Evangelos Spiliotopoulos ( el, Ευάγγελος Σπηλιωτόπουλος; born c. 1973) is a Greek-American screenwriter, film producer, and film director.

Early life

Spiliotopoulos was born in Greece, and graduated from high school there. Soon after, he moved to the United States and attended the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

to get an undergraduate degree in film theory; he then attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

for a master's degree in screenwriting. After moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1995, his first job in the industry was in a television film ''Trial by Fire'' as an intern.

Career

In the 2000s, Spiliotopoulos wrote several animated projects for

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 ...

. He was attached to write a prequel of to the classic animated ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' film. However, the project was finally cancelled when

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

was acquired by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in 2006. In April 2009, Spiliotopoulos was set to write the screenplay for the action film ''Wanted 2'', a sequel to the 2008 film '' Wanted''. In June 2013, Universal acquired the remake rights to the Japanese 2007 anime film ''

Vexille is a 2007 Japanese CGI anime film, written, directed, and edited by Fumihiko Sori, and features the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Yasuko Matsuyuki, and Shosuke Tanihara. At the 60th Locarno International Film Festival, where ''Vexille'' made its wor ...

'' and set Spiliotopoulos to write the screenplay. In July 2014, Spiliotopoulos was hired by

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 ...

to write the script for the 2014 novel ''Seven Wonders'' written by

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Schoo ...

. Spiliotopoulos had already rewritten the script of the horror film ''

Ouija The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and grap ...

'', but his draft wasn't used in the film. In 2014, Spiliotopoulos re-wrote the screenplay for the action-adventure fantasy film ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

'', originally written by Ryan J. Condal.

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, ''The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several films ...

directed the film which released on July 25, 2014 by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. Spiliotopoulos wrote the screenplay of action-adventure fantasy film '' The Huntsman: Winter's War'', along with

Craig Mazin Craig Mazin (born April 8, 1971) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for creating the five-part HBO miniseries ''Chernobyl (miniseries), Chernobyl'', based on the Chernobyl disaster, nuclear disaster of the same name in ...

, and rewritten by

Frank Darabont Frank Árpád Darabont (born Ferenc Árpád Darabont, January 28, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In his early career, he was primarily a sc ...

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (born 9 March 1969) is a French film director and visual effects artist. Filmography Director * ''Carrot vs Ninja'' (2011) (Short film) * '' The Huntsman: Winter's War '' (2016) * ''Kate'' (2021) Second Unit Director * ''Sn ...

directed the film, which was released on April 22, 2016 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 ...

. Spiliotopoulos and

Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky (; born January 25, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film producer, film director, novelist, television writer, and television producer. He is best-known for writing the bestselling coming-of-age novel ''The Perks of Being a Wal ...

wrote Disney's live action musical romantic fantasy film ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'', which was directed by

Bill Condon William Condon (born October 22, 1955) is an American director and screenwriter. Condon is known for writing and/or directing numerous successful and acclaimed films including '' Gods and Monsters'', ''Chicago'', '' Kinsey'', ''Dreamgirls'', ' ...

. The film was released on March 17, 2017. Spiliotopoulos received a "story by" credit, with David Auburn, for the ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...

'' reboot film of 2019, which was written and directed by

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...

. In 2021, Spiliotopoulos' directorial debut, the horror film '' The Unholy'' was released.

Filmography

Theatrical release

Direct-to-video

Television

References

External links

*
Evan Spiliotopoulos Interview
wit
Scripts & Scribes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiliotopoulos, Evan 1970s births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American male screenwriters American writers of Greek descent Greek emigrants to the United States Greek screenwriters Living people Screenwriters from California Writers from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people)