Eric Garcia (born 1972) is an American writer, the author of several novels including ''
Matchstick Men'' which was made into a
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
directed by
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades th ...
and starring
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
, and the ''
Anonymous Rex'' series, which was
adapted in 2004 for the
SciFi Channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
. He is also a screenwriter, with Garrett Lerner, of the 2010 film ''
Repo Men'', based on Garcia's novel ''The Repossession Mambo''. He is the creator and showrunner of the non-linear Netflix heist series
Kaleidoscope.
Career
Garcia attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
to study English and film, then transferred to the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
during his junior year. His first novel, ''Anonymous Rex'' was published in 1999.
The second novel in the Rex series, ''Casual Rex'', was published in 2001, and was a prequel to ''Anonymous Rex'', a fact which was not on the book flap. The inclusion of characters in ''Casual Rex'' who were dead in ''Anonymous Rex'' confused many fans, who assumed that the book was a sequel.
In 2002,
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
published ''Matchstick Men'', a novel completely different from Garcia's prior work.
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
had already purchased the film rights and signed Ridley Scott as the director, with
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
,
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as ''Lawn Dogs'' (1997 ...
and
Alison Lohman
Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American former actress. Born in Palm Springs, California, she began her career with small roles in short and independent films. Lohman headlined the drama film '' White Oleander'' (2002), wh ...
as the film's stars. The
film version, released in September 2003, received good reviews but was an average performer at the box office.
2004 was a busy year for Garcia. His third book in the Rex series, ''Hot And Sweaty Rex'', was published early in the year, and in June,
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
/
ReganBooks published ''Cassandra French's Finishing School For Boys'', a hard-core satire of the
chick-lit genre.
Also in 2004, the SciFi Channel showed the two-hour
TV-movie pilot for ''
Anonymous Rex'', which was based on ''Casual Rex'' but kept the name of the original book. The show received negative reviews from both critics and fans and was never made into a series.
In June 2009, it was announced that
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary CĂ©s ...
and
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
After making his f ...
would star in ''
Repo Men'', a movie co-written by Garcia with Garrett Lerner, a writer for
Fox Broadcasting
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...
's ''
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...
''. The movie is based on Garcia's 2009 original
paperback novel for HarperCollins, ''The Repossession Mambo''.
As of 2010, Garcia has also written an adaptation of
John Searles book ''Strange but True'', a thriller to be directed by Alex and David Pastor.
In 2012, Garcia wrote and executive-produced produce a pilot for a TV series adapted from his novel ''Cassandra French's Finishing School For Boys'' for MTV, along with actress
Krysten Ritter as a fellow exec. producer.
It did not go forward as a series.
In 2015, Garcia produced the horror film ''
The Autopsy of Jane Doe''.
In 2016, Garcia wrote and executive-produced "Cassandra French's Finishing School," an 8-episode series based on his own novel, and released by DirecTV and Fullscreen.
His adaptation of John Searles' novel "Strange But True" was produced in 2018, and was released in 2019 by CBS Films, starring Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Nick Robinson, Margaret Qualley, Blythe Danner, and Brian Cox.
On January 1, 2023, Netflix will release
Kaleidoscope, a non-linear heist thriller on which Garcia was showrunner and creator. This is his second project with
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades th ...
, who is an executive producer on the show.
Personal life
Eric Garcia married his wife, Sabrina, in 1995, and lives in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
with his wife, his children Bailey and Teddy, and their dogs.
Bibliography
Standalone Novels
* ''Matchstick Men'' (2002)
* ''Cassandra French's Finishing School For Boys'' (2004)
* ''The Repossession Mambo'' (2009), renamed ''Repo Men'' after film of same name was made from it
Anonymous Rex series
* ''Anonymous Rex'' (1999)
* ''Casual Rex'' (2001)
* ''Hot and Sweaty Rex'' (2004)
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*
Official website for Anonymous Rex TV showhosted by
Syfy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. La ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Eric
1972 births
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American humorists
American male novelists
Cornell University alumni
Living people
University of Southern California alumni
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers