Daniel Waters (born November 10, 1962) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is the older brother of director

Mark Waters Mark Stephen Waters (born June 30, 1964) is an American filmmaker who directed the comedy films '' Freaky Friday'', ''Mean Girls ''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film ...

Early life

Waters was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in South Bend, Indiana. In high school, Waters wrote a popular column titled "Troubled Waters" for his high school newspaper, where he wrote fictitious stories about his real-life classmates—not unlike the writing that appeared in his screenplay for ''Heathers''. He then wrote, directed and starred alongside

Larry Karaszewski Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer * Larry Boon ...

in a local sketch comedy titled ''Beyond Our Control'' in the early 1980s. Waters moved to Montreal where he graduated from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...

. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, and was the manager of a video store.

Screenwriting credits

Waters came to prominence in 1988 for writing the black comedy ''

Heathers ''Heathers'' is a 1989 American black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, an ...

'', for which he received a 1990

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

. ''Heathers'' was an attempt for him to write of the true nature of teenagers and high-school society. ''Heathers'' was not a box-office hit for Waters when it was released, but the movie has become a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. Over the next four years, Waters served as co-writer on the comedy ''

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane ''The Adventures of Ford Fairlane'' is a 1990 American action comedy mystery film directed by Renny Harlin and written by David Arnott, James Cappe, and Daniel Waters based on a story by Arnott and Cappe. The film stars comedian Andrew Di ...

'', wrote the sequel '' Batman Returns'', and then wrote the films '' Hudson Hawk'' (for which he re-teamed with ''Heathers'' director Michael Lehmann) and '' Demolition Man.'' He received the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay for both ''Hudson Hawk'' and ''Ford Fairlane''. In 1995, he authored the first draft of the ''

Catwoman Catwoman is a fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in ''Batman'' #1 (spring 1940), she is ...

'' solo movie. The story about Selina moving to a Vegas-like city called 'Oasisburg' and fighting parodies of male superheroes failed to resonate with

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

or anyone at Warner.

Turn as a director

In 2001, Waters made his directorial debut with '' Happy Campers'', another teen comedy in a black vein that, after a long delay, was released straight to DVD. His follow-up, ''

Sex and Death 101 ''Sex and Death 101'' is a 2007 dark comedy science fiction film written and directed by Daniel Waters, released in the United States on April 4, 2008. The film marks the reunion of writer/director Daniel Waters and Winona Ryder, who previously ...

'', a hybrid of science fiction,

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

, and romantic thriller, won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director at the 2007

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

. It was released theatrically on April 4, 2008 in New York and Los Angeles. The film re-teamed Waters with ''Heathers'' star

Winona Ryder Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...

Filmography

*''

'' (1988) *''

'' (with James Cappe and David Arnott) (1990) *'' Hudson Hawk'' (with

Steven E. de Souza Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

) (1991) *'' Batman Returns'' (with Wesley Strick) (1992) *'' Demolition Man'' (with Robert Reneau and Peter M. Lenkov) (1993) *'' Happy Campers'' (2001) (also director) *''

'' (2007) (also director) *'' Vampire Academy'' (2014)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Daniel 1962 births Living people 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American screenwriters American male screenwriters Edgar Award winners Film directors from Ohio McGill University alumni Screenwriters from Ohio Writers from Cleveland