David M. Evans
| David M. Evans | |
|---|---|
| Born |
David Mickey Evans October 20, 1962 Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor |
| Years active | 1987–present |
David Mickey Evans (born October 20, 1962) is a screenwriter and film director. His films tend to focus on children and the challenges of childhood. Evans is also a huge baseball fan and co-wrote The Sandlot.[1]
Life and career
Evans was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1962. In 1980 he moved to Los Angeles for college. He attended Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a film degree in 1984. He got his start writing action-thriller films, but found his niche in the 1990s with family oriented films that appealed to adults, children and critics alike.
He became one of the highest paid screenwriters during this time, selling both the screenplays to Radio Flyer and The Sandlot for over $1 million each. Radio Flyer was originally to be directed by Evans, but he was replaced by Richard Donner due to his inexperience. Re-shoots followed after poor test screenings and the film budget jumped from $15 million to $30 million. The original script called for more fantasy sequences involving a worm man and zombies. These ideas were scrapped when Richard Donner replaced Evans. Radio Flyer opened to mostly mixed reviews from critics while The Sandlot received much more positive reviews and better box office results.
Success for Evans became fleeting by the late 1990s, with films like First Kid and Ed bombing with critics and at the box office. Evans switched to more adult-oriented humor and material with After School Special, but didn't fare much better. Since then, he has written and directed numerous made for TV and direct to DVD films, including The Sandlot 2, the sequel to the popular film The Sandlot.
Filmography
- Open House (1987) (Screenplay)
- Terminal Entry (1986) (Screenplay)
- Class of 1999 (1990) (Writer - uncredited)
- Radio Flyer (1992) (Writer, Executive Producer)
- The Sandlot (1993) (Writer, Director, Narrator)
- A Far Off Place (1993) (Writer - uncredited) (wrote narration)
- Hocus Pocus (Writer - uncredited)
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993) (Co-Writer, Co-Executive Producer)
- Ed (1996) (Writer)
- First Kid (1996) (Director)
- Beethoven's 3rd (2000) (Director, Uncredited Writer)
- Beethoven's 4th (2001) (Director, Uncredited Writer, Actor: Hammett)
- National Lampoon's Barely Legal (2003) (Director, Associate Producer, Actor: Dave)
- Wilder Days (2003) (Director)
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) (Writer)
- The Sandlot 2 (2005) (Writer, Director, Narrator)
- The Final Season (2007) (Director)
- Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective (2009) (Director, Screenplay)
- Tranced (2010) (Director)
- Smitty (2010) (Director)
- Glastonbury: Isle of Light (2011) (Director)