Derick Martini is an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and an owner of commercial property and advertising billboards located in New York City.

Film and television

Martini's feature film writing credits include the coming of age story ''

Lymelife ''Lymelife'' is a 2008 American comedy-drama film written by brothers Derick Martini and Steven Martini, and directed by Derick Martini, depicting aspects of their life in 1970s Long Island from a teenager's perspective. It stars Alec Baldwin, Rory ...

'' starring

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991 Additional on October 9, 2016) is an American actress. Known for her work in film and television projects of the horror film, horror and thriller (genre), thriller genres, she has received List of awar ...

and

Rory Culkin Rory Hugh Culkin (born July 21, 1989) is an American actor who is known for his roles in ''Scream 4'', ''Lords of Chaos (film), Lords of Chaos'', ''You Can Count on Me'', ''Columbus (2017 film), Columbus'', and M. Night Shyamalan's ''Signs (2002 ...

, which he wrote with his brother Steven Martini. ''Lymelife'' marked Martini's directorial debut and premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in September 2008, where it won the

International Federation of Film Critics The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

(FIPRESCI) Award for best film. Martini also received a nomination for Breakthrough Director from the 2009

Gotham Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

for the film. ''Lymelife'' was filmed in 22 days and on a budget of 1.5 million dollars.

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

, a producer of ''Lymelife'', is a champion of Martini's work. At the time, Martini was the youngest filmmaker to ever win the prestigious

(FIPRESCI) award. Before turning to directing Martini script doctored numerous studio feature films for which he is uncredited. Martini's other feature film credits include 2000's ''

Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire ''Smiling Fish And Goat On Fire'' is a film about brothers, made by brothers Derick Martini and Steven Martini who wrote, produced and portrayed two brothers, and directed by Kevin Jordan, writer/director of '' Brooklyn Lobster''. Martin Scorsese ...

'', written, produced and starring both he and his brother Steven Martini. It premiered at the

where it won the festival's Discovery Award; and went on to a theatrical release. ''Bolden'', a full-length feature film he co-wrote with the director

Daniel Pritzker Daniel Pritzker (born 1959) is an American billionaire heir, musician, film director, and member of the Pritzker family. Early life Pritzker was born to a Jewish family, the son of Marian (née Friend) and Jay Pritzker. He is the grandson of A ...

depicting the life of obscure jazz legend

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an African American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later c ...

; and ''Louis'', a black and white

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

chronicling the early days of

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and his quest to acquire his first trumpet. '' Hick'', his second feature film as a director, is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name and stars

Chloë Grace Moretz Chloë Grace Moretz (; born February 10, 1997) is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including four MTV Movie & TV Awards, two People's Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and two Young Artist Awards. She began actin ...

Eddie Redmayne Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards. He ...

and

Blake Lively Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...

. Its author, Andrea Portes, adapted her own work for the screen. ''Hick'' premiered at the

on September 10, 2011, to extremely divisive critical and audience responses. In a negative review,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

praised Martini as a "gifted filmmaker", but questioned the point of the film. The film was released theatrically in 2012 by

Phase 4 Films Phase 4 Films was a Canadian film distribution company based in Toronto. It had two branches in the United States: Los Angeles, California and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Its subsidiary kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment. Histo ...

. Martini dropped out of film school and was invited to develop his film

The Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...

Filmmaker's Lab where he met

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

who was cast as the lead character of Scott for the experimental scenes. When the film was ready to go into production, Martini and Culkin felt he was too old to play the lead character. Martini, an avid fan of Kieran's younger brother

was cast as Scott and Martini offered the role of Scott's older brother, Jimmy, to Kieran. Martini became so attached to the idea of real brothers playing brothers in the film, he has said that he could never have made the film as well as he did without the real sibling dynamic Kieran and Rory brought to the project. After "Lymelife" premiered to raves and an award and was picked up for theatrical distribution in 2008 at the

, Martini pushed for the film go unreleased until the programmers at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, to whom Martini was very grateful, got a chance to see the film and decide if they wanted to put it in their line up despite it not being considered a "premiere". The programmers chose to invite the film to show at the 2009

where it again garnered more raves but caused its theatrical release to be delayed until April 29, 2009. His television credits include the

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

-produced television series ''

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...

'', and a remake of

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the '' Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into m ...

's ''

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 ...

''.

Personal life

Martini married actress

Amy Hathaway Amy Hathaway (born 1974) is an American actress. She has appeared in the films ''Mutts'', and '' Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects''. She had major co-starring roles in ''Last Exit to Earth'', '' Joyride'', and ''Gemini Rising''. She is also known fo ...

in 2001 and divorced her in 2003.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martini, Derick American male screenwriters English-language film directors Living people American male film actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) Year of birth missing (living people)