Tobias Iaconis is a
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
screenwriter. His writing partner is
Mikki Daughtry
Mikki Daughtry is an American screenwriter and young adult fiction author. She is best known for writing, along with writing partner Tobias Iaconis, the films ''The Curse of La Llorona'' (2019), '' Five Feet Apart'' (2019) and '' Nightbooks'' (2021 ...
. He is best known for writing, with Daughtry, the films ''
The Curse of La Llorona
''The Curse of La Llorona'' (also known as ''The Curse of the Weeping Woman'' in some markets) is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves, in List of directorial debuts#2019, his feature directorial debut, and writte ...
'' (2019), ''
Five Feet Apart
''Five Feet Apart'' is a 2019 American romantic drama film directed by Justin Baldoni (in his directorial debut) and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. The film was inspired by Claire Wineland, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. H ...
'' (2019) and ''
Nightbooks
''Nightbooks'' is a 2021 American dark fantasy film directed by David Yarovesky and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. It is based on the 2018 horror-fantasy children's book of the same name by J. A. White. The film stars Winslow Fe ...
'' (2021).
Early life
Iaconis was born in Germany, to a German mother and an American father. A dual citizen, he grew up outside of the city of
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...
, attending U.S.
Department of Defense Dependents Schools
The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) are a network of schools, both primary and secondary, that serve the dependents of United States military and civilian United States Department of Defense (DoD) personnel in three areas of the ...
. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the United States to attend
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
, where he studied English literature with a concentration in creative writing.
Career
In 2009, Iaconis was the writer of ''
Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia'' for
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
, starring
Joe Manganiello
Joseph Michael Manganiello ( ; , ; born December 28, 1976) is an American actor. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man''. His breakout role was as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in five seasons of ...
and
Ken Anderson. Previously he had written an unproduced sequel to ''
Timecop
''Timecop'' is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on '' Timecop'', a story created by Richar ...
'' for
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
, and in 2010 he wrote an unproduced sequel to
''Shooter'' for
Paramount Famous Productions.
After partnering with
Mikki Daughtry
Mikki Daughtry is an American screenwriter and young adult fiction author. She is best known for writing, along with writing partner Tobias Iaconis, the films ''The Curse of La Llorona'' (2019), '' Five Feet Apart'' (2019) and '' Nightbooks'' (2021 ...
in 2012, they adapted the
Jack Kilborn action-horror novel ''Afraid'', for
Vincent Newman
Vincent Newman (born 1965) is an American film producer.
Filmography
Producer
*''Soundman'' (1998) (co-producer)
*''The Last Marshal'' (1999) (producer)
*''A Better Way to Die'' (2000) (executive producer)
*''In the Shadows'' (2001) (producer)
...
Entertainment.
In 2013, their script ''Elsewhere'' made the
Black List
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
(a survey of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays, as voted on by more than 250 studio execs).
In 2014, Daughtry and Iaconis were hired to write an English-language remake of ''
Sleep Tight'' (Spanish: ''
Mientras duermes'', "While You Sleep"), a Spanish thriller-horror film directed by
Jaume Balagueró
Jaume Balagueró Bernat (; born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish film director widely known for his horror films, most notably the acclaimed ''REC'' series.
Early life
Balagueró was born in Lleida, Spain, and grew up in Barcelona. He studied ...
.
In 2015, Daughtry and Iaconis sold a pitch, ''The Children'', to
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
. The film began principal photography in October 2017, with stars
Linda Cardellini
Linda Edna Cardellini (born June 25, 1975) is an American actress. In television, she is known for her leading roles in the teen drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), the medical drama '' ER'' (2003–09), the drama thriller ''Bloodline'' (2 ...
,
Raymond Cruz
Raymond Cruz (born July 9, 1961) is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Detective Julio Sanchez in the series '' The Closer'' and its spinoff '' Major Crimes'', as well as his recurring role as drug lord Tuco Salamanca in ...
,
Patricia Velasquez
Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...
, Jaynee Lynne Kinchen, and Roman Christou, and
Michael Chaves
Michael Chaves (born November 3, 1984) is an American filmmaker and visual effects artist, best known for his work on the miniseries '' Chase Champion'' and the theatrical films ''The Curse of La Llorona'', '' The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me ...
directing. In July 2018, the movie's final title was announced as ''
The Curse of La Llorona
''The Curse of La Llorona'' (also known as ''The Curse of the Weeping Woman'' in some markets) is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves, in List of directorial debuts#2019, his feature directorial debut, and writte ...
'', and the film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 15, 2019, where it was revealed to be a part of
''The Conjuring'' cinematic universe. The movie was released theatrically on April 19, 2019. Reviews were largely unfavorable, but the movie far exceeded opening-weekend box office expectations and was the top-grossing film, both domestically and internationally, that weekend. It has earned $123M worldwide on a production budget of $9M, and received a
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
of "B−", which is considered high for a movie in the horror genre.
In January 2017, Daughtry and Iaconis sold a young adult-themed pitch, ''
Five Feet Apart
''Five Feet Apart'' is a 2019 American romantic drama film directed by Justin Baldoni (in his directorial debut) and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. The film was inspired by Claire Wineland, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. H ...
,'' to
CBS Films
CBS Films Inc. was an American film production and distribution company founded in 2007 as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation and was considered a mini-major studio up until 2019.
CBS Films originally was planned to distribute, develop and prod ...
, for
Justin Baldoni
Justin Louis Baldoni (born January 24, 1984) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for portraying Rafael Solano on The CW satirical romantic dramedy '' Jane the Virgin'' (2014–2019) as well as directing the films '' Five Feet ...
to produce and direct.
Cole Sprouse
Cole Mitchell Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) is an American actor and photographer. He is known for his role as Cody Martin on the Disney Channel series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' (2005–2008) and its spin-off series ''The Suite Life on ...
(in the first film role of his adult career) and
Haley Lu Richardson
Haley Lu Richardson (born March 7, 1995) is an American actress. Following early television roles on the Disney Channel sitcom ''Shake It Up'' (2013) and the ABC Family supernatural drama '' Ravenswood'' (2013–2014), she acted in the coming-o ...
starred, with
Moisés Arias
Moisés Arias (born April 18, 1994), is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Rico in the Disney Channel series '' Hannah Montana'', Biaggio in the 2013 Sundance film ''The Kings of Summer'', Cokestraw in the 2019 SXSW comedy-dra ...
in a supporting role, and Academy Award-winner
Cathy Schulman
Cathy Schulman (born 1965) is an American film producer.
A graduate of Yale University, Schulman's screen credits include ''Isn't She Great'', ''Sidewalks of New York (2001 film), Sidewalks of New York'', ''Employee of the Month (2004 film), Em ...
producing. The film commenced principal photography in May 2018, and was released on March 15, 2019. Reviews were mixed, but the movie received a
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
of "A" and out-performed box office expectations, earning over $92M world-wide on a production budget of $7M. A novel based upon the screenplay, written by Rachael Lippincott with Daughtry and Iaconis, was published by Simon & Schuster on November 20, 2018, became a number-one
New York Times Best Seller
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
, and won the 2019
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...
' Choice Awards for Best Young Adult Fiction.
In November 2017, Daughtry and Iaconis were included in The Young and Hungry List 2017 (a list of Hollywood's top 100 new writers).
In March 2019, Daughtry and Iaconis were hired by
CBS Films
CBS Films Inc. was an American film production and distribution company founded in 2007 as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation and was considered a mini-major studio up until 2019.
CBS Films originally was planned to distribute, develop and prod ...
to write the screenplay based on the social media sensation Esther the Wonder Pig. Jack Leslie, and
Lauren Shuler Donner
Lauren Diane Shuler Donner (born June 23, 1949) is an American film producer, who specializes in mainstream youth and family-oriented entertainment. She owned The Donners' Company with her late husband, director Richard Donner. Her films have g ...
of the Donners’ Company, are producing. The film will follow the true story of how a couple adopts what they believe to be a five-pound pigmy pig, which then grows to 650 pounds, inspiring the local community and millions of online followers in the process.
In June 2019, Daughtry and Iaconis signed on to pen the screenplay for
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 ...
's film adaptation of the children's fantasy-horror book, ''
Nightbooks
''Nightbooks'' is a 2021 American dark fantasy film directed by David Yarovesky and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. It is based on the 2018 horror-fantasy children's book of the same name by J. A. White. The film stars Winslow Fe ...
'', by author J. A. White. The movie was produced by
Sam Raimi
Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1 ...
and Romel Adam of
Ghost House Pictures
Ghost House Pictures is an American film production company that was founded in 2002 by Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi, which usually co-produces films with Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane. The company produces horror films such as ''Don't Breathe'', ...
, and
Mason Novick
Mason Novick (born December 20, 1974) is an American film producer and talent manager based in Los Angeles.
Background
Career
His credits include '' Red Eye'' (2005), '' Juno'' (2007), ''(500) Days of Summer'' (2009) and ''Jennifer's Body'' ( ...
and Michelle Knudsen of MXN Entertainment. The story follows Alex, a boy obsessed with scary stories, who is trapped by a witch in her modern, magical New York City apartment; Alex's original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping him safe.
David Yarovesky directed the film, with a cast that includes
Krysten Ritter
Krysten Alyce Ritter (born December 16, 1981) is an American actress and model. She came to prominence when she appeared as Jane Margolis in the AMC drama series '' Breaking Bad'' (2009–2010) and its spinoff film '' El Camino'' (2019). She the ...
,
Winslow Fegley
Winslow Burke Fegley (born January 23, 2009) is an American child actor. He has starred in the films '' Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made'' (2020), ''Nightbooks'', '' 8-Bit Christmas'' (both 2021), and '' Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile'' (2022).
Life a ...
, and Lidya Jewett. ''Nightbooks'' premiered on Netflix, in nearly 190 countries, on September 15, 2021, and at its peak was the second-most-viewed Netflix film in the world. It holds a
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
Tomatometer score of 87%.
In 2021, Daughtry and Iaconis were hired to adapt "The Hallowed Ones," a novel by Lauren Bickle, for producer Emile Gladstone. The story involves an apocalyptic contagion infecting the world outside an Amish teenager's (Katie) idyllic village, turning humans into monstrous predators. Katie must challenge the laws of her religious community in order to save the lives of those she loves.
Upcoming work
In July 2019, ''All This Time'', a follow-up to the New York Times Best Selling book, ''Five Feet Apart'', was announced, written by Mikki Daughtry with Rachael Lippincott. In February 2020, the book's cover was revealed, and an excerpt published. That same month,
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...
optioned the film rights to the book, and hired Daughtry and Iaconis to adapt the book for film; Daughtry and Iaconis will additionally serve as Executive Producers.
The novel was released on September 29, 2020, and became a
New York Times Best Seller
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
. In ''All This Time'', a former high school quarterback, Kyle, is left grief-stricken by the tragic loss of his girlfriend, Kimberly, following a car crash. He eventually begins a cautious romance with an intriguing, creative girl, Marley. As strange events begin to unfold around him, Kyle comes to realize that his life with Marley might not be all that it seems.
In July 2020, it was announced that Daughtry and Iaconis are writing the screenplay for what might be another installment in the ''
Dirty Dancing
''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Houseman ...
'' film franchise, for
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...
.
Jonahan Levine and Gillian Bohrer are producing;
Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey (born March 26, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut with the film ''Reckless'' (1984), and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986). She subsequently earned worldwide ...
, who played the teenager Baby in the original movie, is executive producing. The movie is said to be set in the 1990s. In August 2022, it was confirmed that the movie is indeed a sequel to ''
Dirty Dancing
''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Houseman ...
'', with
Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey (born March 26, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut with the film ''Reckless'' (1984), and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986). She subsequently earned worldwide ...
starring and
Jonathan Levine
Jonathan LeVine is an American art dealer, instrumental in the proliferation of lowbrow and street art on the East Coast of the United States.
About
LeVine grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. As a teenager, he encountered punk rock music and the p ...
directing, and in June 2022,
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...
set a release date of February 9, 2024, with Levine directing a screenplay written by Daughtry, Iaconis,
Elizabeth Chomko
Elizabeth Chomko (born 1981) is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter and actress best known for the film ''What They Had.''
Early life
Chomko grew up in Chicago, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her family moved to Belgium when she ...
, and himself.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iaconis, Tobias
1971 births
Living people
American male screenwriters
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male writers
American people of German descent
Haverford College alumni