Steve Zaillian

Steven Zaillian is an award winning screenwriter, film director, editor and producer from Fresno, California. Though he has directed several feature films, he is most often cited as a screenwriter and has writing credit on Schindler's List, Gangs of New York and American Gangster.

Writing Accolades

Zaillian has received three Academy Award nominations for writing, winning one for his Schindler's List screenplay. The other two nominations were for Awakenings and Gangs of New York.

Several writers worked on a screenplay for Schindler's List before it fell to Zaillian. Thomas Keneally attempted to adapt his own novel. Out of Africa writer Kurt Luedtke wrote several drafts as well, eventually giving up on the project. The lack of a solid screenplay prevented directors Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese from working on the project. Steven Spielberg eventually settled on the project and used Zaillian's screenplay as his launching point.

As a Director

Zaillian has had mixed success as director of his own screenplays. Though both Searching for Bobby Fisher and A Civil Action received mostly positive reviews, they have not achieved the same status in the modern film canon as Schindler's List or Gangs of New York. Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, however, received Oscar nominations for Zaillian's first two films.