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Steven Zaillian

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Filmmaker

The Resume

    (January 30, 1953- )
    Born in Fresno, California
    Screenwriter and director
    Directed and wrote the films 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' (1993), 'A Civil Action' (1998), and 'All the King's Men' (2006)
    Screenwriter for 'The Falcon and the Snowman' (1985), 'Awakenings' (1990), 'Schindler's List' (1993), 'Clear and Present Danger' (1994), 'Mission: Impossible' (1996), 'Hannibal' (2001), 'Gangs of New York' (2002), 'American Gangster' (2007), 'Moneyball' (2011), 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' (2011), and 'The Irishman' (2019)
    Co-director and co-writer of the miniseries 'The Night Of' (2016)

Why he might be annoying:

    His first film credit was as editor of the William Shatner versus tarantulas film 'Kingdom of the Spiders.' (1977)
    He admitted about directing, 'It doesn't come naturally to me.'
    He is a perfectionist, with 'The Night Of' star Riz Ahmed recalling, 'We would shoot the placing of a teacup twenty times.'
    After the critical and box office failure of 'All the King's Men,' he said, 'I feel like Huey Long must have felt -- you try to do good and they shoot you for it.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    Disney Chair Joe Roth called him 'one of the two or three best screenwriters in town.'
    His screenplay for 'Schindler's List' won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award.
    He won the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Director for 'Searching for Bobby Fischer.'
    He said about making movies, 'You have some good ones and some bad ones, and you try to learn from the bad ones and really, really try to enjoy the good ones as much as you can, because they don't happen all the time.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying