Jason Reitman Recalls Daniel Goldberg: 'One of the Kindest, Sweetest Souls I've Ever Known'
Jason Reitman Recalls Daniel Goldberg: 'One of the Kindest, Sweetest Souls I've Ever Known'
July 12, 2023 9:25 p.m.
Director, producer and screenwriter Jason Reitman, son of director Ivan Reitman, pays tribute to the dear friend of his late father, writer-producer Daniel Goldberg, who died today at 74. Goldberg was the writer and/or producer of several Ivan Reitman films and a father figure to Jason. Here is his memory in the first person.
Dan Goldberg is the author and producer of some of your favorite movies movies. He made a career of dangerous foreign comedies that often tested comfort zones, but he was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I've ever known. This morning he passed away in Los Angeles.
Dan and my dad met at McMaster University in 1966. By the time they graduated, they founded a film company, made several short films with classmate Eugene Levy, and shot a short that received national distribution. Additionally, they financed and completed a feature film adaptation of My Secret Life, for which they were later arrested for obscure obscenity. They were convicted. Just a few movie-loving Canadian kids - with criminal records and parole officers. This is how their career began.
Dan then built a filmography defined by protagonists who are beaten the system. Unlikely heroes. Meatballs, Stripes, Private Parts, Road Trip, Old School, Space Jam and the three Hangover films with Todd Phillips.
Dan Goldberg co-wrote both Meatballs and Stripes with fellow college friend Len Blum. After finishing their first handwritten draft of the iconic night camp film, they left their pages with a typist and went to get a sandwich. They returned hours later to find no manuscripts. Just a handwritten note. The typist was so offended by the pages that she refused to type a single word.
When I think of the characters in all these movies — what either Bill Murray and Harold Ramis or Howard Stern and Robin Quivers or Mitch and Frank the Tank – the two guys I really see are Danny and my dad. Two equally loose-haired Jewish kids who could convince their college buddies to stay up all night making a movie instead of studying for exams. The story goes that on the night of the moon landing, they were listening to the car radio. They were driving to Lake Ontario to make a movie where they convinced their classmates to strip naked for a nude bonfire scene. When everyone got cold feet, Dan and my dad were the first to undress.
Dan loved movies as much as anyone in other than met me. Even after my dad got tired of the conversation, Danny always talked about movies with me over dinner, drinks, desserts...
Director, producer and screenwriter Jason Reitman, son of director Ivan Reitman, pays tribute to the dear friend of his late father, writer-producer Daniel Goldberg, who died today at 74. Goldberg was the writer and/or producer of several Ivan Reitman films and a father figure to Jason. Here is his memory in the first person.
Dan Goldberg is the author and producer of some of your favorite movies movies. He made a career of dangerous foreign comedies that often tested comfort zones, but he was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I've ever known. This morning he passed away in Los Angeles.
Dan and my dad met at McMaster University in 1966. By the time they graduated, they founded a film company, made several short films with classmate Eugene Levy, and shot a short that received national distribution. Additionally, they financed and completed a feature film adaptation of My Secret Life, for which they were later arrested for obscure obscenity. They were convicted. Just a few movie-loving Canadian kids - with criminal records and parole officers. This is how their career began.
Dan then built a filmography defined by protagonists who are beaten the system. Unlikely heroes. Meatballs, Stripes, Private Parts, Road Trip, Old School, Space Jam and the three Hangover films with Todd Phillips.
Dan Goldberg co-wrote both Meatballs and Stripes with fellow college friend Len Blum. After finishing their first handwritten draft of the iconic night camp film, they left their pages with a typist and went to get a sandwich. They returned hours later to find no manuscripts. Just a handwritten note. The typist was so offended by the pages that she refused to type a single word.
When I think of the characters in all these movies — what either Bill Murray and Harold Ramis or Howard Stern and Robin Quivers or Mitch and Frank the Tank – the two guys I really see are Danny and my dad. Two equally loose-haired Jewish kids who could convince their college buddies to stay up all night making a movie instead of studying for exams. The story goes that on the night of the moon landing, they were listening to the car radio. They were driving to Lake Ontario to make a movie where they convinced their classmates to strip naked for a nude bonfire scene. When everyone got cold feet, Dan and my dad were the first to undress.
Dan loved movies as much as anyone in other than met me. Even after my dad got tired of the conversation, Danny always talked about movies with me over dinner, drinks, desserts...
