David Koepp

David Koepp is an American screenwriter, director, and novelist whose credits connect blockbuster spectacle with intimate suspense. Born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, on June 9, 1963, he studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before attending UCLA’s film school. His first produced feature screenplay, Apartment Zero (1988), was a psychological thriller directed by Martin Donovan and starring Hart Bochner. Koepp soon became a conspicuous Hollywood writer through scripts that adapted established material or reworked enduring genres. He wrote the screenplay for Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way (1993), based on novels by Judge Edwin Torres, and co-wrote the dark comedy Death Becomes Her.

His association with Michael Crichton produced two especially consequential adaptations. Koepp wrote Jurassic Park (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg, from Crichton’s novel; its story follows paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler as they confront genetically resurrected dinosaurs at John Hammond’s island park. The film became a landmark commercial success and launched a franchise. Koepp also adapted Crichton’s The Lost World for Spielberg’s 1997 sequel, in which the characters travel to Isla Sorna. In 2001, he co-wrote the screenplay for Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston. He returned to Crichton territory with Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005), starring Tom Cruise.

Koepp has written for high-profile franchises without limiting himself to one kind of film. He received screenplay credit on Mission: Impossible (1996), Brian De Palma’s adaptation of the television series, and wrote Spider-Man (2002), directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire. His screenplay for Panic Room (2002) gave David Fincher a contained thriller centered on a mother and daughter trapped in a fortified Manhattan home. He wrote Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), reuniting Spielberg with Harrison Ford’s archaeologist. Other credits include Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons (2009) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014).

As a director, Koepp has made several features from his own scripts. Stir of Echoes (1999), adapted from Richard Matheson’s novel, stars Kevin Bacon as a Chicago telephone lineman whose hypnosis unlocks disturbing visions. Secret Window (2004), based on a Stephen King novella, casts Johnny Depp as a writer confronted by a stranger claiming plagiarism. Koepp directed the romantic comedy Ghost Town (2008), starring Ricky Gervais, and the bicycle-messenger thriller Premium Rush (2012), starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In 2019 he published Cold Storage, about a dangerous organism escaping containment. Koepp directed You Should Have Left (2020), adapted from Daniel Kehlmann’s novel.