Jeremy Leven Biography

Date of Birth: 1941

Born in South Bend, Indiana, Jeremy Leven grew up in Chicago. He studied at Harvard, Yale, St. John's College in Maryland and the University of Connecticut before becoming a psychologist at the State Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. He got his first taste of show business when he founded, wrote and directed the satirical political review The Proposition that ran for 10 years Off-Broadway and that launched the career of Saturday Night Live's Jane Curtin. Leven frequently updated the material to reflect the changing times. A published author, he turned his first novel, Creator, into a screenplay. The movie version, starring Peter O'Toole, was released in 1985. Leven shared the writing credit for his next film, Playing for Keeps (1986), with Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who also directed. Unfortunately, it was a bomb and so for his next screenplay, Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Leven wrote the screenplay solo and refused as much as $2 million for the script, insisting he would direct the film himself. He managed to land some of Hollywood's top actors for the leading roles, including Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway. The film did well at the box office and received mostly good reviews.

Since then, Leven has stuck to writing Hollywood films such as The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) starring Will Smith, Alex and Emma (2003) starring Kate Hudson and The Notebook (2004), starring Joan Allen. Leven and his wife, Roberta, a psychotherapist, divide their time between Connecticut, Massachusetts and Paris.

Filmography:

Don Juan DeMarco (1995)