Writers MICHAEL BRANDT & DEREK HAAS (Story by/Screenplay by)

Writers MICHAEL BRANDT & DEREK HAAS (Story by/Screenplay by) are the force behind such engaging, fast-paced, colorful screenplays as 2003’s blockbuster 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Most recently, Brandt and Haas wrote the remake 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. The film is about a battle of wills between a rancher and the outlaw he’s captured. Directed by James Mangold, the Lionsgate release opened no. 1 at the box office on September 7, 2007.

Brandt and Haas first met at Baylor University in 1989, where they attended both undergraduate and graduate school. At Baylor, Brandt received an MA in film and Haas graduated with an MA in English literature. The duo started writing screenplays together in the mid-1990s.

Their first produced work, Universal’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, has amassed more than $236 million in worldwide box office. Brandt and Haas followed up with the children’s film Catch That Kid for 20th Century Fox, starring Kristen Stewart and Corbin Bleu.

In addition to their thriving writing partnership, Brandt has recently been hired to direct his first feature film, Countdown (based on the Richard Matheson short story “Death Ship”), with Haas producing. Haas’ first novel, “The Silver Bear,” a thriller centered on the life of an assassin, will be published by Pegasus Books (distributed by Norton) in July of 2008.

No comments: