Martin Hynes is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and film producer.

Life and career

Hynes was born and raised in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, and has a bachelor's degree in history from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Hynes wrote and directed ''

The Go-Getter "The Go-Getter" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the March 1931 issue of ''Cosmopolitan'' (as "Sales Resistance"), and in the United Kingdom in the August 1931 ''Strand''. Part of the Blandings ...

'', starring

Lou Taylor Pucci Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Speci ...

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for he ...

Jena Malone Jena Laine Malone (; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress, musician, and photographer. Known for her roles in both independent films and mainstream blockbuster features, she has received numerous accolades, including nominations for a ...

, and

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...

, which premiered to critical acclaim 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 ...

. He co-wrote the story for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning ''

Toy Story 4 ''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' ( ...

'' Hynes is collaborating with

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

on "Atlantis" - a feature film musical - at

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 ...

, and has written the film adaptation of

Kate DiCamillo Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including ''Because of Winn-Dixie'', '' The Tiger Rising'', ''The Tale of Despereaux'', ''The Miraculous Journey ...

's novel, '' The Magician's Elephant'', to be released by

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 ...

in 2022. As an actor, Hynes starred as a young

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

in the short film ''

George Lucas in Love ''George Lucas in Love'' is a 1999 American parodical short film directed by Joe Nussbaum. A parody of ''Shakespeare in Love'', it depicts a young George Lucas and his real-life inspirations behind the characters and plot of ''Star Wars''. Upon ...

'', for which he received a Best Actor award in San Sebastián. Prior to this, he wrote the script ''Stealing Stanford'', which served as the inspiration for the film ''

Stealing Harvard ''Stealing Harvard'' is a 2002 American crime comedy film directed by Bruce McCulloch and written by Martin Hynes and Peter Tolan, about a man who resorts to crime to pay for his niece's Harvard tuition. The film stars Jason Lee and Tom Green w ...

'', although many changes were made to the script that were contrary to Hynes's wishes.Martin Hynes - Biography
His first film, ''Al as in Al'' was written and filmed while Hynes was a student at the

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

graduate film school, which he attended on the

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 ...

Fellowship. ''Al as in Al'' premiered at

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and was chosen by USC as one of the best films in the film school's history

References

External links

* American male screenwriters American film directors American male film actors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Male actors from Eugene, Oregon Columbia College (New York) alumni Screenwriters from Oregon Businesspeople from Eugene, Oregon {{US-film-bio-stub