Jane Goldman | |
---|---|
Born | Jane Loretta Anne Goldman 11 June 1970 Hammersmith, London, England |
Occupation(s) | Screenwriter and producer |
Years active | 1993–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Jane Loretta Anne Goldman [1] (born 11 June 1970) is a British screenwriter and producer. She is mostly known for collaborating with director Matthew Vaughn on the screenplays of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), as well as X-Men: First Class (2011), Kick-Ass (2010) and Stardust (2007). Goldman also worked on the story of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), the sequel to First Class, again in partnership with Vaughn. Both met high critical praise for their work.
Goldman's first solo screenplay is The Woman in Black (2012). She also wrote the script for The Limehouse Golem and Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , both released in 2016. She is the writer of Edgar Wright's upcoming remake of Barbarella.
She has also written books such as The X-Files Book of the Unexplained (1995) and the novel Dreamworld (2000). Goldman presented her own TV show, Jane Goldman Investigates (2003–04), a non-fiction series on the paranormal, for the channel Living.
Goldman was raised in a liberal, middle-class family in north London, the only child of a Jewish father, Stuart and a Buddhist mother, Amanda. She attended the King Alfred School, an independent school in Hampstead, until the age of 15 before moving to the United States to follow Boy George on tour. [2] Upon her return to the UK, she took a job as an entertainment reporter with the Daily Star . When she was 16, she met TV presenter Jonathan Ross. They married in 1988, when Goldman was 18 years old. The couple have three children: two daughters and a son. [3]
As a journalist, Goldman worked on newspapers and magazines such as Just Seventeen , Cosmopolitan , The Times , Evening Standard , Zero , Daily Star, Total Guitar , Game Zone and Sega Zone . At the age of 19, she became a freelance writer. [4] [5] [6]
Goldman also wrote books: Thirteen-Something (1993), Streetsmarts: A Teenager's Safety Guide (1996), Sussed and Streetwise (1997), the two-volume best-selling series The X-Files Book of the Unexplained (1997), her first and only novel Dreamworld (2000), [7] and Do the Right Thing (2003), among others.
Between 2003 and 2004 she had her own television series. Jane Goldman Investigates researched the paranormal and was transmitted by channel Living between 2003 and 2004. [8] Goldman is also in the production teams of a number of TV shows, such as The Big Fat Quiz of the Year . [9] [10]
In 2000, she modelled for Fantasie Bras. [11]
She made the jump to screenwriting, and was part of the writing team for David Baddiel's short-lived sitcom Baddiel's Syndrome , in 2001. Later, she co-wrote the screenplay of Stardust (2007), based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman and directed by Matthew Vaughn. Gaiman introduced Goldman to Vaughn to provide the director some help with the adaptation process. The film received many accolades [12] [13] and gave the screenwriters a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.
After Stardust, Goldman became a frequent collaborator of Vaughn. In a 2011 interview, the writer said that when she works with the director she does the "construction work" and the "interior designing" while Vaughn acts as the "architect." [14] Goldman co-wrote his next films, the comic-book adaptations Kick-Ass (2010) and X-Men: First Class (2011). Both films won strong praise amongst film critics. Kick-Ass nowadays has a cult following, while X-Men: First Class is considered by many critics to be one of the best of all X-Men franchise. Rotten Tomatoes consensus says: "With a strong script, stylish direction, and powerful performances from its well-rounded cast, X-Men: First Class is a welcome return to form for the franchise." [15] [16] [17] [18] Goldman has described the film as an "alternate history" for the X-Men, saying that while rebooting, the writers did not want to go fully "against the canon of the X-Men trilogy", comparing to the various approaches the comic had in over fifty years of publication. [19]
She continued to work in adaptations, and was also a co-writer with Vaughn and Peter Straughan for the 2011 drama-thriller The Debt , which was based on the 2007 Israeli film HaHov and directed by John Madden. Goldman also adapted for Hammer The Woman in Black , a gothic horror film based on Susan Hill's novel. The project marks the first solo screenplay by Goldman. The film was directed by James Watkins. [20] It was released in 2012 and met positive reviews. [21] [22] In March 2013, The Woman in Black won the Empire Award for Best Horror. [23]
She is credited on X-Men: Days of Future Past , the sequel to First Class, as writing the story with Matthew Vaughn and Simon Kinberg. [24] [25] After that project, she co-wrote with Vaughn the script for Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. [26]
She wrote the script for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , an adaptation of the Ransom Riggs novel of the same name, which was directed by Tim Burton. [27] The project was followed by The Limehouse Golem , an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd's 1994 murder mystery novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem . Goldman read the book years before she was a professional screenwriter and kept it in mind as a potential project. She said in an interview for ScreenCraft: "What's funny is that I read the book long before I was screenwriting. I think it was the only time that I can remember when I read a book and thought, 'Gosh, I hope somebody makes a movie of this!' ... Weirdly, years later I was on a film jury together with the producer whom I had read had the rights and I asked him whatever happened to the adaptation and said that I loved the book. That is how this came about, because he said the rights were free again and asked, 'Do you want to do it?'" [28]
Goldman and Vaughn collaborated again for the screenplay of Kingsman: The Golden Circle , the sequel to The Secret Service. The film was released in 2017.
In May of that year, HBO announced Goldman was one of four writers working on a potential pilot for a Game of Thrones spin-off. In addition to Goldman, Carly Wray, Max Borenstein, and Brian Helgeland were also working on potential pilots. [29] Goldman worked with George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire , the series of novels upon which the original show is based [30] and Game of Thrones showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff would also be executive producers for whichever project. [30] [31]
In June 2018, it was confirmed that Goldman's pilot had been greenlit by HBO, and would focus on "the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour", thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones. [32] Naomi Watts was cast in a lead role and S.J. Clarkson was the chosen director for the opening episode. In late October 2019, it was announced that HBO would not be moving forward with the pilot. [33]
In December 2017, Goldman was announced as the writer of Disney's live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid , with Rob Marshall being eyed to direct. [34] She was not credited in the final script.
Goldman co-wrote the 2020 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Gothic romance Rebecca, directed by Ben Wheatley. [35]
According to Deadline in May 2024, Goldman and her screenwriter daughter, Honey Goldman, were in negotiations to write Barbarella, a remake of the 1968 science fiction classic. Edgar Wright was in negotiations to direct at that point, with Sydney Sweeney in the lead role and Sony Pictures as the distributor. [36]
Alongside her husband, broadcaster Jonathan Ross, Goldman appeared as a character in Neil Gaiman's short story "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" in 1996. Gaiman is a personal friend of the couple. [37] [38]
Year | Title | Screenwriter | Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Stardust | Yes | No | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn |
2010 | Kick-Ass | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn |
The Debt | Yes | No | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn and Peter Straughan | |
2011 | James Bond Supports International Women's Day | Yes | No | Short film |
X-Men: First Class | Yes | No | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn and Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz; story by Bryan Singer and Sheldon Turner | |
2012 | The Woman in Black | Yes | No | |
2014 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | No | No | Co-writer of story only, with Matthew Vaughn and Simon Kinberg |
2015 | Kingsman: The Secret Service | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn |
2016 | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Yes | No | |
The Limehouse Golem | Yes | Yes | ||
2017 | Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Yes | Yes | Co-writer with Matthew Vaughn |
2020 | Rebecca | Yes | No | Co-writer with Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse |
Year | Title | Screenwriter | Producer | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Baddiel's Syndrome | Yes | No | Additional material | [39] |
2003–2004 | Jane Goldman Investigates | No | Yes | Also presenter | [40] |
2004–present | The Big Fat Quiz of the Year | No | Yes | [41] | |
2007–2015 | The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz | No | Yes | [42] [43] | |
2012–2013 | The Big Fat Quiz of the 80s | No | Yes | [44] [45] | |
2012–2013 | The Big Fat Quiz of the 90s | No | Yes | [46] [47] | |
2012 | The Big Fat Quiz of the 00s | No | Yes | [48] | |
2016–2018 | The Big Fat Quiz of Everything | No | Yes | [49] |
Year | Title | Publisher | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Thirteensomething: A Survivor's Guide | Puffin Books | [50] | |
1994 | Sex: How? Why? What? | Piccadilly Press | ||
1995 | For Weddings, a Funeral and When You Can't Flush the Loo | Puffin Books | ||
Sussed and Streetwise | Piccadilly Press (London, England) | Reprinted as Streetsmarts: A Teenager's Safety Guide, Barron's Educational Series (Hauppauge, NY), 1996 | ||
The X-Files Book of the Unexplained – Vol. 1 | Harper Prism | |||
1997 | The X-Files Book of the Unexplained – Vol. 2 | Harper Prism | ||
2000 | Dreamworld | Pocket Books, MTV Books | ||
2003 | Do the Right Thing: A Teenager's Survival Guide for Tricky Situations | Piccadilly Press | [51] | |
2008 | The X-Files Book of the Unexplained: Volumes 1 and 2 | Harper Collins | [52] |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Glamour Woman of the Year Awards | Filmmaker of the Year | Body of work | Won | [53] |
Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | Stardust | Won | [54] | |
2010 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Screenplay | Kick-Ass | Nominated | [55] |
Scream Awards | Best Scream-play | Nominated | [56] | ||
Women in Film and Television | UK Film Council Writing Award | Body of work | Won | [57] | |
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards | Best Screenplay | Kick-Ass | Won | [58] | |
2011 | Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Screenplay | Nominated | [59] | |
Glamour Woman of the Year Awards | Filmmaker of the Year | Body of work | Won | [60] | |
2012 | Bram Stoker Awards | Best Screenplay | The Woman in Black | Nominated | [61] |
2016 | Saturn Awards | Best Writing | Kingsman: The Secret Service | Nominated | [62] |
Goldman also won the Cosmopolitan magazine Woman of Tomorrow award for achievement in journalism. [63]
Matthew Allard de Vere Drummond, known professionally as Matthew Vaughn, is an English filmmaker. He has produced films including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), and directed Layer Cake (2004), Stardust (2007), Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011), and Argylle (2024). Vaughn also co-created the Kingsman comic book series and resulting franchise, directing, producing and co-writing the films Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), and The King's Man (2021).
David Friedman, known professionally as David Benioff, is an American writer and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known for co-creating Game of Thrones (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin's series of books A Song of Ice and Fire. He also wrote 25th Hour (2002), Troy (2004), City of Thieves (2008) and co-wrote X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).
Stardust is a 2007 romantic fantasy adventure film directed by Matthew Vaughn and co-written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Based on Neil Gaiman's 1999 novel of the same name, it features an ensemble cast led by Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais, Jason Flemyng, Rupert Everett, Peter O'Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro, with narration by Ian McKellen.
Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero black comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn from a screenplay by Jane Goldman and Vaughn. It is based on the Marvel Comics's comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, and is the first film in the Kick-Ass franchise.
Hit-Girl is an antihero appearing in the Millarworld shared fictional universe, published by Marvel Comics under the company's imprint Icon Comics and later Image Comics, one of the titular characters of the Hit-Girl & Kick-Ass franchise. The character was created by artist John Romita Jr. and writer Mark Millar. She is a young and effective vigilante, trained by her father Damon McCready from an early age to be a costumed superhero and assassin, introduced in Kick-Ass – The Dave Lizewski Years as a supporting character and ultimate co-protagonist, along with Dave Lizewski. She featured in her own self-titled comic book series, Hit-Girl, published from 2018 to 2020 by Image Comics. She returned in the 2023 miniseries Big Game, becoming a Kingsman agent and killing Wesley Gibson.
Marv Studios, formerly SKA Films, is a British production company owned by Matthew Vaughn. It is best known for the motion pictures Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The King's Man. The company name is an acronym deriving from Vaughn’s birth name: Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn.
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Kingsman: The Secret Service is a 2014 spy action comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn. It is the first instalment in the Kingsman film series and is also based on the comic book series of the same name, written by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, published by Millarworld and based on a concept by Millar and Vaughn.
Olivia Kate Cooke is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Alicent Hightower in the fantasy drama television series House of the Dragon (2022–present). In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller Bates Motel (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama Vanity Fair (2018), and a spy in the thriller Slow Horses (2022).
Kingsman is a British multimedia franchise consisting of spy comic books, films, and video games that follow the missions of Agent Galahad of Kingsman, a fictional secret service organization. The franchise is based on the comic book series created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, a 2012 Marvel Comics release set in the Millarworld shared universe which is based on a concept by Millar and Matthew Vaughn. It has garnered success both financially and critically.
Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem is a 1994 novel by the English author Peter Ackroyd. It is a murder mystery framed within a story featuring real historical characters, and set in a recreation of Victorian London.
Elizabeth Karlsen is an American–British film producer. Her career has spanned over three and a half decades, and In 2019, she was awarded the BAFTA award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Her work has garnered a total of 52 BAFTA nominations and wins, and 20 Academy Award® nominations and wins. In 2002, she co-founded Number 9 Films with production partner and husband, Stephen Woolley.
The Limehouse Golem is a 2016 British horror-mystery film directed by Juan Carlos Medina from a screenplay by Jane Goldman. The film, an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd's 1994 murder mystery novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, stars Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy and Douglas Booth.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a 2017 spy action comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn and written by Jane Goldman and Vaughn. Based on the Millarworld comic book series The Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, in-turn based on a concept by Millar and Vaughn, the film is the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and the second installment in the Kingsman film series. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Sophie Cookson, Edward Holcroft, and Hanna Alström, who reprise their roles from the first film, with Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Elton John, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges joining the cast. The film follows members of Kingsman needing to team up with their American counterpart, Statesman, after the Kingsman organization is crippled and the world is held hostage by Poppy Adams and her drug cartel, "The Golden Circle."
Kingsman is an American comic book series that debuted in 2012 with the first graphic novel, subtitled The Secret Service. Three sequels, subtitled Mum's the Word, The Big Exit, and The Red Diamond, followed in 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. The series, following the recruitment of Gary London, into a secret spy organization by his uncle, Jack London, and his subsequent world-saving adventures, was initially published simply as The Secret Service before being rebranded following the release of the first film adaptation of the series. The series was created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons from a concept by Millar and an uncredited Matthew Vaughn, and set in Millar's shared universe, the Millarworld, with the celebrity kidnappings taking place in the first volume being referenced in Kick Ass: The Dave Lizewski Years Book Four, leading into the 2023 crossover event Big Game.
The King's Man is a 2021 spy action film directed by Matthew Vaughn from his story and a screenplay he wrote with Karl Gajdusek. The third installment in the British Kingsman film series, which is based on the comic book The Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, in-turn based on a concept by Millar and Vaughn, it is a prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). Its ensemble cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance. It focuses on several events during World War I and the birth of the Kingsman organisation.
Kick-Ass is a media franchise based on the adventures of superheroes of the same name, created by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Set in the Millarworld, it began in 2008 with Marvel's Kick-Ass – The Dave Lizewski Years, followed by the anthology Millarworld Annual from 2016 to 2017, two stand-alone sequel series, Kick-Ass – The New Girl and Hit-Girl, from 2018 to 2020, and two crossover series, Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl and Big Game, in 2020 and 2023. In the series, Hit-Girl is a young vigilante going around the world stopping crime in violent ways, while Kick-Ass has had three people take the mantle, a hero, a sidekick, and a villain.
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Stuntnuts: The Movie is an upcoming action film directed by Damien Walters. Serving as the first of a new trilogy in, and the third film installment overall in the Kick-Ass franchise by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr..