NEAL H. MORITZ
NEAL H. MORITZ (Producer) is one of the most prolific producers working in Hollywood today, with a wide range of film and television projects to his credit. Founder of Original Film, a feature film and television company, Moritz is currently in postproduction on several features, including the fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise. His most recent feature films include the hit film Vantage Point, which opened #1 in February, and the April release Prom Night.
Moritz also recently produced the blockbuster I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, and this past summer’s successful comedy Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. His other recent credits include Click, starring Adam Sandler; Gridiron Gang, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. For television, he is an executive producer on the acclaimed drama series “Prison Break.”
After Moritz established Original Film in 1997, the company’s first self-financed feature was the 1999 hit Cruel Intentions, a modern take on the classic novel Dangerous Liaisons, starring Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. The 1999 teen drama grossed more than $75 million at the box office and is considered a cult favorite among those who came of age at the time of its release.
Moritz then produced The Skulls, which marked one of five collaborations with director Rob Cohen. The two have also teamed on the blockbusters The Fast and the Furious and xXx, both starring Vin Diesel; Stealth, starring Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel and Josh Lucas; and the HBO movie “The Rat Pack,” which earned 11 Emmy Award nominations.
With more than 35 movies to his credit, Moritz’s producing credits also include the smash hit romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey; The Fast and the Furious sequels; the Denzel Washington thriller Out of Time; the motorcycle actioner Torque, starring Ice Cube; S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell; The Glass House; the Jack Black comedy Saving Silverman; the action comedy Blue Streak, starring Martin Lawrence; and Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Moritz has also made a number of teen films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, which spawned a successful sequel; Urban Legend; the college comedy Slackers; and Not Another Teen Movie, a spoof of the very teen-film genre he helped to create. Prior to that, the first major feature film he produced was 1992’s Juice, starring Omar Epps and the late Tupac Shakur.
A graduate of UCLA with a degree in economics, Moritz went on to earn a graduate degree from the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.