights, Remakes and Real Life Heroes".
  7. Cieply, Michael (2016-05-29). "Gawker Case Calls Attention to a Go-To Hollywood Lawyer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  8. "Seven (1995) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  9. "From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  10. "Alexander (2004) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  11. "The Departed (2006) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  12. "300 (2007) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  13. "Everybody's Fine (2009) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  14. "Shutter Island (2010) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  15. "Immortals (2011) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  16. "300: Rise of An Empire (2014) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  17. StartUp, 2016-09-06, retrieved 2016-12-01
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