John Fusco

This article is about the screenwriter. For the politician, see John Fusco (politician).

John Fusco is an American screenwriter, producer, and TV series creator born in Prospect, Connecticut. His screenplays include Crossroads, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Thunderheart, Hidalgo, and the Oscar-nominated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

Fusco is also a martial artist and a prose fiction writer.

Career

John Fusco was raised in the small town of Prospect, Connecticut, leaving home and high school early to travel the American south as a blues musician and blue collar laborer. He would later attend and graduate from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where his writing mentors were Waldo Salt, Ring Lardner, Jr., and Lorenzo Semple. He won back-to-back honors in national screenwriting competitions his junior and senior year, twice winning the top prize of a Nissan Sentra and a contract with the William Morris Agency. His bachelor's thesis became the Columbia Pictures Delta blues movie Crossroads (1986) , directed by Walter Hill, and went into production while he was still a student at NYU.

Fusco has gone on to write eleven major motion-pictures, an ABC mini-series, a long-form TV Series, and two novels. He is best-known today as the creator of the popular Netflix Original Series Marco Polo.

Martial Arts

While known for Western and Native American themed films, Fusco recently drew on his lifelong background in martial arts to write The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan. The movie opened #1 at the box office on April 18, 2008 and broke opening day box office records (at that time) in China.

Fusco first studied Martial Arts at age 12 at the Association Of Korean Martial Arts (A.K.M.A) in Oakville, Connecticut under Romaine Staples and currently holds a black sash rank in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. He is also a practitioner of Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, and has received an honorary black belt from the World Tang Soo Do Association for his work in promoting traditional martial arts values in film, television, and literature. He has been profiled in Black Belt Magazine, Inside Kung Fu, and Kung Fu/Tai Chi Magazine.

Fusco has also studied traditional martial arts in Zhejiang Province, China under Sifu Yi ShenGuo.

Martial arts legend Jet Li is quoted, in February 2007, as saying:

[John Fusco] is a good friend of mine and we have been sparring partners for the past three years. He is a superb screenwriter and has been learning Chinese martial arts for many years.

Fusco has stated in DVD special features that he is interested in the spiritual aspects of warrior cultures and acknowledges a "red thread" that runs through his interests in both Native American and Eastern philosophy. In 2007 he crossed Central Mongolia on horseback with his son, and Mongol nomads to conduct research on what would eventually develop into Marco Polo.[1]

Personal Life

Fusco is married to Richela Renkun, a graduate of NYU's Steinhardt School and an educator in the theater arts. They have one son, Giovanni. The family divides their time between New York City, Arizona, and a farm in Vermont.

Awards

Current projects

According to Deadline Hollywood, February 17, 2011, he is currently adapting the acclaimed Peter Guralnick book Last Train to Memphis for Fox 2000. He is also the creator of the original TV series Marco Polo for Netflix now in its second season.[2]

In the first entry on his new blog it mentions several other upcoming projects:

Along with the TV series [Marco Polo], I have several movies going into production: "Last Train to Memphis" directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced by Mick Jagger. "The Highwaymen" directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Liam Neeson and Woody Harrelson. "The Alchemist" produced by Harvey Weinstein, and the sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" helmed by legendary action director Master Yuen Woo-Ping. That one begins shooting in China and New Zealand in May.
— John Fusco, 2014: From Venice to Xanadu, Screenwriter's Personal Blog, Jan 7th

Fusco has also written the screenplay for the Lionsgate film "The Shack" which will premiere in March 2017, and he is currently at work adapting the book series "Spirit Animals" for Universal Pictures.

Prose fiction

Fusco is a critically acclaimed author of two novels and an award-winning children's book:

References

  1. ↑ "For Marco Polo creator John Fusco, Netflix offered a chance to trash the rules". digitaltrends.com. December 14, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ "It's Official: Netflix Orders Series 'Marco Polo' From Weinstein Co.". deadline.com. January 14, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.

External links

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