Michael Tolkin

Michael L. Tolkin (born October 17, 1950) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and director. He has written numerous screenplays, including The Player, which he adapted from his own 1988 novel of the same name, and for which he received the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1993) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He later wrote a follow-up to the novel, titled The Return of the Player, which was published in 2006.

In 2018, Tolkin served as co-creator of the miniseries Escape at Dannemora with Brett Johnson. The series was based on the real-life 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape that led to a massive manhunt for two escaped convicts in upstate New York. In 2022, he served as creator of the miniseries The Offer, which is about the making of The Godfather.

Biography Tolkin was born to a Romanian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish family in New York City, the son of Edith (née Leibovitch), a studio executive and film industry lawyer, and the late comedy writer Mel Tolkin.

He is a 1974 graduate of Middlebury College.

Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1982 Gossip Unfinished 1989 Gleaming the Cube 1991 The Rapture 1992 The Player BAFTA Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayNominated — Academy Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayNominated — BAFTA Award for Best FilmNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Deep Cover 1994 The New Age 1998 Deep Impact 2002 Changing Lanes 2009 Nine

Uncredited writing roles The Haunting (1999) Domestic Disturbance (2001) Dawn of the Dead (2004) The Punisher (2004)

Television Series Year Title Director Writer Producer Creator Notes 1979 Delta House 3 episodes 1980 Taxi Episode "Shut It Down: Part 1" 2007 Masters of Science Fiction Episode "Jerry Was a Man" 2014–15 Ray Donovan Wrote 4 episodes 2018 Escape at Dannemora Miniseries 2022 The Offer

TV films Year Title Writer Producer 1994 The Burning Season 1997 The Player 2008 1%