| David Franzoni | |
| Birth Date: | 4 March 1947 |
| Occupation: | Screenwriter, producer |
| Years Active: | 1980–present |
| Alma Mater: | University of Vermont |
| Awards: | Academy Award for Best Picture Gladiator (2000) BAFTA Award for Best Film Gladiator (2000) |
David Harold Franzoni (born March 4, 1947) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He conceived the story for, co-wrote and co-produced the 2000 film Gladiator,[1] [2] for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[2] [3] His other screenplays include King Arthur (2004),[4] Amistad (1997), and Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986).[5]
Franzoni's script for Gladiator was a revival of the sword-and-sandal genre,[6] using characters very different from the original and drawing upon available historic and archaeological sources.[7] He started to write the story in the 1970s, after reading the 1958 non-fiction book Those About to Die by Daniel P. Mannix, which detailed the Roman gladiatorial games.[8]
For Amistad, Franzoni decided not to use a standard narrative, explaining, "the typical slant in this sort of film is to have the poor, chained black man arrive in the presence of the white guy, who has a good soul and fights the good faith to liberate the black man."[9] Franzoni was also the one who convinced Steven Spielberg to direct the film.[6]
Franzoni stated that the screenplay of King Arthur "aims more for history than myth,"[10] and again relied upon archaeological evidence in an attempt to create a more realistic human and political interpretation of the character.[11]
| 1986 | Jumpin' Jack Flash | Penny Marshall | co-written with Charles Shyer, Nancy Meyers and Chris Thompson | |||
| 1992 | Citizen Cohn | television film | ||||
| 1997 | Amistad | Steven Spielberg | ||||
| 2000 | Gladiator | Ridley Scott | co-written with John Logan and William Nicholson | |||
| 2004 | King Arthur | Antoine Fuqua | ||||
| 2018 | Black and White Stripes: The Juventus Story | La Villa Brothers | documentary film | |||
| 2024 | Gladiator II | Ridley Scott | based on characters created by | |||
| TBA | JSA | Himself | directorial debut |