Lawrence Kasdan Biography, Age, Net worth, Awards, Screenwriter, director, and producer, Movies, Books

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Lawrence Kasdan Biography

Lawrence Kasdan (Lawrence Edward Kasdan) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known as co-writer of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo.

Lawrence Kasdan

He has been nominated for three Oscars: twice for Best Original Screenplay for The Big Chill and Grand Canyon and once for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Accidental Tourist. He is the father of directors Jake Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan, and the father-in-law of musician Inara George.

Lawrence Kasdan Age

Lawrence Kasdan was born on January 14, 1949, in Miami, Florida, United States.

Lawrence Kasdan Net worth

Lawrence Kasdan earns his income from his businesses and from other related organizations. He also earns his income from his work as a screenwriter, director, and producer. He has an estimated net worth of $ 30 million dollars.

Lawrence Kasdan Family

Lawrence Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the United States to the late businessman Clarence Norman Kasdan and late Employment counselor Sylvia Sarah Landau. He has a brother known as Mark Kasdan who is screenwriter and film producer.

Lawrence Kasdan Education

Lawrence Kasdan graduated from Morgantown High School and she then graduated from the University of Michigan with an MA degree in Education, and he is planning to be an English teacher.

Lawrence Kasdan Wife

Lawrence Kasdan is married to Meg Kasdan in 1971.

Lawrence Kasdan Screenwriter, director, and producer

Lawrence Kasdan after his graduation he was unable to find a teaching position, so he became an advertising copywriter, a profession he did not enjoy, but remained in for five years, earning a Clio Award for his work. Kasdan began his career in Detroit, later relocating to Los Angeles where he began to write screenplays.

He was introduced into the film business which came in the mid-1970s when, after being rejected 67 times, his script for The Bodyguard was sold to Warner Bros. as a vehicle for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen. The script became stuck in “development hell” and became one of several screenplays successively called “the best un-made script in Hollywood”; it was eventually produced as a 1992 film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

After he sold his screenplay Continental Divide to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas commissioned he wrote to the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, based on a story written by Philip Kaufman and himself. Lucas then hired Kasdan to rework some dialogues of his screenplay for his Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

He made his directing debut with Body Heat of (1981), which he also wrote. Lucas later commissioned Kasdan again to rework the dialogues of his screenplay for Return of the Jedi (1983). He is known for both writing and directing his films, which have ranged from Westerns and romantic comedies to thought-provoking dramas.

He has also received four Academy Award nominations, for screenplays to The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, and The Accidental Tourist, for which he also earned a nomination for Best Picture. Grand Canyon won the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

From 1994 to 2003, he made a set of films that, went into contrast to the hits that he had in the 1980s, and failed to break the bank receipts; among these films were Wyatt Earp and Dreamcatcher, the latter based on the Stephen King bestseller. The exception was 1995’s French Kiss, which grossed $100 million.

He made cameo appearances as the lawyer of River Phoenix’s character in I Love You to Death, the director of Steve Martin’s character’s latest action film in Grand Canyon, and in James L. Brooks’ comedy As Good as It Gets as the fed-up psychiatrist of Jack Nicholson’s novelist.

In 2001, Kasdan was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival’s Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2006, Kasdan received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America. He directed the 2012 dramedy Darling Companion, starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline. On October 2013, it was announced that J. J. Abrams had taken over screenwriting duties for the seventh episode of the Star Wars saga,

The Force Awakens, working alongside Kasdan, following the departure of Michael Arndt. After his involvement with Solo: A Star Wars Story, he left the Star Wars universe and has no involvement in Episodes VIII and IX, The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker.

On May 22, 2016, he was honored by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and ArtsATL.org as the inaugural recipient of their “ICON Award for Contributions to the Cinematic Arts” in a ceremony held at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Lawrence Kasdan Movies

  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018
  • Darling Companion 2012
  • A Classy Broad 2014
  • In the Land of Women 2007
  • Directors: 2000
  • The Empire Strikes Back 1980
  • Return of the Jedi 1983
  • The Big Chill 1983
  • Body Heat 1981
  • Silverado 1985
  • Grand Canyon 1991
  • Mumford 1999
  • Home Fries 1998
  • The TV Set 2006

Lawrence Kasdan Tv Shows

  • Five Came Back 2017

Lawrence Kasdan Books

  • Wyatt Earp: The Film and the Filmmakers 1994
  • Silverado: The Screenplay 2000
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay George Lucas 1981
  • The Big Chill 1982
  • Star Wars: The Scripts George Lucas
  • The Bodyguard 1990
  • Bodyguard Movie Tie In 1992
  • The Empire Strikes Back: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Script George Lucas
  • The Empire Strikes Back: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Script George Lucas 1983
  • The Empire Strikes Back Notebook
  • The Art of Return of the Jedi George Lucas 1994
  • Return of the Jedi: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Script George Lucas 1999
  • The Accidental Tourist: Screenplay 1987
  • Body Heat 1980

Lawrence Kasdan Awards

  • Golden Bear 1992 · Grand Canyon
  • Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation 1984, 1982, 1981 · Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the
    Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back
  • Writers Guild of America Award – Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
    2006
  • New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film 1988 · The Accidental Tourist
  • Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Comedy
    1984 · The Big Chill

Note: This biography is based on the available information as of 2023, and real-time updates or developments are being updated by our editorial team.