“It seems fitting that in celebration of 50 years of the CAS we are honoring Edward Zwick, a producer/director/writer of both award winning film and television,” said CAS president David Fluhr. “His projects on both the big and small screen have consistently demonstrated a commitment to quality in story and craft, particularly sound.”
The society’s career achievement honoree, Andy Nelson, has collaborated with Zwick on five film projects, including the CAS and Oscar nominated Blood Diamond and the Last Samurai, as well as Love and Other Drugs, Defiance and Courage Under Fire.
As a directing fellow at the American Film Institute in 1975, Zwick’s award-winning short film Timothy and the Angel, caught the attention of the producers of the television series, Family, where he then served as story editor and subsequently became a director and producer. His work on the television movie Special Bulletin (as director, producer and co-writer) earned him two Emmy awards and a Humanitas Award. It also marked the beginning of his collaboration with Marshall Herskovitz, with whom he created the Emmy Award-winning television series, thirtysomething. Together Herskovitz and Zwick formed The Bedford Falls Company as their home for film and television projects, including the critically acclaimed television series My So-called Life, Relativity and the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series Once and Again.
Zwick began his feature film career directing About Last Night. He went on to direct the Academy Award-winning films Glory and Legends of the Fall.
Together with Herskovitz, Zwick also produced the Academy Award-nominated film I am Sam, as well as Traffic – winner of two Golden Globes and four Academy Awards – directed by Steven Soderbergh. Zwick most recently directed and produced, Pawn Sacrifice starring Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg and Peter Sarsgaard.
As a producer of the best picture Shakespeare in Love, Zwick received an Academy Award. He has also been honored with three Emmy Awards, two Humanitas Prizes, three Writer’s Guild of America awards, two Peabody Awards, a Director’s Guild of America award, and the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Award from the American Film Institute.
Zwick will be the 9th CAS Filmmaker Honoree. Past honorees have been: Quentin Tarantino, Gil Cates, Bill Condon, Paul Mazursky, Henry Selick, Taylor Hackford, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Demme.
