For other uses, see Dan Harris (disambiguation).
Dan Harris, born in 1979, is an American screenwriter and director best known for working with Michael Dougherty and Bryan Singer and whose writing credits include X2 (X-Men 2) and Superman Returns.
Harris made his feature film directing debut with Imaginary Heroes, a funny and poignant coming-of-age story which was written by Harris and starred Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch and Michelle Williams. The film had its world premiere as a Gala Presentation at the 29th Toronto Film Festival and opened in Winter 2005 after being given a special recognition for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review.
In addition to Superman Returns, Harris and his writing partner Michael Dougherty have co-written many films, including Ender's Game, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, and the blockbuster X2: X-Men United (2003) which he did at the age of 22 for director Bryan Singer, an assignment offered to him after the director read the screenplay for Imaginary Heroes. X2 starred Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Halle Berry and has grossed more than $415 million worldwide. In the same year, he was honored as one of Variety’s top 10 screenwriters to watch. To date, Superman Returns has grossed $391 million worldwide.
On the horizon is I, Lucifer, a film that Harris will be directing based on the best-selling novel which he adapted with Michael Dougherty.
Harris and Dougherty are also in the early writing stages for the upcoming Superman sequel (rumored title: The Man of Steel) set for release in Summer 2009. At the recent Saturn Awards, it was confirmed that the story had been locked down, and the first draft would be completed near the end of the year. Filming is expected to start around March 2008.
In addition, with Dougherty and Bryan Singer, Harris is writing a year’s worth of the Ultimate X-Men comic books for Marvel and the Superman Returns prequel comic books for DC Comics. Recently, Harris’s photography has twice been published by New York fashion and arts landmark Visionaire and he was honored to be a part of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Portfolio in 2005.
Before he received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, Harris’s short film Urban Chaos Theory won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the NoDance Film Festival, and the following winter, his short film, The Killing of Candice Klein, played to rave reviews at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
Harris was raised in Kingston, Pennsylvania and went to Wyoming Valley West middle school and Wyoming Seminary for high school.
When he was a 17-year-old production assistant on the film Celebrity, he was accidentally hit with a tennis ball thrown by Woody Allen. He has wanted to be a filmmaker ever since.
