Dan Gilroy

Early life and education

Dan Gilroy was born on June 24, 1959, in Santa Monica, California. He is the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy, and sculptor and writer Ruth Dorothy Gaydos. His brother, Tony, is a screenwriter and director, and his fraternal twin brother, John, is a film editor. Dan Gilroy remembered that as a boy, seeing his father work and write at home full-time simplified the intricacies of becoming a writer.

Gilroy grew up in Washingtonville, New York, where he attended Washingtonville High School. In 1981, he graduated with a degree in English literature from Dartmouth College, which his father also attended. At Dartmouth, he and Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr were classmates and attended a class taught by David Thomson, another film critic. Gilroy developed a strong interest in written works of the Victorian era—chiefly those of Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and George Eliot.

Career

Gilroy's debut novel, a thriller titled Sight Unseen, was published by Carroll & Graf Publishers in 1989. It tells the story of an NSA satellite analyst who discovers a sunken Russian submarine off the coast of California containing the remains of American sailors. Reviewing for The New York Times, Newgate Callendar called the novel "a clever, smoothly written piece of work that is never dull."

Gilroy began his screenwriting career by co-writing the science fiction thriller Freejack (1992) with Steven Pressfield and Ronald Shusett, directed by Geoff Murphy and based on the novel Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley. There, he met the film's co-star Rene Russo, whom he married later that year. After Freejack, he wrote for the films Chasers (1994), Two for the Money (2005), and The Fall (2006). In his positive review of Two for the Money, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said Gilroy's script "is about three people who are transformed in relation to one another, as a situation develops that is equally dangerous all the way around".

With Jeremy Leven, he co-wrote for Real Steel (2011), directed by Shawn Levy and based on Richard Matheson's short story "Steel". He co-wrote with his brother Tony Gilroy the script for The Bourne Legacy (2012), which was edited by his fraternal twin brother, John Gilroy. Directed by Tony Gilroy, the film is inspired by Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne novel series. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times described the Gilroys' script as something that "has given [Tony] much more to wrangle—locations, characters, hardware, franchise expectations—than he's had to deal with in the past", while Toronto Star reviewer Peter Howell said it resorted "too much into jabbering and jargon and not enough into action".

Gilroy made his directorial debut with the thriller Nightcrawler (2014), which starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, and Riz Ahmed. Gilroy also wrote the script, which he conceived in 1988 after reading the photo-book Naked City, a collection of photographs taken by American photographer Weegee of 1940s New York City residents at night. Gilroy did not begin writing the script until he moved to Los Angeles two years later, when he recognized an abundance of violent stories on television news. According to Gilroy, he considers the film to be a success story about a modern equivalent of Weegee, and a cautionary tale about the risks posed by capitalism. Nightcrawler was well received by the press on release, as was Gilroy's script, for which he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards, and won Best Screenplay at the 30th Independent Spirit Awards. At the Independent Spirit Awards, Gilroy closed his acceptance speech by lamenting the proliferation of superhero films in Hollywood.

In 2017, he co-wrote Jordan Vogt-Roberts's adventure Kong: Skull Island with Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly, and wrote and directed Roman J. Israel, Esq., a legal drama starring Denzel Washington. Gilroy conceived of Roman J. Israel after doing extensive research about the 1960s where many Americans have staunchly protested and advocated certain individual and group rights. The script had started as a spec, whose title role he wrote specifically for Washington; Gilroy has said that he would not have made the film had Washington declined to take over the role. After its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), he re-edited the film by trimming thirteen minutes of runtime to get the plot to arrive quickly as the previous cut had laid much emphasis on the characters. On release, although Washington's performance was mostly praised, Gilroy's script for the film drew ambivalent responses from the press: Peter Travers at Rolling Stone praised it as "above standard-issue legal thriller but below the transcendent personal drama it aspires to be", while Entertainment Weeklys Chris Nashawaty felt it was ultimately a letdown.

From 2022 to 2025, Gilroy served as a writer on the Disney+ series Andor, which was created by his brother Tony. He wrote three episodes for each of the series' two seasons, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in 2025 for the episode “Welcome to the Rebellion”. In April 2025, it was announced that Gilroy would write a Miami Vice film to be directed by Joseph Kosinski. It will be a reboot of the Miami Vice franchise following the original television series and 2006 film.

Other projects

Gilroy was hired by Tim Burton to re-write Wesley Strick's Superman Lives script, making it more budget conscious and expanding the psychology for the final shooting drafts before it was cancelled by WB. Gilroy later appeared in the documentary The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? (2015) to recount his contribution to the project. In 2011, he was due to write a film adaptation of the comic strip adventure The Annihilator.

Personal life

Gilroy resides in Los Angeles with actress Rene Russo, to whom he has been married since 1992. The couple has a daughter, Rose.

Filmography

Film

Producer

• Magazine Dreams (2025)

TV writer

Notes

References

References

1. (2015). "The Tim Burton Encyclopedia". [[Rowman & Littlefield]].
2. Davids, Brian. (February 1, 2019). "Netflix Gave 'Velvet Buzzsaw' Filmmaker Dan Gilroy the Budget No Studio Would". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
3. "Writing For A Drama Series: 77th Emmy Awards".
4. (February 23, 2015). "Dan Gilroy". [[Hollywood.com]].
5. Kennedy, Lisa. (March 22, 2009). "Tony Gilroy writes himself perfect role: intrepid filmmaker". The Denver Post.
6. (September 14, 2015). "Frank D Gilroy, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, dies aged 89". [[Associated Press]].
7. "Director's Cut". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.
8. Farlekas, Chris. (October 7, 2005). "Lots of local affiliation to major Hollywood films". [[Times Herald-Record]].
9. (September 13, 2015). "Frank Gilroy, Pulitzer-Winning ''Subject Was Roses'' Scribe, Dies at 89".
10. "Sight Unseen". [[Publishers Weekly]].
11. Callendar, Newgate. (June 16, 1989). "Spies & Thrillers". [[The New York Times]].
12. (September 1, 1989). "Dartmouth Authors". [[Dartmouth College.
13. (January 18, 1992). "Review/Film; Scurrying Back in Time In Search of a Healthy Body". [[The New York Times]].
14. (January 2, 2015). "10 Directors to Watch: Dan Gilroy Dissects L.A. in ''Nightcrawler'', Next Project". Variety.
15. (October 6, 2005). "''Two for the Money'' Review (2005)". [[RogerEbert.com]].
16. (October 6, 2011). "Bare-Knuckle Bots, Showing Their Mettle in the Boxing Ring". The New York Times.
17. (August 6, 2012). "The Bourne Legacy". Variety.
18. (August 9, 2012). "Bourne, Under New Management". The New York Times.
19. (August 9, 2012). "The Bourne Legacy review: Thrill killer". Toronto Star.
20. (October 31, 2014). "If You Don't Read this Interview with ''Nightcrawler'' Director Dan Gilroy, Something Terrible Will Happen to You!". [[Yahoo! Movies]].
21. Scott, A. O.. (October 30, 2014). "The First Responder Is a Cameraman, ''Nightcrawler'' Stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an Obsessive". [[The New York Times]].
22. Friend, Tad. (November 10, 2014). "Rembrandt Lighting".
23. Labrecque, Jeff. (October 31, 2014). "'Nightcrawler': The reviews are in...".
24. Han, Angie. (January 15, 2015). "2015 Academy Awards Nominations". [[/Film]].
25. Rich, Katey. (February 21, 2015). "Complete List of Film Independent Spirit Award Winners". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).
26. (February 21, 2015). "Dan Gilroy on the "Tsunami of Superhero Movies" at the Independent Spirit Awards". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
27. (March 9, 2017). "Review: ''Kong: Skull Island'' Crosses a 1933 Classic With ''Apocalypse Now''". The New York Times.
28. "Denzel Washington Circling Dan Gilroy's Legal Drama ''Inner City'' (EXCLUSIVE)".
29. (June 22, 2017). "Sony's Denzel Washington Legal Drama Gets Title (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
30. (November 14, 2017). "A Conversation with Dan Gilroy". [[Film School Rejects]].
31. (November 20, 2017). "Dan Gilroy Encouraged Denzel Washington To Change Lanes For ''Roman J. Israel Esq''.".
32. (November 23, 2017). "Dan Gilroy on ''Roman J. Israel Esq.'', Re-Editing the Film After TIFF, and More".
33. (November 16, 2017). "''Roman J. Israel, Esq'' Review: 'Great' Denzel Washington Breaks New Ground".
34. (November 16, 2017). "Review: In 'Roman J. Israel, Esq.,' Denzel Washington as a Lawyer Out of His Element". The New York Times.
35. (November 17, 2017). "Denzel Washington is great in the less-great Roman J. Israel, Esq.: EW review".
36. "Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series 2025 - Nominees & Winners".
37. Couch, Aaron. (April 28, 2025). "‘Miami Vice’ Movie in the Works With Joseph Kosinski Directing". The Hollywood Reporter.
38. Collis, Clark. (July 1, 2015). "The Death of 'Superman Lives': What Happened?: What really killed the '90s superhero project?".
39. Taylor, Drew. (December 7, 2011). "''Real Steel'' Writer Dan Gilroy To Pen Asian-Themed Superhero ''The Annihilator'' For Stan Lee". [[IndieWire]].
40. (February 10, 2015). "Interview: Dan Gilroy". [[Film Comment]].
41. (July 20, 2016). "Will Rene Russo's Daughter Be Fashion's New Favorite Face?". [[Vogue (British magazine).
42. (April 23, 1994). "Review/Film; Digression And Color Are All of It For Hopper". The New York Times.
43. (April 13, 2016). "Al Pacino: In Films and on Stage". [[McFarland & Company]].
44. (May 29, 2008). "''The Fall'' Review and Film Summary (2006)". RogerEbert.com.
45. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (June 20, 2017). "Hot Package: 'Nightcrawler's Dan Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo Reteam".