David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays and stories for several superhero films, including Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998), the Blade trilogy (1998–2004), Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012), Man of Steel (2013), and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). He has also directed four films: Zig Zag (2002), Blade: Trinity (2004), The Invisible (2007), and The Unborn (2009). He is the creator of the science fiction television series Foundation, which is loosely based upon the Foundation series written by Isaac Asimov.
Goyer was co-writer of the video games Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. He won a Saturn Award for Best Writing for Batman Begins (2005) and received another nomination for Dark City, and has been nominated for four Hugo Awards.
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Early life
Goyer and his brother Jeff were born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and were raised by their mother. He is Jewish on his mother's side, German on his father’s side, and attended Hebrew school. Goyer is an alumnus of Huron High School and the University of Southern California, graduating from the School of Cinema-Television in 1988.
Goyer was a student of screenwriter Nelson Gidding at USC and frequently returned to Gidding's class as a guest speaker. He graduated in 1988 and sold his first screenplay for Death Warrant in 1989, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. With his first paycheck, he bought an Isuzu Trooper, which was stolen the first night he drove it home.
Career
A professed comic book fanatic who often wrote to letter columns, Goyer has written or co-written several screenplays based on comic book characters and series, including Batman, Superman, Ghost Rider, and Blade. and had written a script treatment for a film adaptation of Venom, which was rejected. Goyer wrote a title based around the Justice Society of America for DC Comics titled JSA, which debuted in August 1999. For the first five issues, he collaborated with James Robinson and, until his departure following issue 51, with Geoff Johns, who would take over as solo writer. Alongside Brannon Braga, Goyer co-created FlashForward, a science-fiction TV series that premiered on ABC in 2009. The series was based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer. He stepped in as show runner in October 2009 after the series struggled out of the gate. On February 5, 2010, Goyer announced he would be stepping down as FlashForward showrunner to focus on feature films and directing.
Goyer's comicbook films explore the consequences of becoming a symbolic figure, a topic he has long been interested in. In 2011, Goyer wrote a short story titled "The Incident" in which Superman renounces his United States citizenship. Goyer worked with Legendary Pictures on three of their projects. He co-wrote the scripts for The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Man of Steel (2013). In addition, he did a one-step 4-week rewrite for Legendary Pictures' Godzilla reboot. During the same year, Goyer published his first novel, Heaven's Shadow, the first in a trilogy co-written by Michael Cassutt for Ace/Penguin. The novel received generally positive reviews. Goyer subsequently sold the film rights to Warner Bros. and is adapting the first novel for the big screen.
In late October 2011, cable channel Starz and BBC Worldwide greenlit his TV project, Da Vinci's Demons, which followed the life of a 25-year-old Leonardo da Vinci. "This will be a show about secret histories, genius, madness and all things profane," according to Goyer. The show ran for three seasons and received generally favorable reviews, including an 81% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. In March 2013, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Goyer would be directing a film adaptation of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
In June 2013, he was announced to work on both Justice League and a sequel to Man of Steel. In September 2013, Goyer delivered a screenwriting lecture as part of the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters' Lecture Series. Goyer produced the horror film The Forest, directed by Jason Zada. Focus Features has the North American distribution rights to the film, which was Zada's feature film directorial debut.
Works
Film
Producer only
Uncredited writing roles
Pet Sematary Two (1992)
On Deadly Ground (1994)
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Godzilla (2014)
Television
TV movie writer
The Substitute (1993) (Credited as "Cynthia Verlaine")
Enemy (1996)
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998)
Novels
Heaven's Shadow (with Michael Cassutt) (2011)
Heaven's War (with Michael Cassutt) (2012)
Heaven's Fall (with Michael Cassutt) (2013)
