---
name: "Craig Mazin"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/craig-mazin"
fi1m_id: "craig-mazin"
imdb_id: "nm0563301"
tmdb_id: 35796
wikidata_id: "Q1138605"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "8 April 1971"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 59
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-05T12:56:13.731826+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."
---

# Craig Mazin

## Identity

Craig Mazin

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/craig-mazin
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** craig-mazin
- **IMDb ID:** nm0563301
- **TMDB ID:** 35796
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1138605
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Mazin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1138605, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0563301/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35796

Writer and producer. Born 8 April 1971 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 8 April 1971, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
- **Active:** 2003–present
- **Also known as:** 크레이그 매진, 크레이그 마진
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 1 directing, 5 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Bradley Cooper](https://film.one/person/bradley-cooper.md), [Daniel Goldberg](https://film.one/person/daniel-goldberg.md), [Ed Helms](https://film.one/person/ed-helms.md), [Jon Lucas](https://film.one/person/jon-lucas.md), [Justin Bartha](https://film.one/person/justin-bartha.md), [Scott Moore](https://film.one/person/scott-moore.md), [Todd Phillips](https://film.one/person/todd-phillips.md), [Zach Galifianakis](https://film.one/person/zach-galifianakis.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 59, as writer, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 52 (1), 2010s 55 (3), 2020s 80 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 59 to 55 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 3 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 4, Drama 1, Family 1, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,301m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Mazin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1138605, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0563301/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/35796

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Scary Movie 3*](https://film.one/film/scary-movie-3.md) (52), [*The Hangover Part II*](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-ii.md) (44), [*The Hangover Part III*](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-iii.md) (35)
- **HBO Max:** [*Chernobyl*](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md) (86), [*The Last of Us*](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md) (85)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Sheep Detectives*](https://film.one/film/the-sheep-detectives.md) (76)

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

## Fi1m on Craig Mazin

> Craig Mazin makes patient, frightening television about people trying to survive. We recommend his dramas warmly, though he sometimes explains too much and gives supporting characters too little time to earn the feelings he wants from us.

In *Chernobyl* (2019), Valery Legasov speaks into a cassette recorder before the series returns to the night of the reactor explosion. Craig Mazin then stays with that night for most of an hour, showing what happened in order and keeping track of who knew what. We found that first hour frightening because it makes us follow the disaster without the relief of jumping ahead. His patience is valuable here, although the urge to make everything clear will later become a problem.

His earlier work was in comedy films, with a writing credit on *Senseless* (1998). He co-wrote *The Hangover Part II* (2011). The move into limited-series drama came with *Chernobyl*, which he created and wrote; the work we most readily recommend begins with that change.

Across its five episodes, *Chernobyl* shows both the care Mazin takes and his reluctance to trust us once we have understood. Mazin and Johan Renck keep the account exact and frightening, but the repeated physics lessons eventually make it feel like a school assembly. Jared Harris gives Legasov the weight to hold our attention through the explanations. Costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux puts the men in deliberately similar grey suits, and the writing takes time to distinguish those who are lying from those who are frightened. That confusion is worth tolerating; the extra instruction less so.

In *The Last of Us* (2023), Mazin and fellow writer Neil Druckmann give Joel and Ellie the time together that makes familiar zombie threats worth sitting through. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey make that attention pay off, and the first series earns its emotion by allowing people to care about one another. Not everyone gets that chance: some supporting characters must make an impression before the scripts have given them enough room. The familiar apocalypse situations also remain familiar, however seriously the writers take them. Try the first series for Pascal and Ramsey, rather than for a reinvention of the zombie story.

## Biography

Craig Mazin is an American writer, director and producer. He was born on 8 April 1971 in Brooklyn, New York City, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in psychology from Princeton University in 1992.

He began his career writing comedy films including *Scary Movie 3* (2003), *Scary Movie 4* (2006), *Superhero Movie* (2008), which he also directed, *The Hangover Part II* (2011), *The Hangover Part III* (2013) and *Identity Thief* (2013). Mazin later created, wrote and produced the HBO miniseries *Chernobyl* (2019), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards. He co-created, wrote and executive produced the HBO series *The Last of Us* (2023–present) with Neil Druckmann, and has directed episodes of the series.

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

## On Fi1m (6)

### Directed (1)

- *The Last of Us* (2023), Fi1m 85, Director, Executive Producer, Creator, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md)

### Wrote (5) — the average rests on these

- *The Sheep Detectives* (2026), Fi1m 76, Screenstory, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-sheep-detectives.md)
- *Chernobyl* (2019), Fi1m 86, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md)
- *The Hangover Part III* (2013), Fi1m 35, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-iii.md)
- *The Hangover Part II* (2011), Fi1m 44, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-ii.md)
- *Scary Movie 3* (2003), Fi1m 52, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/scary-movie-3.md)

## Complete filmography (20)

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

- *The Sheep Detectives* (2026), Screenplay, Screenstory — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/the-sheep-detectives.md)
- *The Apprentice* (2024), Thanks — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/the-apprentice.md)
- *The Last of Us* (2023), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md)
- *Mythic Quest* (2020), series, as Sol Green, Lou · Writer, Consulting Producer
- *Chernobyl* (2019), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md)
- *Stripped* (2016), Thanks
- *The Huntsman: Winter's War* (2016), Writer
- *The Hangover Part III* (2013), Writer — Fi1m 35, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-iii.md)
- *Identity Thief* (2013), Screenplay, Story
- *The Hangover Part II* (2011), Screenplay — Fi1m 44, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hangover-part-ii.md)
- *Superhero Movie* (2008), as "Okay, I come back" · Producer, Director, Writer
- *School for Scoundrels* (2006), Executive Producer
- *Scary Movie 4* (2006), as Saw Villain (voice) · Screenplay, Producer
- *Scary Movie 3* (2003), Screenplay — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/scary-movie-3.md)
- *The Specials* (2000), Director, Co-Producer
- *Senseless* (1998), Screenplay
- *RocketMan* (1997), Screenplay, Story
- *The Pursuit Of Victory*, as Norm
- *Bambo*, Producer
- *Untitled Pirates of the Caribbean Sequel*, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Craig Mazin](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-10d74bac8df5.png) Craig Mazin — Jonatan Blomberg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Craig_Mazin%2C_MovieZine_interview_%28cropped%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Craig Mazin in an interview with Jonatan Blomberg for MovieZine. (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-84ac437a4d06.png) Craig Mazin in an interview with Jonatan Blomberg for MovieZine. (2023) — Jonatan Blomberg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Craig_Mazin%2C_MovieZine_interview.png/1280px-Craig_Mazin%2C_MovieZine_interview.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival.](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-437aa97f5a27.jpg) Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival. — Bea Phi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_01.jpg/1280px-Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival.](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-a4dc730c5e78.jpg) Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival. — Bea Phi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_02.jpg/1280px-Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_02.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Craig Mazin](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-bf7751f8a9e3.jpg) Craig Mazin — Image via TMDB
- ![Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival.](https://film.one/media/person/46616/gallery-26311bbf8991.jpg) Craig Mazin, co-director, at the 2025 South by Southwest festival. — Bea Phi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_03.jpg/1280px-Craig_Mazin%2C_co-director%2C_at_SXSW_2025_03.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© 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/craig-mazin