Mike Le

Mike Le is an American screenwriter, director, producer, editor, comic book writer and illustrator. He created, directed, and served as executive producer on the web series K-Town and its subsequent "spin off" series, Roll Models. He has also written the feature-length screenplays to the films Dark Summer (directed by Paul Solet) and Patient Zero with Oscar-Winning filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky attached to direct, and Natalie Dormer, Matt Smith, and Stanley Tucci starring. In 2015, Variety selected Mike Le for their annual 10 Screenwriters To Watch list.

Screenwriting

Le wrote and co-executive produced the feature horror film Dark Summer (2014), directed by Paul Solet and starring Keir Gilchrist, Stella Maeve, Maestro Harrell, Grace Phipps, and Peter Stormare.^[1][2][3] The film is "a stylized modern ghost story" and "follows the tale of a 17-year-old on house arrest for the summer. When his mother is away on business, a horrifying incident occurs, followed by an even more terrifying presence in the house."^[4][5][6]

Screen Gems recently acquired Le's script Patient Zero or "Patient Z" after a bidding war - the script is described as a character-driven action thriller, and features "a protagonist with the ability to speak the language of the undead who interrogates zombies with the hopes of finding Patient Zero and a cure for his infected wife."^[7] Those familiar with Le's script described it as containing "a rich mythology" with the potential to reinvent the zombie genre just as Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Days Later did in 2002, and one account described the film as being similar to Interview with a Vampire but with zombies instead of vampires, and another account described it as being similar to the original ideas from Warm Bodies and The Walking Dead. The script was also ranked #5 on the "Blood List," a "Black List"-like list for unproduced films in the thriller, sci-fi and horror genres.^[8]

Oscar-Winning filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky is set to direct "Patient Zero". On Sept. 24th, 2014, Deadline Hollywood announced "Game Of Thrones" star Natalie Dormer has been cast in "Patient Zero". On Nov. 20th, 2014, Deadline Hollywood announced Matt Smith would star in "Patient Zero" opposite Natalie Dormer.

Le has also written the film "Amnesiac" directed by Michael Polish and starring Kate Bosworth and Wes Bentley. On January 7, 2015, Deadline Hollywood announced "Amnesiac" was picked up by XLrator Media for theatrical distribution. "Amnesiac" is a psychological thriller described as a "Misery-esque tale of a man who wakes up in bed after an accident, suffering from memory loss. He begins to suspect his wife isn’t really his real wife and soon finds himself a prisoner in the house."

On February 2, 2015, Deadline Hollywood announced that Le had sold an action spec script titled "Desert Eagle" to Universal Pictures. Le co-wrote "Desert Eagle" with Tyrese Gibson who will also star, with Scott Stuber set to produce.

In their November 24th, 2015 issue, Variety selected Mike Le to be on their annual 10 Screenwriters To Watch list.

Le has also written a screenplay adaptation of Isaac Adamson's novel, Tokyo Suckerpunch aka Tokyo Suckerpunch: A Billy Chaka Adventure for Fox Searchlight, where at one time both Anne Hathaway and Tobey Macguire were attached to star in - the project is currently at Sony Pictures Entertainment.^[9]

Le also co-wrote the screenplay to the thriller war film, W.M.D., directed by Richard Halpern and starring Tom Kiesche, John Posey and Leila Birch.

Le also wrote the story for an episode of the TV/web series, How To, Batman! entitled "How To Get Out of the Friend Zone" (2010).

Directing, Producing & Editing

Le has directed and executive produced over 18 episodes of the web series K-Town. Le has also directed and executive produced over 8 episodes of the "spin-off" series to K-Town, a web series focusing on import car models entitled Roll Models.

Le has also produced a short film entitled Twirl directed by Mira Lew (about a baton twirler), and was an Executive Producer of the nonfiction documentary TV series, First In for the BET Network.

Le has also served as an Assistant Editor on an episode of the reality TV series More to Love in 2009.

Comic Book Writing

Le has teamed up with the creator of The Walking Dead comic book (which The Walking Dead TV series was based on), Robert Kirkman, to write the bestselling comic book series Mayhem! for Image Comics.

Le also is the writer, creator, illustrator and producer of a webcomic about Hollywood and screenwriting entitled "Don't Forget To Validate Your Parking".^[10]

Other Work

Le was the personal assistant to Owen Wilson on films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Meet The Parents, Shanghai Noon, Rushmore and more. He was also the personal assistant to Director Wes Anderson on films such as The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore.

He previously served as the Vice President of HQ Pictures, the film & TV production company of Tyrese Gibson.

Le was also a regular contributor to the taste-maker blog GeekWeek.com.^[11]

References

External links

• Mike Le at the Internet Movie Database
• Mike Le on Twitter
• Screen Gems Wins Bidding War for Mike Le’s Zombie Script ‘Patient Zero’
• Cannes: Paul Solet to Direct Supernatural Horror Film 'Dark Summer'
• Jeff Yang, WSJ Speakeasy, Tough Times for Tiger Moms as Asian-America Meets ‘Jersey Shore’