Radio Flyer

Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer. The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern... superhero film, Superman, starring Christopher Reeve. The influence of this film eventually helped establish the superhero concept as a respected film genre. Donner later continued reinvigorating the buddy film genre with Lethal Weapon and its sequels. In 2000, he received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. He was also nominated for Best Director in 1978 for Superman. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner had "emerged as one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters." Donner was born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Hattie and Fred Schwartzberg; he has a sister, Joan. He was raised in the Jewish faith. Donner started his career with hopes of acting but quickly moved into directing commercials and making business films.
more

David Mickey Evans is a screenwriter and film director. His films tend to be based around children and focus on the challenges of childhood. Evans is also a huge baseball fan and co-wrote The Sandlot. Evans was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1962. In 1980 he moved to Los Angeles for... college. He attended Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a film degree in 1984. He got his start writing action-thriller films, but found his niche in the 1990s with family oriented films that appealed to adults, children and critics alike. He became one of the highest paid screenwriters during this time, selling both the screenplays to Radio Flyer and The Sandlot for over $1 million each. Radio Flyer was originally to be directed by Evans, but he was replaced by Richard Donner due to his inexperience. Re-shoots followed after poor test screenings and the film budget jumped from $15 million to $30 million. The original script called for more fantasy sequences involving a worm man and zombies. These ideas were scrapped when Richard Donner replaced Evans.
more