Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are American screenwriters, best known for writing films together, like ''

Dracula Untold ''Dracula Untold'' is a 2014 American dark fantasy action-horror film directed by Gary Shore in his feature film debut and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. A reboot of the ''Dracula'' film series, the plot creates an origin story f ...

'', ''

The Last Witch Hunter ''The Last Witch Hunter'' is a 2015 American fantasy action film directed by Breck Eisner and written by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless. The film stars Vin Diesel as an immortal witch hunter who must stop a plague from ravaging t ...

'', ''

Gods of Egypt Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural fo ...

'' and '' Morbius.''

Career

In August 2008, Sazama and Sharpless were hired by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

to write the script for the film adaptation of ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

'', with

Breck Eisner Michael Breckenridge Eisner (born December 24, 1970) is an American television and film director. Early life Eisner was born in California, the son of Jane Breckenridge, a business advisor and computer programmer, and Michael Eisner, the form ...

attached as director. In January 2011,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

hired Sazama and Sharpless to adapt

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

's 1980s arcade game ''

Missile Command ''Missile Command'' is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game ''Tempest ...

''. In August 2011, Universal hired Sazama and Sharpless to write the script for a feature film based on the

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

board game ''

Clue Clue may refer to: People with the name * DJ Clue (born 1975), mixtape DJ * Arthur Clues (1924–1998), Australian rugby league footballer * Ivan Clues * Tim Cluess Arts, entertainment, and media ''Clue'' entertainment franchise * ''Cluedo'' ...

''. In September 2011, Chernin Entertainment bought an untitled pitch by Sazama and Sharpless, which was described as a futuristic ''Jungle Book.'' Sazama and Sharpless wrote the script for the 2014 horror fantasy film ''

'', starring

Luke Evans Luke George Evans (born 15 April 1979) is a Welsh actor and singer. He began his career on the stage, performing in many of London's West End productions such as ''Rent'', ''Miss Saigon'', and '' Piaf'' before making his film breakthrough in ...

Sarah Gadon Sarah Lynn Gadon (born April 4, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She began her acting career guest-starring in a number of television series, such as ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1999), '' Mutant X'' (2002), and ''Dark Oracle'' (2004). She also ...

, and

Dominic Cooper Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in ...

. The film was directed by

Gary Shore Gary Shore is an Irish people, Irish film director, producer and screenwriter, best known for his directorial debut film ''Dracula Untold''. He has also directed commercials for a number of well-known brands including Gatorade, Adidas, and UGG A ...

and released in the United States by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

on October 10, 2014. Sazama and Sharpless also re-wrote Cory Goodman's original draft of the 2015 fantasy thriller film ''

'', starring

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Diesel began audition ...

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Wood ...

Rose Leslie Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie (born 9 February 1987) is a Scottish actress who rose to fame as Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series ''Downton Abbey'' and Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones''. She starred as Maia Rindell for thre ...

Julie Engelbrecht Julie Charon Engelbrecht (born 30 June 1984) is a French-born German actress. Early life Engelbrecht was born in Paris. She is the daughter of the actress Constanze Engelbrecht, and made her acting debut at 12 years old, appearing with her mot ...

, and

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

directed the film, which was released on October 23, 2015 by

Summit Entertainment Summit Entertainment is an American film production and distribution company. It is a label of Lionsgate Films, owned by Lionsgate Entertainment and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. History Independent era (1991–2012) Summit E ...

. In addition, Sazama and Sharpless wrote the screenplay for the fantasy action film ''

'', starring

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Nikolaj William Coster-Waldau (; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993, and had his breakthrough role in Denmark with the film '' Nightwatch'' (19 ...

Brenton Thwaites Brenton Thwaites (born 10 August 1989) is an Australian actor. Beginning his career in his home country in 2011, he had a starring role on the series ''Slide'' and later appeared on the soap opera ''Home and Away''. Since moving to the United S ...

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as ''Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Di ...

, and

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy ...

. The film, directed by

Alex Proyas Alexander Proyas (; Greek: Αλέξανδρος Πρόγιας; born 23 September 1963) is an Australian filmmaker of Greek descent. Proyas is best known for directing the films ''The Crow'' (1994), '' Dark City'' (1998), ''I, Robot'' (2004), ' ...

, was released on February 26, 2016 by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

. In November 2015,

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

announced a remake of the 1965 TV series ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'', hiring Sazama and Sharpless to write. Sazama and Sharpless contributed to the story of the 2017 ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...

'' reboot. In 2017, it was announced that

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

hired the duo to pen the script for the film adaptation of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

character,

Morbius, the Living Vampire Morbius the Living Vampire, real name Michael Alexander Morbius, Doctor of Medicine, M.D.,''Morbius the Living Vampire'' (vol. 1) #1. Marvel Comics. Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comi ...

. The movie is part of their shared universe titled Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. They are also set to write a film adaptation of

Madame Web Madame Web (Cassandra Webb) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #210, published November 1980, and was created by writer Denny O'Neil and artist J ...

for 2023.

Future projects

In June 2015,

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...

hired Sazama and Sharpless to write a live-action adaptation of the ''Night on Bald Mountain'' sequence from the 1940s animated film ''

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

'', which they would also executive produce.

Filmography

Film Television * ''

'' (2018–2021) (showrunners and executive producers)

References

External links

* * {{authority control American male writers American male screenwriters American screenwriters American television producers American television writers Screenwriting duos