Don't Say a Word - About the Filmmakers - Arnold Kopelson


Last Update: 24 September 2001

ARNOLD KOPELSON (Producer) received an Academy Award for producing "Platoon." Kopelson also received a Best Picture Oscar nomination for "The Fugitive." His films have collectively garnered 17 Academy Award nominations and more than two-billion dollars in worldwide box-office receipts. Kopelson has been further honored with a Lifetime Achievement In Filmmaking Award from Cinema Expo International, was named Producer of the Year by the National Association of Theater Owners, received the Motion Picture Showmanship Award from the Publicists Guild of America, and was inducted into Variety's Show Biz Expo Hall of Fame. He was also honored at the Deauville Film Festival for his significant contributions to the entertainment industry.

Kopelson recently produced the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox/New Regency comedy "Joe Somebody." He produced "A Perfect Murder," starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as "U.S. Marshals," starring Tommy Lee Jones. He also produced "Mad City," which starred Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, directed by Costa Gavras; and "Devil's Advocate," starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. His other films include "Eraser" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; "Seven," starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman; "Outbreak," starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman; "Falling Down," starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall; "Out for Justice," starring Seven Seagal; "Triumph of the Spirit," starring Willem Dafoe; and "Murder at 1600," starring Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane.

Kopelson is an executive producer of "Thieves," a new series starring John Stamos for Warner Bros. Television and ABC. He also was an executive producer of "The Fugitive," a one-hour drama based on the classic television show and blockbuster motion picture.

After earning a Doctorate in Jurisprudence form New York Law School, Kopelson practiced entertainment and bank law, specializing in motion picture financing. For many years he acted as counsel to numerous banks and financial institutions serving the motion picture industry.

Kopelson later formed Inter-Ocean Film Sales, Ltd. with Anne Feinberg (who would become his wife), to represent independent motion picture producers in licensing their films throughout the world, and to finance motion picture production. The Kopelsons now produce films together, founding Kopelson Entertainment in 1975.

Kopelson has served on the Executive Committee of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and he is a member of the Board of Mentors of the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.

He has lectured on filmmaking at Harvard Business School, American Film Institute, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, New York Law School, the Writers Guild of America, the Independent Feature Project West, The Kagan Seminar, University of Southern California and University of California at Los Angeles, and has written articles about motion picture financing. In May 1998, Kopelson received the New York Law School Distinguished Alumnus Award for Lifetime Achievement.



Return to the Don't Say a Word main page

Return to Films & TV

Return to The Compleat Sean Bean Main Page