James Dean Garage Band
DAVID S. WARD - Director
DAVID S. WARD is best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay The Sting,
starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Directed by George Roy Hill and
featuring a wonderful cast including Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Eileen
Brennan and Roy Walston, The Sting was a popular and critical hit. It went on
to win seven Academy Awards including Best Picture in addition to Ward's for
original screenplay.
Following this success, Ward wrote and directed the hit baseball comedy Major League, starring Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen. He later scored another box-office coup for his screenplay Sleepless in Seattle, for which he and co-writers Nora Ephron and Jeff Arch received an Oscar nomination.
Ward also wrote and directed Cannery Row, starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger, King Ralph, starring John Goodman, Peter O’Toole and John Hurt, The Program, starring James Caan, Omar Epps and Halle Berry and Kelsey Grammar’s big screen debut Down Periscope. He has written numerous screenplays including The Milagro Beanfield War, directed by Robert Redford and starring Sonja Braga and John Heard, The Mask of Zorro, directed by Martin Campbell, starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Flyboys staring James Franco.
David was hooked when he read R.J. Ward’s screenplay, The James Dean Garage Band, based on the Rick Moody short story. The notion of Dean as both a film and rock ‘n roll icon inspired David and R.J., for whom rock music was a passion growing up. Together they’ve worked to bring the project to the screen, and introduce a new generation of fans to the allure of James Dean and the groove of raw 50’s rock ‘n roll.