---
name: "Bruno Heller"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/bruno-heller"
fi1m_id: "bruno-heller"
imdb_id: "nm0375285"
tmdb_id: 1211883
wikidata_id: "Q965484"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "13 January 1960"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-23T12:09:08.271112+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Bruno Heller

## Identity

Bruno Heller

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bruno-heller
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** bruno-heller
- **IMDb ID:** nm0375285
- **TMDB ID:** 1211883
- **Wikidata ID:** Q965484
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Heller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q965484, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0375285/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1211883

Writer and producer. Born 13 January 1960 in London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 13 January 1960, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 2005–2008
- **Also known as:** برونو هلر
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Eoghan Mahony](https://film.one/person/eoghan-mahony.md)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Heller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q965484, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0375285/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1211883

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Rome*](https://film.one/tv/rome.md) (82)
- **Disney+:** [*The Mentalist*](https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist.md) (71)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Bruno Heller

> Bruno Heller makes large stories more involving by keeping ordinary worries in view. *Rome* is our recommendation: friendship and domestic trouble give its ancient society life, although the cruelty and uneven opening require patience.

In *Rome* (2005), ordinary soldiers have friendships to maintain and domestic troubles to manage while others compete to run the city. Heller, who created the series with John Milius and William J. MacDonald, gives those concerns enough room to matter. We recommend it because the people with little say in how they are governed still have lives worth following. The history becomes easier to care about when somebody has a grievance we can understand.

Heller wrote 11 episodes of *Rome*, giving him a substantial hand in how that balance works. We were grateful for Ray Stevenson’s warmth, because it gave us someone to care about in a society capable of such cruelty. The opening takes time to settle, and the brutality is a real obstacle to recommending it without qualification. Yet there is enough interest in the soldiers’ daily lives to make patience worthwhile. Heller and his fellow creators understand that a friendship can deserve as much attention as the contest to run a city.

With *The Mentalist* (2008), which he created and ran, Heller moved to the repeatable business of a crime procedural. Simon Baker leads a series built around a former fake psychic who solves crimes by observing people, a premise that suits Heller’s interest in psychological insight. A consistent character voice and an ensemble that works together can sustain that format for a long time. Repetition is also its weakness: once the method becomes familiar, another case can feel too much like the previous one.

Heller then created *Gotham* (2014) and co-created *Pennyworth* (2019), working with director Danny Cannon on both. One centres on a young James Gordon in a corrupt city; the other follows Alfred Pennyworth’s early life in an alternate 1960s London. His interest in building a detailed city connects *Gotham* to *Rome*, despite the change in genre. Start with *Rome*, and give the opening time to settle before deciding whether to stay.

## Biography

Bruno Heller is a British screenwriter, producer and director. He was born in London on 13 January 1960 and graduated from the University of Sussex.

Heller created the HBO series *Rome* (2005), on which he also served as writer and executive producer. He later created the CBS series *The Mentalist* (2008) and the Fox series *Gotham* (2014), and co-created the Epix and HBO Max series *Pennyworth* (2019).

He is the son of screenwriter Lukas Heller and the brother of writer Zoë Heller.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, tvinsider.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Directed (1)

- *The Mentalist* (2008), Fi1m 71, Director, Creator, Executive Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *Rome* (2005), Fi1m 82, Writer, Creator, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)

## Complete filmography (10)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler* (2019), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator
- *Gotham* (2014), series, Writer, Creator
- *The Advocates* (2013), Creator
- *The Mentalist* (2008), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist.md)
- *Rome* (2005), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)
- *Touching Evil* (2004), series, Writer
- *The Huntress* (2000), series, Writer
- *The Expendables* (2000), Teleplay
- *The Huntress* (2000), Teleplay
- *Bugs* (1995), series, Writer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bruno-heller