Though his startlingly original work has remained largely unseen, the Kansas-born writer-director Michael Almereyda has consistently elicited complex, arresting performances from name actors and non-actors alike in a series of films where narrative has remained secondary to emotional and visual impact. After dropping out of Harvard, he moved to NYC and began writing screenplays, quickly securing an agent and soon after his first Hollywood job rewriting the unproduced "Mandrake the Magician" for Embassy Pictures. Almereyda provided the tongue-in-cheek screenplay for Steve de Jarnette's sci-fi
Family moved from Kansas to Orange County, California when he was a teenager
Moved to NYC after dropping out of Harvard; began writing screenplays and secured an agent early on with the help of writer Tom Pope, who had worked previously with Wim Wenders
1982
First Hollywood job, rewriting for Embassy Pictures the unproduced "Mandrake the Magician", based on the comic strip
1987
Traveled to Australia to work with director Bruce Beresford, polishing a script inspired by a Philip K. Dick short story that would eventually become "Total Recall" (1990), directed by Paul Verhoeven; received no screen credit
1988
Received first screenplay credit for Steve de Jarnette's sci-fi action feature "Cherry 2000"
