Roger Kumble

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Roger Kumble (born May 28, 1966 Harrison, New York) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.^[1]

Life and career

Kumble was raised in Harrison, New York and graduated from Harrison High School. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988,^[2] where he wrote for the "Waa Mu" show. He began his career as a playwright and director in 1993 with the Hollywood satire "Pay or Play", which garnered him the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Comic Writing. His second play, "1997’s d girl", starring David Schwimmer, earned him four Dramalogue Awards. In 2003, Kumble completed his Hollywood trilogy with the critically acclaimed "Turnaround", again starring David Schwimmer, which sold out its entire run in Los Angeles.

Kumble made his feature-film-directorial debut with 1999’s Sony Pictures box-office hit, Cruel Intentions, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair; his screenplay transposed the French classic to modern New York.^[3]

He followed with the Sony Pictures comedy The Sweetest Thing, starring Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Jason Bateman and Thomas Jane, and New Line Cinema’s Just Friends, starring Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Amy Smart. Both Sweetest Thing and Just Friends were voted two of the top twenty underrated films of the decade by the New York Post.

He also directed Martin Lawrence, Raven Simone and Donny Osmond in Disney’s successful family-comedy College Road Trip. His next film, Furry Vengeance, starring Brendan Fraser and Brooke Shields, was released in April 2010.

Most recently, in 2011-2012, he directed episodes of TV Series like Entourage, Pretty Little Liars and Ringer starring Cruel Intentions alumns Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Thomas.^[4]

Family

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mary and three young children.

Filmography as writer

• Unveiled (1994)
• Senior Trip (1995)
• Provocateur (1998)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)
• Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)

Filmography as director

• Cruel Intentions (1999)
• Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)
• The Sweetest Thing (2002)
• Just Friends (2005)
• College Road Trip (2008)
• Furry Vengeance (2010)

Theater Productions

• "Pay Or Play" (1993- Hudson Theater, Los Angeles)
• "d girl" (also directed by Kumble) (1997-Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles)
• "Turnaround" (2003-Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles)
• "Girls Talk" (2011-Lee Strasberg Theater - Los Angeles)

Awards

L.A. Weekly Award Best Comic Writing "Pay or Play" 1993

References

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External links

• Roger Kumble at the Internet Movie Database
• "Cruel Intentions", Daily Script
• Lumenick, Lou (April 30, 2010). "'Furry' unfunny". The New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/fur_against_one_T9iW4FKDvzvbwBWqPje5gI. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
• JEANNETTE CATSOULIS (March 7, 2008). "A Scream". the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/movies/07trip.html?_r=1. Retrieved 2010-08-20.