Name Michael McGruther Role Film actor | Partner Michele Santos Movies Tigerland, Clockers | |
Nominations Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay Similar People Steven Haft, Joel Schumacher, Clifton Collins - Jr, Colin Farrell, Beau Flynn | ||
Michael McGruther began his filmmaking career with the original screenplay Tigerland, directed by Joel Schumacher and co-written by Ross Klavan. The critically acclaimed screenplay was nominated by IFP/West for Best First Screenplay and by the Political Film Society for the PFS Award in 2001. It is widely known as Colin Farrell's breakthrough film, garnering Farrell the Boston Society of Film Critics Best Actor Award and the London Critics Circle Film Award for British Newcomer of the year. Invigorated by the filmmaking process while on the set of Tigerland, McGruther established BuffaloNickel Films. He then teamed up with Jersey Films and Universal Studios on two features: his original science fiction adventure titled Lightspeed (with Superman Returns director Bryan Singer attached to direct), and a coming-of-age drama titled Sentenced to Nature, based on a New York Times article by author Charles Siebert. BuffaloNickel Films has since acquired the rights to several novels and short stories to produce. In 2001, Extra Life, a drama about coming-of-age in the digital world; in 2004, Arthur C. Clarke's prophetic novel Prelude to Space; and in 2005, Blood Son, based on the 1951 short story by legendary science fiction and horror writer Richard Matheson. Blood Son marks McGruther's directorial debut, for which he won the Best Director Award at the 3rd. Annual Trenton Film Festival. He is currently in pre-production on the movie Ghost Town. McGruther has also appeared in front of the camera, seen in several commercials and movies in the early 90’s including Clockers and In & Out, and he has a cameo appearance in Tigerland.
He makes his home in New Jersey and Los Angeles with his fiancée, Michele, and a 10-year-old black lab named Billie.