57 Facts About Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence Edward Kasdan was born on January 14,1949 and is an American filmmaker.

Lawrence Kasdan is the co-writer of the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Bodyguard, and is the writer-director of Body Heat, The Big Chill, Silverado, The Accidental Tourist, and Dreamcatcher.

Lawrence Kasdan has often collaborated with his wife, Meg Kasdan, his brother, Mark Kasdan, and his two sons: Jonathan Kasdan and Jake Kasdan.

Lawrence Kasdan was born in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of parents Sylvia, an employment counselor, and Clarence Lawrence Kasdan, an electronics-store manager.

Lawrence Kasdan sold a few stories to "confessional magazines" in the 1950s, and later would buy self-help books and type up their contents with the dream of writing her own book one day.

Many of Lawrence Kasdan's movies were inspired by his "difficult childhood and home life," he wrote.

Lawrence Kasdan applied to the University of Michigan because he was told they had the best-paying college writing contest in the country, and that the playwright Arthur Miller had paid for his studies by winning the award.

Miller's teacher, Kenneth Thorpe Rowe, was still a professor at the university, and Lawrence Kasdan studied drama writing with Rowe.

Lawrence Kasdan won the Hopwood Award four times between 1968 and 1970, winning a total of $2,000.

Lawrence Kasdan was determined to become a director, and decided the best path was by writing screenplays.

Lawrence Kasdan got into the writing program at UCLA and briefly moved to Los Angeles, but found the experience frustrating and moved back to Ann Arbor, where he worked in a record store and continued writing screenplays.

Lawrence Kasdan pursued a master's degree in education at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1971, with plans to support himself as a high school English teacher until he broke into Hollywood.

Lawrence Kasdan's sixth finished screenplay was about a female singer who falls in love with her bodyguard, which he wrote in 1975.

Lawrence Kasdan was hired to write a treatment for a low-budget feature for Paramount, but the film was never made.

Lawrence Kasdan continued to write screenplays, including what he's called an "un-producible historical" movie.

Kevin Costner read the screenplay when Lawrence Kasdan directed him in Silverado, the role that made him a star.

In 1991, he asked Lawrence Kasdan to make The Bodyguard with Costner in the title role.

Lawrence Kasdan was not happy with the way the film turned out, "but I think it had nothing to do with Mick Jackson," he later said.

Lawrence Kasdan came up with the outline while eating lunch on the lawn of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Lawrence Kasdan writes the sort of material we haven't seen around here for a long time.

Lawrence Kasdan writes about the '30s and '40s in a fascinating, exciting way.

Lawrence Kasdan loves old movies and draws on them for his work.

Spielberg's enthusiasm for Continental Divide led him to hire Lawrence Kasdan to write Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he was developing with George Lucas.

Lucas wanted the character to be more like James Bond, so Lawrence Kasdan had to write a different version of the scene where Brody goes to his house, he said.

Lawrence Kasdan semi-returned to the franchise in 2007 when he assisted David Koepp in writing some romantic dialogue for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

When Lawrence Kasdan delivered his script for Raiders, Lucas asked him to rewrite The Empire Strikes Back.

Lawrence Kasdan felt his major contribution to Lucas' series was developing character.

Lawrence Kasdan launched his directing career after writing The Empire Strikes Back, and he wasn't interested in writing another Star Wars movie.

Lawrence Kasdan spent the summer of 1981 writing the shooting script, based on a story by Lucas.

When Disney bought Lucasfilm with plans to make more Star Wars films, Kathleen Kennedy, the new president of Lucasfilm, asked Lawrence Kasdan to be involved.

Lawrence Kasdan always felt that "Han Solo is really the character that people find irresistible, not Luke," he said.

The younger Lawrence Kasdan had small roles in his father's movies since as early as The Big Chill, but they had never written a script together.

Lawrence Kasdan later attributed the underperformance of Solo to Lucasfilm "blowing it", after which he left the Star Wars universe just as promised, not responding to any of Lucasfilm's subsequent attempts to woo him back, even sending him a Messenger with a new script.

The producers wanted Lawrence Kasdan to cast a star, but he insisted on William Hurt, a stage actor who had just made his film debut in Altered States.

Lawrence Kasdan cast another unknown, Kathleen Turner, as Matty, and Ted Danson as one of Ned's colleagues.

Lawrence Kasdan was nominated for Best Director by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, and his screenplay was nominated for a WGA Award by the Writers Guild of America.

The ensemble cast included Hurt and Kevin Kline, both of whom became regulars in Lawrence Kasdan's directing career, as well as Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Tom Berenger, and JoBeth Williams.

Lawrence Kasdan earned a DGA Award nomination by the Directors Guild of America.

Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay for Silverado with his older brother, Mark Lawrence Kasdan.

Lawrence Kasdan cast Kevin Kline for the second time, as lead cowboy Paden, along with Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, and Kevin Costner.

Lawrence Kasdan had been developing Man Trouble, but disagreed with the producers over Carole Eastman's screenplay.

Lawrence Kasdan and Hurt reunited with Body Heats Kathleen Turner, playing Macon's estranged wife.

Now in his 40s, with his oldest son leaving for college, Lawrence Kasdan began writing a screenplay about marriage and parenting.

The screenplay, which he wrote with his wife Meg Lawrence Kasdan, swelled into a larger canvas that dealt with race relations in Los Angeles and the existential crises of the era.

One of Lawrence Kasdan's abandoned projects over the years was titled Pair-A-Dice, written by Blade Runner screenwriter David Webb Peoples, which he developed for four years with Kevin Costner set to star.

Lawrence Kasdan ultimately shared writing credit with Gordon, who served as an executive producer on the film.

Lawrence Kasdan cast Timothy Hutton as the cheating fiance, Charlie, and Kevin Kline as Luc Teyssier the thief.

Lawrence Kasdan cast Loren Dean in the title role, alongside Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Martin Short, and Ted Danson.

Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the adaptation with William Goldman, screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride.

Lawrence Kasdan eventually decided to make an independent film, based on an incident from his and Meg's own life, when their dog got lost in the mountains of Colorado.

Lawrence Kasdan shot the film on digital for the first time, on location in Utah.

Lawrence Kasdan said his scripts all begin with their characters:.

Lawrence Kasdan has made several cameo appearances in his own films: as River Phoenix's lawyer in I Love You to Death, as a director in Grand Canyon, as a gambler in Wyatt Earp, and as a man walking a dog in Darling Companion.

Lawrence Kasdan played Jack Nicholson's psychiatrist in As Good as It Gets, directed by James L Brooks.

Lawrence Kasdan has three honorary doctorates: in Humane Letters from the University of Michigan and from West Virginia University, and in Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.

Lawrence Kasdan has been married to Meg Lawrence Kasdan since November 28,1971.