Ivan Reitman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Reitman

Ivan Reitman, OC was a Czechoslovakian-born Canadian film producer and director, best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.

Early life: Reitman was born in Komárno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), the son of Klara and Ladislav "Leslie" Reitman. Reitman's parents were Jewish; his mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and his father was an underground resistance fighter. His family came to Canada as refugees in 1950. Reitman attended Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and was a member of the Twintone Four singing group.[citation needed]

Reitman attended McMaster University, receiving a Bachelor's of Music in 1969. At McMaster he produced and directed many short films.

Career[edit] Reitman's first producing job was with the then-new station CITY-TV in Toronto. CITY was also the home of the first announcing job of his later friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd. However, Reitman's tenure at CITY was short and he was fired during his first year by station owner Moses Znaimer.[citation needed]

In Toronto, he produced the stage production Spellbound (1973) which evolved into Broadway production The Magic Show.

Reitman's first commercial film ventures were as producer of two films for director David Cronenberg, Shivers/They Came from Within/The Parasite Murders (1974) and Rabid (1976). His big break came when he produced National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978 and directed Meatballs in 1979. From there, he directed and produced a number of comedies including Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984),[5] Legal Eagles (1986), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989),[6] Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993), Junior (1994), Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Evolution (2001), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), and No Strings Attached (2011).

In the early 1990s, Reitman began to direct fewer films, but increased his role as a producer and executive producer through his company, Northern Lights Entertainment.[7] He helped to produce the animated film Heavy Metal (1981), as well as the live-action films Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Beethoven (1992), Beethoven's 2nd (1993), Space Jam (1996), Private Parts (1997), Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), EuroTrip (2004) and Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006).

Reitman is a founder of the McMaster Film Board at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.[8] In 2007, Reitman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[9] Reitman founded The Montecito Picture Company, a film production company located just south of Santa Barbara, founded in 2000.[citation needed]

He next produced the comedy I Love You, Man (2009), starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Also in 2009, he produced the Academy Award-nominated film, Up in the Air, directed by his son Jason Reitman. Later, Reitman had planned to direct the erotic thriller Chloe (2009), but he couldn't attract the cast he wanted; so Reitman decided to only serve as a producer and asked Atom Egoyan to direct the film.[10] Chloe had since enjoyed commercial success and became Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.[11]

New York magazine, citing no sources, claimed in March 2007 that Sony Pictures Entertainment wanted to replace Reitman on Ghostbusters III with a younger director, but that Reitman's original contract precluded this.[12] In early 2010, it appeared as if Reitman would direct the film,[13] but in September 2014 Paul Feig was officially declared to be the film's new director.[14] Reitman was also the producer of Howard Stern's film Private Parts.

He co-produced the biographical Hitchcock, released on November 23, 2012.

Reitman directed the 2014 sports drama Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner.

Personal life[edit] Reitman has been married to Geneviève Robert for over 30 years. Reitman has a son and two daughters. His son, Jason Reitman, is a film director best known for his films Juno, Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air, for which he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay. His daughter Catherine Reitman is a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles. His other daughter, Caroline Reitman, is a sophomore at Santa Barbara City College. Reitman's wife is a convert to Judaism.[15]

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries".[16]

In April 2011 he received the Mayor's Prize at his native city of Komárno, Slovakia.