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James Vanderbilt
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James Vanderbilt

James Vanderbilt optioned the rights to Robert Graysmith's Zodiac and wrote the screenplay adaptation on spec -- a gamble that paid off with only three produced scripts to his credit. The young screenwriter, whom Esquire Magazine would call fearless, produced the script with Zodiac producer Bradley J. Fischer after the two collaborated on the thriller Basic, Vanderbilt's second produced script, directed by John McTiernan and starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.

He wrote and co-produced Basic in 2003, the same year he wrote the horror film Darkness Falls, his first produced screenplay, and The Rundown, an actioner directed by Peter Berg, starring Christopher Walken and The Rock.

Vanderbilt is currently adapting former terrorism czar Richard Clarke's memoir Against All Enemies. He is collaborating once again with Berg on The Losers, an action-adventure film about a team of CIA black operatives who root out those who betrayed and targeted the team for assassination.

He sold his first screenplay, 48 Hours before graduating from the University of Southern California's Film Writing Program.

He is a descendent of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and railroad baron who built a business empire in the 19th Century.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.

James Vanderbilt Facts

OccupationScreenwriter, Producer

Selected Filmography

Not available.