Denise Di Novi (born March 21, 1956) is an American film producer and director.
Early life
The daughter of jazz musician
Gene DiNovi, when Di Novi was three years old her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father made music for the TV shows of
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...
,
Dick Van Dyke and
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characte ...
. In the late 1960s, the family moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
, Canada.
Career
Di Novi studied communications at
Simmons College in
, and received a degree in
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
. After working as a copy editor at the ''
National Observer'' and staff writer for
Canada AM
''Canada AM'' was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, an ...
, she became a reporter for Toronto's
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television A ...
, but quit in 1980, taking a job as a unit publicist for ''
Final Assignment
''Final Assignment'' is a 1980 Canadian thriller drama film, written by Marc Rosen and directed by Paul Almond.Gerald Pratley, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 77.
Plot
In this complex spy caper, Nicole (Geneviève Bujold ...
''. She became a principal in the Montreal-based production company Filmplan International, acting in various production capacities on nine major studio releases, including ''
Scanners
''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathic ...
'' (1981) and ''
Videodrome
''Videodrome'' is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF televisi ...
'' (1983). In 1983, Filmplan relocated to Los Angeles and merged with Arnold Kopelson's Film Packages.
Di Novi joined
New World Pictures
New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...
as Executive Vice President of production. She later shifted into an overall deal as an independent producer, producing ''
Heathers
''Heathers'' is a 1989 American black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, ...
'' (1988) starring
Winona Ryder
Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...
. Di Novi then headed
Tim Burton Productions
Tim Burton Productions is an American film production company, founded by Tim Burton in the late 1980s. Denise Di Novi once headed the banner from 1989 to 1996. The company was not usually credited on films directed or produced by Burton.
Film ...
and was responsible for producing several films. She set up her own production company, Di Novi Pictures, in 1993, at
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
. She then entered into a producing deal with
Warner Brothers Pictures.
Di Novi has produced 35 films. These include six from her partnership with
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
, ''
Edward Scissorhands
''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American fantasy romance film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Anthony ...
'' (1990), ''
Batman Returns
''Batman Returns'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton and written by Daniel Waters. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman'' (1989) and the second installment in the 1989–1997 ''Batman ...
'' (1992), ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas
''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American Stop motion, stop-motion animated film, animated musical film, musical dark fantasy, dark fantasy film directed by Henry Seli ...
'' (1993), ''
Cabin Boy
''Cabin Boy'' is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film, directed by Adam Resnick and co-produced by Tim Burton, which starred comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for ''Late Night with Davi ...
'' (1994), ''
Ed Wood
Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker,
actor, and pulp novel author.
In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cl ...
'' (also 1994) and ''
James and the Giant Peach
''James and the Giant Peach'' is a popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of i ...
'' (1996). She produced four films based on books by
Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and philanthropist. He has published twenty-three novels and two non-fiction books, some of which have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers, with over 115 m ...
, ''
Message in a Bottle
A message in a bottle (abbrev. MIB) is a form of communication in which a message is sealed in a container (typically a bottle) and released into a conveyance medium (typically a body of water).
Messages in bottles have been used to send distres ...
'' (1999), ''
A Walk to Remember
''A Walk to Remember'' is a 2002 American coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Adam Shankman and written by Karen Janszen, based on Nicholas Sparks' 1999 novel of the same name. The film stars Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote and ...
'' (2002), ''
Nights in Rodanthe'' (2008) and ''
The Lucky One'' (2012).
For four years, Di Novi was executive producer of ''
The District
''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department.
...
'', a
CBS primetime series created by
Terry George
Terence George (born 20 December 1952) is an Irish screenwriter and director. Much of his film work (e.g. ''The Boxer'', '' Some Mother's Son'', and '' In the Name of the Father'') involves "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland.
He was nominated ...
. Di Novi made her directorial debut on the thriller ''
Unforgettable
Unforgettable may refer to:
Film
* ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta
* ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film
* ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film
* ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...
'' (2017), for Warner Bros.
Filmography
She was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Film
;As director
;Miscellaneous crew
;Script and continuity department
;Thanks
Television
;As executive producer
;As director
;Thanks
References
External links
*
Profile of Di Novi Lukeford.net
Profile of Di Novi Filmbug.com
''Movieline'' 1994 profile article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Novi, Denise
1956 births
Living people
American film producers
American film directors of Italian descent
People from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles
Simmons University alumni
Film producers from California
American women film producers
American women film directors
Film directors from Los Angeles
21st-century American women