Who is David Callaham, the super screenwriter that Hollywood is snapping up

Blockbusters doctor script

David Callaham, 43, screenwriter of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the Disney-Marvel production, which has just established itself as the biggest theatrical success in the United States since the pandemic, is now one of the most requested screenwriters in Hollywood. His specialty, writing superhero movies: Ant-Man (2015), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), the next Spiderman and a new version ofHercules.

First food steps

Its beginnings could offer material for scenario. University of Michigan literature student, Callaham stumbles upon a charm magazine investigation Penthouse dedicated to successful screenwriters in Hollywood. The student discovers there houses with swimming pools and pretty girls and decides to try his luck in the profession. His first essays arouse indifference. To survive in Los Angeles, the young man works in a dog food factory.

Mail reader

Aware of being at a dead end, David Callaham manages to be hired as an intern at Creative Artists Agency, one of the most important talent agencies in Hollywood. The mail department is traditionally an ideal place to build a network and in turn become an agent or producer, but never a screenwriter. However, it is by re-reading the scripts addressed to the agents of stars that Callaham establishes himself as an indispensable reader and educates himself in literature.

Asian Hero Promoter

Of Chinese origin by his mother, brown belt of jujitsu, the screenwriter ensures that the writing of Shang-Chi – Marvel’s first film with an Asian hero, a kung fu master having to face his father, leader of a terrorist group – owes nothing to chance. In an interview given to Hollywood Reporter September 9, Dave Callaham believed that it was important for a Western production to leave room for actors from Asia.