David Koepp

David Koepp (born June 9, 1963) is an American screenwriter and director.

Biography

Career

As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. He did an uncredited rewrite of the screenplay to Men in Black after being requested by Steven Spielberg to do one. He was asked to write the screenplay for Men in Black II, but declined because of his work on the screenplay to Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he also served as Second Unit Director.

His work as a director has not had quite the same box office success; films include Secret Window, Stir of Echoes, and The Trigger Effect. Koepp was reportedly paid $4,000,000 for his Panic Room screenplay. He also created the 2002 television series Hack starring David Morse. He has recently written the screenplay for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and has co-written and directed 2008's Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear.

Personal life

Koepp was born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, to a family therapist mother and a father who owned a billboard company. He has two brothers named Stephen Koepp and Jeff Koepp, and one sister, Cathy Maki. His wife is Melissa Thomas. While attending Kettle Moraine High School in Wales, WI, he worked evenings and weekends at the McDonald's restaurant in Delafield, Wisconsin. He received his bachelor's in film from UCLA.

Filmography

Written by:

• Apartment Zero (1988)
• Bad Influence (1990)
• I Come In Peace (1990)
• Toy Soldiers (1991)
• Death Becomes Her (1992)
• Jurassic Park (Adapted) (1993)
• Carlito's Way (1993)
• The Paper (1994)
• The Shadow (1994)
• Suspicious (1994)
• Mission: Impossible (1996)
• The Trigger Effect (1996)
• Men in Black (Uncredited) (1997)
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Adapted) (1997)
• Snake Eyes (1998)
• Stir of Echoes (1999)
• Panic Room (2002)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Secret Window (2004)
• Zathura (2005)
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
• Ghost Town (With John Kamps) (2008)
• Sins of the Round Table (2008)
• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) (filming)

Directed by:

• Suspicious (1994)
• The Trigger Effect (1996)
• Stir of Echoes (1999)
• Suspense (2003) (TV)
• Secret Window (2004)
• Ghost Town (2008)

References

External links

• David Koepp at the Internet Movie Database
• David's Podcast on CultureCatch.com
• 2007 FilmStew.com interview with screenwriter David Koepp about Indiana Jones 4 by Daniel Robert Epstein