- Born
- Birth nameMichael Frank De Luca
- As Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.'s, (MGM's) Motion Picture Group Chairman Michael De Luca steers all aspects of the studio's global film operation including oversight of development, production, marketing and distribution of MGM's film slate, including Orion Motion Pictures. Additionally, De Luca oversees MGM's On-Stage production division. In his role as Chairman of MGM's Motion Picture Group, he is also on the board of United Artists Releasing, the studio's domestic theatrical distribution joint venture with Annapurna Pictures.
An esteemed and prolific producer with three decades in the film business, De Luca has been nominated three times for an Academy Award® for Best Picture of the Year (for David Fincher's The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, Bennett Miller's Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, and Paul Greengrass's Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi); and three times for an Emmy Award (for producing both the 89th and the 90th Academy Awards® and most recently for producing Ben Stiller's award-winning Escape At Dannemora for Showtime). Additionally, he has been nominated four times for a Producer's Guild of America Award. De Luca also produced the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as its two sequels - Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, for Universal Pictures. The trilogy was a global phenomenon and a box office sensation that grossed over $1 billion internationally.
Over the course of his career, De Luca has held several key positions in the film industry. At age 27, De Luca served as one of the youngest heads of production in Hollywood history when he was appointed President and COO of New Line Productions, where he helped to launch lucrative franchises including Friday, Blade, Austin Powers and Rush Hour. During his tenure, he championed such groundbreaking sleeper hits as Seven, Wag the Dog, Pleasantville, Magnolia, I Am Sam and Boogie Nights, and helped to launch the directing careers of Jay Roach, Gary Ross, Alan and Albert Hughes, F. Gary Gray, the Farrelly brothers, David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson. From New Line, De Luca went on to serve as DreamWorks's Head of Production from 2001 to 2004, overseeing the live-action division and the production of such films as Old School and Anchorman, which continued the rise of both Will Ferrell and Todd Phillips.
Beginning in 2004, De Luca launched his own production company, Michael De Luca Productions, which had a development and production agreement with Columbia Pictures that brought the studio three Academy Award® Best Picture nominees - The Social Network, Moneyball and Captain Phillips -- as well as mainstream success with films such as Ghost Rider and 21. As an independent producer, De Luca focused on developing provocative specialized films with visionary filmmakers, as well as elevated genre films with franchise potential. Prior to launching a multi-year production deal at Universal Pictures, De Luca served as President of Production for Columbia Pictures where he revitalized the studio's slate with commercial fare and filmmakers including the thriller The Shallows starring Blake Lively and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, and western Magnificent Seven starring Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington and directed by Antoine Fuqua.
De Luca is originally from Brooklyn, New York.- IMDb Mini Biography By: MGM Official Site Bio
- SpouseAngelique De Luca(June 2009 - present) (1 child)
- Former president of production at New Line Cinema.
- President of production at DreamWorks Pictures.
- Ranked #61 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #52 in 2002.
- Studied film at NYU.
- Loves comic books and graphic novels. Especially the work of Frank Miller.
- I read somewhere that I was the youngest production president, at 27, along with (Scott Rudin), Irving Thalberg and Don Simpson. I feel lucky I survived it all. Back when I was single in my 20s and 30s, to have that affection and love for what you do, throw in a little success, and the cliché of the nerd back in Brooklyn blossoms into blooming butterfly in Hollywood, and that is a toxic combination. Why wouldn't I have a good time? If you can live long enough to retain the wisdom, then all you can do is look back, laugh and go, there were hairy moments, but it was a great time. I got really lucky to be put in charge of something that worked out so well, at such a young age. You never knew what was going to happen, week to week.
- [on why star Charlie Hunnam pulled out of his movie 50 Shades of Grey] In the case of Fifty Shades, it really went down to the wire. Everyone wanted it to work out, including Charlie. In terms of schedule, to be free from Sons of Anarchy in time to show up on the set of our movie, the physical transformation from Jax to Christian Grey was more than he could accomplish in the time that we had. To his credit, he came to us and said, 'I don't think I'm going to be able to get there in the time we have, and I don't want to do a bad job. I'm not going to be able to turn into this guy.'
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