| Richard P. Rubinstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard P. Rubinstein June 15, 1947 Brooklyn, New York |
| Years active | 1970-present |
| Spouse | Katherine Rubinstein |
Richard P. Rubinstein (born June 15, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American film and television producer, who has worked mainly in the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1970s and 1980s he collaborated frequently with horror director George A. Romero, including on the seminal 1978 zombie film Dawn of the Dead and the 1984-1988 anthology horror television series Tales from the Darkside. In the 1980s and 1990s Rubinstein produced a substantial number of projects based on the writings of horror novelist Stephen King.
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Rubinstein was born in Brooklyn in 1947. His younger brother, born in 1952, is Donald Rubinstein, a composer who wrote the music for some of the films and series Rubinstein produced.
Rubinstein received an undergraduate degree from American University, and an MBA from Columbia University.
Rubinstein began his production career as a production assistant for television commercials. He got his first associate producer credit in the early 1970s for the one-hour TV special A Night with Nicol Williamson, produced by Dore Schary. In 1973 Rubinstein produced The Winners, a series of one-hour profiles about various American sports heroes, and in 1974 he independently produced a similar one-hour television special profiling O. J. Simpson.
In the mid-1970s Rubinstein and horror director George A. Romero co-founded the production company Laurel Entertainment. In 1979 Rubinstein took the company public, to raise more money.
In 1984 Romero left Laurel Entertainment to pursue his own projects, although the two would continue to collaborate. In 1988, Rubinstein and Aaron Spelling merged Laurel Entertainment and Spelling's own production company, Spelling Television as subsidiaries of a new public company, The Spelling Entertainment Group. Rubinstein remained head of the Laurel Entertainment division.
In 1992, Spelling Entertainment Group was bought by Blockbuster Entertainment, and in 1994 it in turn was bought by Viacom. In 1995, Rubinstein, who was still head of the Laurel division, left to found his own, smaller production company, New Amsterdam Entertainment in New York City.
Through Laurel Entertainment, Rubinstein co-produced or executive produced a number of Romero's films, most notably Dawn of the Dead but also Martin (1977), Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982) and Day of the Dead (1985).
Rubinstein also executive produced Romero's 1984-1988 anthology horror series Tales from the Darkside, which was based on the success of Creepshow. After Tales from the Darkside ended, Rubinstein executive produced the similar anthology show Monsters, which ran from 1988 to 1991, this one without involvement from Romero.
Rubinstein also co-produced the 2004 remake of Romero's Dawn of the Dead, again without involvement from Romero (Romero was critical of the remake, saying it was more like a "video game").
Rubinstein's first known professional collaboration with Stephen King was the 1982 anthology film Creepshow, which Rubinstein co-produced and which had a screenplay written by King, based on a combination of some of King's published short stories as well as new plots. In 1987, via Laurel Entertainment, Rubinstein executive-produced its sequel, Creepshow 2, again written by King. In the 1980s, two anthology horror series that Rubinstein executive-produced, Tales from the Darkside and Monsters, included episodes based on short stories by King. The 1990 anthology horror film Tales from the Darkside: The Movie also included a chapter based on a short story by King. Rubinstein co-produced the 1991 miniseries Golden Years, which was written by King, based on an original concept.
Rubinstein also produced a string of film and television adaptations of other written works by Stephen King, including the 1989 film Pet Sematary, the 1994 miniseries The Stand, the 1995 miniseries The Langoliers, the 1996 film Thinner and the 1997 film The Night Flier. These were often co-produced with Mitchell Galin.
Rubinstein holds the film and television rights to the Dune series of books by Frank Herbert. With Galin, Rubinstein produced the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 follow-up, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. In 2008, Rubinstein attempted to produce a film adaptation of Dune with Paramount Pictures, but in 2011 Paramount dropped the effort.