Ruben Samuel Fleischer (born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director who lives in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

. He is best known as the director of ''

Zombieland ''Zombieland'' is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer in his theatrical debut and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film follows a geeky college student ( Jesse Eisenberg) making his wa ...

'' (2009), his first feature film, and its sequel '' Zombieland: Double Tap'' (2019). He has also directed the films '' 30 Minutes or Less'', '' Gangster Squad'', ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across th ...

'', and 2018's ''

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

'' featuring the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

character of the same name. Prior to features, he directed television commercials for such brands as

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

, and music videos for such artists as M.I.A.,

Electric Six Electric Six is a six-piece American rock band formed in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan. Their music was described by AllMusic as a combination of garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal. The band achieved recognition in 2003 with the sin ...

DJ Format Matt Ford, better known as DJ Format (a near-inversion of his birth name), is a hip hop DJ born in Southampton, England who lives in Brighton. He collaborates frequently with Abdominal on the album '' Music For the Mature B-Boy'' and with Abd ...

and Gold Chains.

Early life

Fleischer was born and raised in Washington, D.C, the son of Karen Lee (née Samuel) and David Elliot Fleischer, who is a physician at the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

in Arizona and a professor of medicine. His brother, Lucas, works in new media. His father was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, while his mother

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. " ...

. Fleischer was raised in

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

. After graduating with a major in history from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

, Fleischer moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he worked as a freelance HTML programmer, unsure what he wanted to do with his life.

Career

Taking the advice of close friend Mike White (also a Wesleyan graduate), Fleischer worked as a PA in the writers' office of ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. T ...

''. He eventually turned to directing and worked his way through the industry, tackling music videos and television commercials before landing his first feature film, ''

'', in 2009. His second feature, '' 30 Minutes or Less'', opened in theaters on August 12, 2011. Fleischer directed '' Gangster Squad'', a 2013 action thriller film, based on the special tactical group created by the LAPD to combat the

Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the ea ...

. He next directed ''

'', a film about

character

Eddie Brock Edward Charles Allan "Eddie" Brock is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, making a cameo appearance in ''Web of Spider-Man'' #18 (Se ...

, starring Tom Hardy; it was released on October 5, 2018. In 2019, he directed '' Zombieland: Double Tap'', reuniting the four original leads. In February 2020, he was hired to direct ''

'', based on the video game series of the same name. In September 2022, he was hired to direct '' Now You See Me 3''.

Filmography

Feature films

Producer * ''

Two Night Stand ''Two Night Stand'' is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Max Nichols, written by Mark Hammer, and starring Miles Teller, Lio Tipton, Jessica Szohr, Leven Rambin, and Scott Mescudi. On November 10, 2013, it was announced that there ...

'' (2014) * ''

Unicorn Store ''Unicorn Store'' is a 2017 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed and co-produced by Brie Larson (in her feature film directorial debut). It stars Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack, Bradley Whitford, Karan Soni, Mamoudou Athie, Mary ...

'' (2017) * ''

Bad Trip A bad trip (also known as challenging experiences, acute intoxication from hallucinogens, psychedelic crisis, or emergence phenomenon) is an acute adverse psychological reaction to classic hallucinogens. With proper screening, preparation, and su ...

'' (2021)

Television

Short films

Music videos

Commercials

Collaborations

Like many directors, Fleischer has worked with certain actors on two or more of his films:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischer, Ruben 1974 births American music video directors American Reform Jews Comedy film directors Film directors from San Francisco Film directors from Washington, D.C. Horror film directors Living people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from San Francisco Writers from Washington, D.C.