S. Craig Zahler

S. Craig Zahler (born January 23, 1973) is an American author, screenwriter, songwriter, musician, director and cinematographer.

Career

Zahler has written novels in various genres, including western, crime and science fiction, and these works have received support from major award-winning names in both genre literature and film, most notably, Walter Hill, Kurt Russell, Larry Niven, Joe R. Lansdale, and Jack Ketchum. His debut noir western novel, "A Congregation of Jackals" was nominated for The Spur Award by the Western Writers of America and The Peacekeeper by the Western Fictioneers. "Corpus Chrome, Inc.," "A Congregation of Jackals" and "Mean Business on North Ganson Street" all received starred reviews for excellence in Booklist.^[1]

As a drummer, lyricist, and singer Zahler (as Czar) collaborates with his longtime friend and new music composer Jeff Herriott (as JH Halberd) to write and perform songs as the heavy metal band Realmbuilder, who have three albums on I Hate Records of Sweden.^[2] This is following Zahler's foray into black metal with the project, Charnel Valley, where he played drums, wrote lyrics, and shared songwriting duties with Worm. The two Charnel Valley albums were released by Paragon Records.^[3]

Zahler also wrote the script for a 2011 horror film Asylum Blackout (also called "The Incident at Sans Asylum" and the The Incident), which was then directed by Alexandre Courtès.^[4]

In October 2014, Zahler wrapped production on his directorial debut, Bone Tomahawk, realizing an original screenplay that he wrote. The film stars Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, Lili Simmons, David Arquette, and Fred Melamed.^[5] The film was released on October 23 in theaters and video on demand.^[6] Critical response was very positive from the press. "[A] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat." —NY Times^[7] "Great dialogue, strong characters, and imaginative and memorable kills." —IGN.com "...Bone Tomahawk succeeds in demonstrating the voice of its massively talented creator." —Twitchfilm.com ^[8] "A handsome Western with horror overtones." —Hollywood Reporter ^[9] "A genre-smashing confluence of an oater and an eater, Bone Tomahawk is an absolute blast..." —birthmoviesdeath.com ^[10] "There's a humming genre intelligence at work in the grim, witty horror-western Bone Tomahawk." LA Times ^[11] "...a most violent delight" —Variety ^[12]

At the Sitges International Film Festival Bone Tomahawk won the critic's award for best picture, and Zahler was given the award for best director.^[6]

Novels

• A Congregation of Jackals (2010)^[13][14]
• Wraiths of the Broken Land (2013)^[13][14]
• Corpus Chrome, Inc. (2014)^[13][14]
• Mean Business on North Ganson Street (Fall 2014)^[13][14]

Albums

as Czar in Charnel Valley, released by Paragon Records

• 2005 - The Dark Archives^[15]
• 2007 - The Igneous Race^[16]

as Czar in Realmbuilder, released by I Hate Records (Sweden)

• 2009 - "Summon the Stone Throwers"^[17]
• 2011 - "Fortifications of the Pale Architect"^[18]
• 2013 - "Blue Flame Cavalry"^[19]

Filmography

As Director

• 2015 - Bone Tomahawk

As Writer

• 2011 - The Incident
• 2015 - Bone Tomahawk

As Cinematographer

• 1995 - "August Roads"
• 1996 - "Warsaw Story"
• 1997 - "Lucia's Dream"
• 2003 - "Rooster"

Scripts in development

On June 22, 2006 Variety told that Zahler began his career at NYU film school as a cinematographer.^[20] In 2004 he had written six scripts, including a western that topped the prestigious Black List entitled as The Brigands of Rattleborge,^[20] which Park Chan-wook was set to direct the film.^[21]

On September 7, 2007 THR reported that Warner Bros. has acquired the film rights to the anime Robotech with Tobey Maguire attached to star and produce the film, while Zahler was set to write the script for the film.^[22]

On March 25, 2011 Sony's Columbia Pictures has picked up the script of the film The Big Stone Grid written by Craig Zahler, produced by Michael De Luca.^[23]

On September 5, 2012 it was announced that FX is developing a martial arts drama, Downtown Dragons, Zahler is set to write and executive produce.^[24]

On October 30, 2012, Zahler was set to make his directorial debut with a horror western film Bone Tomahawk from his own script, the film stars Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins.^[25] Two years later, the picture went into production in California.

On June 27, 2013 Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to his crime novel Mean Business on North Ganson Street. He'll write the script of the film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx.^[26]

References

External links

• Official Website of S. Craig Zahler: http://scraigzahler.com/home.html
• Official FACEBOOK of S. Craig Zahler: https://www.facebook.com/SCraigZahler
• S. Craig Zahler at the Internet Movie Database