Don Carmody

Don Carmody

While still at school he worked part-time in the film business, first as a driver on Robert Altman's Macabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and later as location scout on Ted KOTCHEFF's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). He landed a job at Montréal's Cinépix in 1973 and rose to the position of vice-president in charge of production. There he was involved in several tax-shelter productions, including David CRONENBERG's first 2 features, Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), followed by Ivan REITMAN's breakout hit MEATBALLS (1979), which won the GOLDEN REEL AWARD for the top-grossing film at the Canadian box office in 1980.

Later Don Carmody moved to Harold GREENBERG's Astral Bellevue Pathé, where he was made vice-president in charge of production. After leaving Astral he served as producer on the box office smash PORKY'S (1982), another Golden Reel Award winner and until 2010 the highest-grossing Canadian film, with a domestic gross (including US revenues) of over $100 million. Since then Carmody has divided his time between Hollywood and Canada, producing or supervising 3 more Golden Reel winners, Johnny Mnemonic (1995), The Art of War (2001) and Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). The television movie The Late Shift, which he produced with Ivan Reitman, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1996, and Carmody was a member of the producing team on the hit musical Chicago, which was shot in Toronto and won the Oscar for best picture in 2003.

In 1980 he formed his own production company, Don Carmody Productions, in Los Angeles, and began producing films at a furious pace. By 2010 his filmography included 100 titles. A partial list of the films that he either produced, co-produced or served on as executive producer includes The Mighty with Sharon Stone; 54 with Salma Hayek and Mike MYERS; The Boondock Saints with Willem Dafoe; the remake of Get Carter with Sylvester Stallone; The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis and Matthew PERRY; The Pledge directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson; 3000 Miles to Graceland with Kevin Costner and Courteney Cox; Angel Eyes with Jennifer Lopez; David Mamet's Heist with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito; City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and Frances McDormand; Gothika with Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr.; the remake of Assault on Precinct 13; and Lucky Number Slevin with Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman.

In 2009 Carmody co-produced Denis VILLENEUVE's compellingly dispassionate Polytechnique, about the Montréal massacre of 14 women at the École Polytechnique in 1989. The film dominated the 2010 GENIE AWARDS with 11 nominations and 9 wins, including best picture. It won another 5 PRIX JUTRAS and was named the best Canadian film of 2009 by the Toronto Film Critics Association. In 2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D was released, the fourth film in the franchise based on the popular videogame; it soon became the top-grossing Canadian film of all time, surpassing Porky's, with a worldwide box office in excess of $280 million.

Don Carmody is a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Directors Guild of America and the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC). His company is a major sponsor of the ACTRA Awards, the DGC Awards, the IATSE Craft Awards, The Actors' Fund of Canada and Norman JEWISON's CANADIAN FILM CENTRE.