Anna Boden and Ryan K. Fleck are an American filmmaking duo. They are best known for their collaborations on the films ''
Half Nelson'', ''
Sugar'', ''
It's Kind of a Funny Story
''It's Kind of a Funny Story'' is a 2006 novel by American author Ned Vizzini. The book was inspired by Vizzini's own brief hospitalization for depression in November 2004. Ned Vizzini later died by suicide on December 19, 2013. The book recei ...
'', ''
Mississippi Grind
''Mississippi Grind'' is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It stars Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Sienna Miller, Lio Tipton, Robin Weigert, and Alfre Woodard. The film was released by A24 on S ...
'' and ''
Captain Marvel''.
Early life
Boden is originally from
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and grew up in
Newton while Fleck graduated from
Castro Valley High School
Castro Valley High School is located in the unincorporated suburban community of Castro Valley, California, United States. It is a State school#United States high school for grades 9 to 12. Named a National Exemplary School in 1984–85 and 1988 ...
.
Before attending
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
's
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
where he studied film, Fleck went to
Diablo Valley College
Diablo Valley College (DVC) is a public community college with campuses in Pleasant Hill and San Ramon in Contra Costa County, California. DVC is one of three public community colleges in the Contra Costa Community College District (along with ...
to study science and math.
Boden attended
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. The two met on the set of a student film where they bonded over the works of
Robert Altman and,
after Fleck had finished his thesis
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
''Struggle'', they decided to collaborate.
Fleck was born in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
and raised there and in
Oakland. Fleck had grown up on classic fan favorites such as ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' and ''
Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
''.
Boden has said that while there was no specific film that inspired her to pursue film making, she had a fondness for watching movies as a child and cites learning about Robert Altman as a turning point in how she viewed film as a medium.
Career
Together they made the short documentaries ''Have You Seen This Man?'' and ''Young Rebels'' before they wrote and directed the short film ''Gowanus, Brooklyn'', a sample feature aiming to attract potential financiers to their undeveloped script, ''
Half Nelson''.
The short won a prize at the 2004
Sundance Film Festival and Boden and Fleck were subsequently invited to the Sundance Writer's Lab to receive professional feedback on the ''Half Nelson'' screenplay. The film did not receive adequate financing for years, and while trying to initiate the project, Fleck explains: "We were trying to get it off the ground so we had plenty of time to keep writing and rewriting. I think the time was valuable because I think we made it as good as we could."
Though Fleck was the only of the pair to receive directing credit for the film, he has gone on record and said that the work was an equal divide.
In spite of the effort in making the script "as good as we could" prior to filming, Fleck encouraged ''Half Nelson''
's actors to
ad lib and improvise, although he and lead actor
Ryan Gosling compromised many scenes in the rehearsal process as Fleck thought that Gosling's ideas were too different from the script in some cases.
He also had several disagreements with Boden while writing; though he claims their "back and forth" system of rewriting each other's work has always worked well.
''Half Nelson'' was well received by critics and got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Ryan Gosling. Many other nominations went to Ryan Gosling for his role as Dan Dunne.
Boden and Fleck have since co-written and co-directed the
2008 film ''
Sugar'', which premiered at the
2008 Sundance Film Festival
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' In Bruges'' and the closing night film was '' CSNY Déjà Vu''.
Fil ...
, about a 19-year-old
Dominican man who immigrates to the United States to play minor league baseball. The two wrote the screenplay after researching about many Dominican immigrants who arrive in America to play in minor league towns, saying: "The stories we heard were so fascinating that it became what we were writing before we'd even decided it was our next project". They also collaborated on a screen adaptation of
Ned Vizzini
Edison Price Vizzini (April 4, 1981 – December 19, 2013) was an American writer. He was the author of four books for young adults including '' It's Kind of a Funny Story'', which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" and which is ...
's young adult novel ''
It's Kind of a Funny Story
''It's Kind of a Funny Story'' is a 2006 novel by American author Ned Vizzini. The book was inspired by Vizzini's own brief hospitalization for depression in November 2004. Ned Vizzini later died by suicide on December 19, 2013. The book recei ...
'', which was released on October 8, 2010.
In 2012, the duo began work on a
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
movie called ''
Mississippi Grind
''Mississippi Grind'' is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It stars Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Sienna Miller, Lio Tipton, Robin Weigert, and Alfre Woodard. The film was released by A24 on S ...
''. The idea for the film came when they would visit riverboat casinos in
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
. By this point in their career, Boden and Fleck had fully committed to each other, "In the early days of our partnership we had to navigate a lot of issues concerning trust and ego. Nowadays, those issues are almost entirely gone. Having a creative partner who you can wholly trust is a wonderful asset."
In April 2017, Boden and Fleck were hired to direct the
Marvel Studios film ''
Captain Marvel''.
They were previously considered to direct another Marvel film, ''
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
It may more specifically refer to:
Comic book teams
* Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...
''. Producer
Kevin Feige said of them, "We met with lots and lots of people... and Anna and Ryan just had an amazing way of talking about
Carol Danvers
Carol Susan Jane Danvers is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan, Danvers first appeared as an officer in the United States Air Force and a colleague of th ...
and talking about her journey... We want filmmakers that can help us focus on and elevate the character journey so it doesn't get lost amongst the spectacle." The film was released in March 2019, and became a box office success, grossing more than $1 billion worldwide. In May 2019, it was revealed they would direct the first two episodes and produce the television show ''
Mrs. America'' starring
Cate Blanchett as
Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (; born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; August 15, 1924 – September 5, 2016) was an American attorney, conservative activist, author, and anti-feminist spokesperson for the national conservative movement. She held paleocons ...
. Boden and Fleck were in talks to direct a Marvel
Disney+
Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
series.
Personal life
Boden and Fleck formerly dated, however, contrary to popular belief they are not a married couple (though multiple sources continue to erroneously report it). Boden was pregnant at the time of ''Mississippi Grind''s release.
Boden is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
[In Woodys footsteps: Indie filmmaker pushes her boundaries and finds success](_blank)
The Jewish News of Norther California. September 28, 2012.
Filmography
Film
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Television
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boden, Anna And Fleck, Ryan
1976 births
1979 births
American film editors
American women film producers
American film producers
American women film directors
Living people
Artists from Berkeley, California
American women screenwriters
Film directors from California
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Film producers from California
American television directors
American women television directors
American male screenwriters
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Artists from Oakland, California
Filmmaking duos
Screenwriters from California
American women film editors