Juel Taylor (born May 1, 1987) is a director and screenwriter.[1] He wrote Creed II (2018) and (2021) with his writing partner Tony Rettenmaier.[2] Taylor and Rettenmaier wrote the movie They Cloned Tyrone (2023), which is also Taylor's first feature film as a director.[3] He has also directed several TV episodes and a short film.
Taylor was born and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama. Taylor largely based the fictional neighborhood in They Cloned Tyrone on the area where he grew up.
Taylor was initially interested in studying video game design when he attended college at the University of Florida. His first introduction to making movies was a music video he created for his college's digital arts program. Taylor then studied film as a graduate student at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, where he met Rettenmaier.
In 2017, Taylor co-directed Actors Anonymous, the feature film adaptation of James Franco's novel of the same name, Actors Anonymous, starring James Franco, Eric Roberts, Emma Rigby, Scott Haze, Jake Robbins, Carmen Argenziano, and Horatio Sanz. The film screened at Cinequest[4] and the Newport Beach Film Festival.[5]
Taylor co-wrote Creed II (2018) alongside Sylvester Stallone, featuring Michael B. Jordan and directed by Steve Caple Jr. He also co-wrote (2021) with his writing partner Tony Rettenmaier, starring LeBron James and directed by Malcolm D. Lee.
Taylor's feature directorial debut, They Cloned Tyrone, starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Paris, and Kiefer Sutherland, released on Netflix in 2023.[6] He co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Rettenmaier.
Taylor cites questions around blame and responsibility and experiences with friends in unfortunate circumstances as the inspiration for They Cloned Tyrone.[7] Taylor and Rettenmaier initially pitched They Cloned Tyrone in 2018, not yet having written the script and while working on other films. The draft changed through the pitching process, eventually leading to They Cloned Tyrone being produced as a Netflix feature film.[8] In the editing process, Taylor cited Guillermo del Toro for his help on several scenes.