Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and animator, best known for the cult horror film ''

Trick 'r Treat ''Trick 'r Treat'' is a 2007 American anthology horror comedy film written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer. The film stars Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. It relates four Halloween horror ...

'' (2007), and the monster film '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' (2019).

Early life

Dougherty was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He attended the Tisch School of Arts at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, which is where he produced his 1996 short film ''Season's Greetings''. He is of Vietnamese descent on his mother's side.

Career

Dougherty made his directorial and writing debut with the animated short film ''

Season's Greetings The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novembe ...

'', which was released in 1996. Dougherty went on to co-write several screenplays, including the superhero sequel '' X2'', which was released in 2003. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2005 supernatural horror film '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'', and ''

Superman Returns ''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris (screenwriter), Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris based on the DC Comics character Superman. I ...

'', which was released in 2006. Dougherty made his feature directorial debut with the cult horror anthology film ''

''. It played at several film festivals, before being released on DVD on October 6, 2009 in the US and Canada. It received acclaim and went on to gain a cult following in subsequent years. The short film ''Season's Greetings'', which was the precursor to ''Trick 'r Treat'', was released as a DVD extra and was aired on

FEARnet Fearnet was an American digital cable television network, website and video on demand service owned by Comcast. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films. Backgr ...

in October 2013 as part of a 24-hour ''Trick 'r Treat'' marathon on Halloween. In December 2014, he began work on the Christmas horror film ''

Krampus Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in the Central and Eastern Alpine folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral tra ...

'', which was released to moderate critical and commercial success in December 2015. He also co-wrote the story for the film '' X-Men: Apocalypse'' (2016). Dougherty directed the science fiction sequel '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', for which he wrote the script with Zach Shields, from a story by himself, Shields, and

Max Borenstein Max Borenstein (born June 20, 1981) is an American screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the ''MonsterVerse'' film series featuring classic Kaiju of Toho's Godzilla mythos, including writing ''Godzilla'' (2014) and '' Kong: Skull Isl ...

. The film was released in 2019, to mixed reviews and grossed $386 million worldwide. In April 2020,

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 ...

was announced to be developing a ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

'' television series that would serve as "an elevated continuation and expansion" of its mythology, with

Mark Verheiden Mark Verheiden (born March 26, 1956) is an American television, movie, and comic-book writer. He was a co-executive producer for the television series '' Falling Skies'' for DreamWorks Television and the TNT network. Career Comics and comic-r ...

and Dougherty writing and

David Gordon Green David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He directed the dramas ''George Washington'' (2000), ''All the Real Girls'' (2003), and '' Snow Angels'' (2007), as well as the thriller '' Undertow'' (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote. In 2 ...

directing several episodes. The three will executive produce with

Danny McBride Daniel Richard McBride (born December 29, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. He starred in the HBO television series ''Eastbound & Down'', '' Vice Principals'', and ''The Righteous Gemstones'', also co-creating th ...

Jody Hill Jody Hill (born October 15, 1976) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. In 2006, he directed, co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in his first film '' The Foot Fist Way'', which he based on his experience as a Taekwondo b ...

Brandon James Brandon Keith James (born December 21, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver and kick returner. James played college football for the University of Florida, was a two-time All-American, and was a member of two BCS National Champions ...

and

Roy Lee Roy Lee (born March 23, 1969) is an American film producer. Lee's production company, Vertigo Entertainment, has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Early life Lee was born in 1969 at Wyckoff Heights Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York, to Korean p ...

Vertigo Entertainment Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison. History In 2001, after leaving BenderSpink, Roy Lee started Vertigo Entertainment with partner Doug ...

. Dougherty also co-wrote the story for '' Godzilla vs. Kong'' with Zach Shields and

Terry Rossio Terry Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter. He co-wrote the films ''Aladdin'', ''Shrek'', and all five of the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Shrek' ...

. The film was released in May 2021 to generally positive reviews and grossed over $468 million worldwide.

Filmography

Story credits

Comic books

Bryan Singer, Dougherty and Dan Harris provided the plots to four comic book prequels to ''

''. The four forty-page comic book prequels were published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

throughout the month of June 2006 and bridged the gap between the second Superman film and ''Superman Returns''. In 2015, with Todd Casey, Zach Shields and Marc Andeyko, Dougherty co-wrote and created a comic book tie in to ''

'', titled ''Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead''. It featured four new short stories, spanning centuries. They depict a variety of characters and cultures, going back to the holiday's roots in ancient Ireland. Later that year, with Casey, Zach and Laura Shields, Dougherty published a tie-in to ''

'', titled ''Krampus: Shadows of Saint Nicholas''. It features three stories which expand the mythology of the

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dougherty, Michael 1974 births Living people Horror film directors American male screenwriters Film directors from Ohio Writers from Columbus, Ohio American comics writers Tisch School of the Arts alumni Screenwriters from Ohio Weird fiction writers