John Milius

Photo of John Milius

Biography

A self-described Zen anarchist, writer-director John Milius was called far worse by friend and foe - everything from a self-styled fusion of Hemingway and Genghis Khan to the Hermann Goering of film directors. Such pat labels, however, failed to convey the depth and emotion on display in a Milius film, despite his unquenchable thirst for militarism and glorification of violence. Whether taking audiences on a journey into man's heart of …
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Job Title

Actor, Director, Producer, Writer, Consultants & Advisors, Below The Line

Born

April 11, 1944

Career Milestones

2005

Co-produced and wrote for the HBO epic series "Rome"; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama series

1996

Signed deal with TNT to direct and write a four-hour miniseries about Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

1994

TV-movie directing debut, "Motorcycle Gang", an installment of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" series of remakes of American International Pictures drive-in fare

1987

Provided the story for "Viking Bikers From Hell", an episode of NBC's crime drama "Miami Vice"

1985

TV directing debut, "Opening Day", an episode of the CBS revival of "The Twilight Zone"

1983

First credit as producer, "Uncommon Valor"

1979

Co-wrote (with Francis Ford Coppola) his most acclaimed project, Coppola's "Apocolypse Now"

1979

First executive producer credit, Paul Schrader's "Hardcore"

1975

Founded A-Team production company

1974

TV writing debut, wrote story and scripted "Melvin Purvis: G-Man", an ABC-TV period gangster telefilm

1973

Feature directing debut, "Dillinger" (also wrote)

1971

Hired by actor George Hamilton to rewrite some scenes for "Evel Knievel" for $1000 a day; Milius rewrote the entire screenplay

1968

Involved in the formation of Zoetrope Studios

1968

Feature screenplay debut, "The Devil's Eight", a prison drama (co-written by Willard Huyck)

1967

Began career as assistant to Lawrence Gordon at American International Pictures (AIP)

Won an International Student Film Festival Award for an animated short

As a student at USC, made his first short student film, "Marcello, I'm So Bored", a spoof of Italian art-house films

1951

Moved from St. Louis to L.A. with his family at age seven upon his father's retirement from a successful career as a shoe manufacturer (date approximate)

Awards

1979

Academy Award for Writing (Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium) in Apocalypse Now