Beau Willimon

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Pack Beauregard "Beau" Willimon is an American playwright and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Willimon received his high school diploma from John Burroughs School in 1995, his BA from Columbia University in 1999, and MFA in Playwriting from Columbia's School of the Arts in 2003.[1][2]

Willimon worked as a volunteer in 1998 for the Senate campaign of Charles Schumer, which led to jobs with Hillary Clinton, Bill Bradley, and Howard Dean.[3]

Willimon subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, receiving both the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship and the Lincoln Center Le Compte du Nuoy Award.[4]

At Juilliard, he wrote a play, Farragut North that was inspired by his work on Dean's 2004 campaign for President. In fall 2008, it premiered off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in a production starring John Gallagher, Jr., Chris Noth, and Olivia Thirlby.[5] The production received a Los Angeles run the following summer, with Chris Pine in the starring role. Willimon was nominated in 2009 for the John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle.[6]

Other plays include Spirit Control, produced in 2010 by the Manhattan Theatre Club; and Lower Ninth, produced in 2007 by the SPF and The Flea Theater in 2008.

Willimon's work has also been developed and performed at MCC Theater, Ars Nova, HERE Arts Center, the Phoenix Theatre the Actors Theater of Chicago, Battersea Arts Centre in London, Cherry Lane Theatre, and the South Coast Repertory.[4]

A film adaption of Farragut North, retitled The Ides of March, premiered in October 2011. The movie was directed by George Clooney; the script was written by Clooney and his producing partner, Grant Heslov. It starred Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and Jeffrey Wright. The film was nominated in 2012 for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and for four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture – Drama and Best Screenplay.

In 2012, Willimon developed House of Cards, the American adaption of the BBC series of the same name, for Netflix. It was produced by Media Rights Capital, David Fincher, and Kevin Spacey, and stars Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Kristen Connolly, Constance Zimmer, and Sebastian Arcelus. It premiered on Netflix on February 1, 2013.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://twitter.com/beauwillimon/status/305507534515630080
  2. ↑ "Biography - Beau Willimon". Columbia University. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  3. ↑ Erickson, Amanda (2009-05-01). "Beau Willimon ’99 Brings Politics Alive on Stage". Columbia College Today. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Biography Beau Willimon - Playwright, Lower Ninth (2007)". Summer Play Festival. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
  5. ↑ Dorment, Richard (2008-12-12). "The Most Promising Young Playwright in America". Esquire. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  6. ↑ Gans, Andrew (2009-04-20). "Billy Elliot and Shrek Top Outer Critics Circle Awards Nominations". Playbill. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 

External links

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