Height 6' 2" Books Memory: Roman, Memory Movies Memory, The Medallion | Role Film director Name Bennett Davlin | |
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Full Name Bennett Joshua Davlin Education New York Film Academy, Tulane University Similar People Bey Logan, Terry Chen, Alfred Cheung, Gordon Chan, Emily Hirst | ||
For other people named Bennett Joshua Davlin, see Bennett Joshua Davlin.
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Bennett Joshua Davlin is an American novelist, screen writer, film director and producer, noted for being the only American artist to have served in all these roles within a single project, Warner Bros. and Echo Bridge's Memory. Also known for Sony Picture's The Medallion starring Jackie Chan.
Early life
Born in the small town of Opelousas, Louisiana, to inventor and entrepreneur Irwin Davlin and Ford model and award winning designer Sheila Davlin. Bennett began making films at the age of five and completed his first novel at ten. At the age of twelve, James A. Michener became Bennett's early mentor, editing and commenting on Bennett's short stories and novels for many years after they struck an unlikely friendship at the Queens Grill on the QE2 Cruiseliner. By the time Bennett graduated from college, he'd completed thirty two unpublished novels. Bennett also directed and acted in various plays throughout his academic career.
Education
Davlin graduated from the Episcopal School of Acadiana in Cade, Louisiana and attributed his independent thinking to the amazing teachers at that institution. He attended Tulane University earning a degree in liberal arts with a major in Philosophy and minor in Anthropology. After graduation, he attended Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business, leaving the program to successfully restructure his mother's manufacturing company which fell into disarray after the death of his father. Later as a successful screenwriter, he studied cinematography at The New York Film Academy at Universal Studios. Bennett ended his cinematography education with an award winning short film, TC3, before moving into the role of writer, producer, director in feature films.
Career
After attending a semester abroad in London, Davlin briefly served as a war correspondent in the Croatian Serbian war. After intense combat in Oesjeck, Croatia, almost dying three times during the night of his 21st birthday, he quickly decided combat reporting was not for him. His desired career in film was delayed by five years when his mother's manufacturing business needed restructuring after falling in disarray following his fathers cancer and subsequent death. Davlin assumed the role CEO of 500+ employees and successfully took the company into and out of a Chapter 11. When government regulation allowed Chinese goods to flood the US market, Bennett was forced to offshore the company to mainland China. Davlin resided in Hong Kong and southern China for three years in the mid 1990s. He would later reflect that the impact of laying off so many American employees who often served with his family for decades would haunt him. It also served as a life's lesson about the impact of dishonest governmental policy which regulated American companies while rewarding unregulated businesses abroad. Warren Buffett's top turnaround manager, Alan Quasha extended an employment offer, but Bennett declined the offer and moved to Los Angeles, CA.
In 1998 Bennett signed with the L.A. based William Morris Talent Agency and Michael Ovtiz's now defunct AMG Management and became a favored American collaborator for Asian actors who were migrating state side based on the success of the director John Woo. Bennett worked with such names as Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh as well as Hong Kong production companies like Emperor Group and Media Asia.
Bennett directed a series of short films including "TC3" which was accepted and garnered awards in various film festivals including The East Hampton, Woods Hole, Nantucket, Boston, and New York Film Festivals. Davlin has worked as a professional screenwriter selling numerous scripts. His first produced script was as lead writer on Jackie Chan's action/comedy "The Medallion", a 40 million dollar Sony Pictures release.
After growing dissatisfied with the way stories were altered during production, Davlin resolved to become the first artist in American History to publish a novel, adapt it to a screenplay, produce and direct the major motion picture. After finishing the novel and screenplay, Bennett hand drew the film, shot by shot, complete with set design, camera angles and lighting. Davlin edited the drawings into a complete storyboard animatic with sound, dialogue and score. Davlin followed the detailed film-making approach of Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. Upon seeing this animatic, two time Academy Award nominee Dennis Hopper called Davlin "The only living American auteur" and agreed to star in the film. The film also starred two time Academy Award nominee Ann Margret and Tricia Helfer. The film's preparation was key to complete the film under budget and under schedule despite production issues that included losing the lead actor, Billy Zane, due to illness during production. Bennett credits Dennis Hopper's involvement as critical to getting the picture to fruition. Furthermore, he refers to Hopper as a mentor who taught him how to "Direct and write like a producer".
"Memory" the book was published by the Berkley imprint of Penguin Putnam in North America and translated into nine languages by Random House, Sony Books, Blanvalet, to name a few.
Davlin is currently working on an undisclosed sci-fi film franchise that's been compared in originality to Star Wars. The first picture of the slate of five films, is scheduled for released in 2018 along with the novel.