--- name: "Steven Zaillian" canonical: "https://film.one/person/steven-zaillian" fi1m_id: "steven-zaillian" imdb_id: "nm0001873" tmdb_id: 2260 wikidata_id: "Q291141" roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"] born: "30 January 1953" reviewed_on_fi1m: 15 average_fi1m_score: 72 average_as: "writer" average_over: 12 updated: "2026-10-23T04:07:29.612859+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." --- # Steven Zaillian ## Identity Steven Zaillian - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/steven-zaillian - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** steven-zaillian - **IMDb ID:** nm0001873 - **TMDB ID:** 2260 - **Wikidata ID:** Q291141 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Zaillian, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q291141, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001873/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2260 Writer and producer. Born 30 January 1953 in Fresno, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director - **Born:** 30 January 1953, Fresno, California, USA - **Active:** 1985–present - **Also known as:** Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian - **Titles on Fi1m:** 15: 2 directing, 12 writing, 1 other - **Frequently works with:** [Ridley Scott](https://film.one/person/ridley-scott.md), [Ben Kingsley](https://film.one/person/ben-kingsley.md), [John Turturro](https://film.one/person/john-turturro.md), [Martin Scorsese](https://film.one/person/martin-scorsese.md), [Robert De Niro](https://film.one/person/robert-de-niro.md), [Robin Wright](https://film.one/person/robin-wright.md), [Sean Penn](https://film.one/person/sean-penn.md) - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 4 nominated) - **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as writer, over 12 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 54 (1), 1990s 80 (4), 2000s 68 (4), 2010s 75 (5), 2020s 80 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 72 to 65 across 12 titles - **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 5 at 60–79, 3 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 9, Crime 6, Thriller 6, Action 3, History 3, Adventure 2 - **Screen time:** 30 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $2,384m across 12 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Zaillian, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q291141, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001873/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2260 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*The Irishman*](https://film.one/film/the-irishman.md) (86), [*RIPLEY*](https://film.one/tv/ripley.md) (80), [*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*](https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.md) (74), [*The Interpreter*](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md) (62) - **Disney+:** [*Moneyball*](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md) (83), [*Hannibal*](https://film.one/film/hannibal.md) (54) - **Tubi:** [*Awakenings*](https://film.one/film/awakenings.md) (73), [*The Falcon and the Snowman*](https://film.one/film/the-falcon-and-the-snowman.md) (54) - **HBO Max:** [*The Night Of*](https://film.one/tv/the-night-of.md) (81) - **Apple TV:** [*Gangs of New York*](https://film.one/film/gangs-of-new-york.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Steven Zaillian > Steven Zaillian writes in behaviour rather than speeches, and he is at his best when he leaves a central figure unexplained. His weakness is tidiness: the same clarity that makes hard material easy to follow sometimes makes hard questions easier than they were. John Stone, the lawyer in *The Night Of* (2016), has eczema so bad he wears sandals in winter, and Steven Zaillian and Richard Price give the condition as much screen time as the murder. That is Zaillian's method in one detail. He has said his scripts run to around three hundred scenes where most films manage a hundred, and you can feel it in the first hour of that series: a boy on a bench, a call on the radio the police keep failing to connect to him, and almost no music. When the search turns up the knife in Nasir's jacket we felt sick, not with surprise, since we had watched him take it, but because Riz Ahmed plays a boy who has only just understood the night is not over. He began as an editor in the late 1970s, which may account for the habit, and his first produced screenplay was *The Falcon and the Snowman* (1985). *Awakenings* (1990) and *Schindler's List* (1993) made him the writer studios call when the book is difficult, and for the next quarter century he was mostly that: *Gangs of New York* (2002) and *The Irishman* (2019) for Martin Scorsese, *Moneyball* (2011) with Aaron Sorkin, *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* (2011) for David Fincher, three films with Ridley Scott. He directed in between, *Searching for Bobby Fischer* (1993), *A Civil Action* (1998) and *All the King's Men* (2006), and the reviews of the last found it lost its way in the cutting room. Then television gave him eight hours at a time, and *The Night Of* and *Ripley* (2024) are his from first shot to last. What he does best is leave a man unexplained. Liam Neeson's Schindler is never tidied into a hero, and we keep watching him because we have not finished deciding what we think of him. Joe Pesci's Russell Bufalino in *The Irishman* speaks quietly, and the script gives friendship and loyalty enough attention to make us wary of both words. He can also make a hard subject clear without a lecture: the statistics in *Moneyball*, the medicine in *Awakenings*, the paperwork that moves a case through a New York courthouse long before it moves as story. The same instinct for clarity is the fault. *Awakenings* tidies its emotional questions until illness becomes an invitation to appreciate ordinary life. *Moneyball* makes the old thinking too convenient a target, so its heroes rarely face anyone who can answer back. The romance in *Gangs of New York* asks for feeling the writing has not earned. When Zaillian is not sure of a person he is superb. When he is sure, the script gets neater than life. The directors who serve him best have the patience for three hundred scenes, and Scorsese has it. On *The Night Of* he gave himself the time, with Robert Elswit, Igor Martinović and Frederick Elmes keeping the precinct in the grey-green of fluorescent tubes while the paperwork did the talking. Television suits him. It is the one form where nobody asks him to cut two hundred scenes. ## Biography Steven Zaillian is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He wrote the screenplay for *Awakenings* (1990) and *Schindler's List* (1993), and provided the story for *Mission: Impossible* (1996). Zaillian was born on 30 January 1953 in Fresno, California. He attended Sonoma State University and graduated from San Francisco State University in 1975 with a degree in cinema. His other screenwriting credits include *Gangs of New York* (2002), *American Gangster* (2007), *Moneyball* (2011) and *The Irishman* (2019). He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for *Schindler's List* and received Oscar nominations for *Awakenings*, *Gangs of New York*, *Moneyball* and *The Irishman*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (15) ### Directed (2) - *RIPLEY* (2024), Fi1m 80, Writer, Director, Creator, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/ripley.md) - *The Night Of* (2016), Fi1m 81, Director, Creator, Teleplay, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-night-of.md) ### Wrote (12) — the average rests on these - *The Irishman* (2019), Fi1m 86, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-irishman.md) - *Exodus: Gods and Kings* (2014), Fi1m 52, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/exodus-gods-and-kings.md) - *Moneyball* (2011), Fi1m 83, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md) - *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* (2011), Fi1m 74, Screenplay, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.md) - *The Interpreter* (2005), Fi1m 62, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md) - *Gangs of New York* (2002), Fi1m 74, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/gangs-of-new-york.md) - *Hannibal* (2001), Fi1m 54, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/hannibal.md) - *Mission: Impossible* (1996), Fi1m 81, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible.md) - *Clear and Present Danger* (1994), Fi1m 75, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/clear-and-present-danger.md) - *Schindler's List* (1993), Fi1m 91, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/schindlers-list.md) - *Awakenings* (1990), Fi1m 73, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/awakenings.md) - *The Falcon and the Snowman* (1985), Fi1m 54, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-falcon-and-the-snowman.md) ### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *Anvil! The Story of Anvil* (2008), Fi1m 80, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/anvil-the-story-of-anvil.md) ## Complete filmography (33) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *RIPLEY* (2024), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/ripley.md) - *Those Who Wish Me Dead* (2021), Producer - *The Irishman* (2019), Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-irishman.md) - *My Dinner with Hervé* (2018), Executive Producer - *Red Sparrow* (2018), Producer - *The Current War* (2018), Executive Producer - *The Night Of* (2016), series, Executive Producer, Director, Teleplay, Creator — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-night-of.md) - *Exodus: Gods and Kings* (2014), Screenplay — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/exodus-gods-and-kings.md) - *Life Itself* (2014), Executive Producer - *The Cold Light of Day* (2012), Executive Producer - *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* (2011), Executive Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.md) - *Moneyball* (2011), Screenplay — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/moneyball.md) - *Welcome to the Rileys* (2010), Executive Producer - *The Cove* (2009), Thanks - *Anvil! The Story of Anvil* (2008), Thanks — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/anvil-the-story-of-anvil.md) - *American Gangster* (2007), Screenplay, Executive Producer - *All the King's Men* (2006), Director, Writer, Producer - *The Interpreter* (2005), Screenplay — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/the-interpreter.md) - *Gangs of New York* (2002), Screenplay — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/gangs-of-new-york.md) - *Hannibal* (2001), Screenplay — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/hannibal.md) - *A Civil Action* (1998), Producer, Screenplay, Director - *Mission: Impossible* (1996), Story — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible.md) - *Clear and Present Danger* (1994), Screenplay — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/clear-and-present-danger.md) - *Schindler's List* (1993), Screenplay — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/schindlers-list.md) - *Searching for Bobby Fischer* (1993), Director, Screenplay - *Jack the Bear* (1993), Screenplay - *Awakenings* (1990), Screenplay — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/awakenings.md) - *The Falcon and the Snowman* (1985), Screenplay — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/the-falcon-and-the-snowman.md) - *Below the Belt* (1980), Editor - *Starhops* (1978), Editor - *Kingdom of the Spiders* (1977), Editor - *Breaker! Breaker!* (1977), Editor - *Ghettoside*, series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator ## Gallery - ![Steven Zaillian](https://film.one/media/person/77704/gallery-23e332e0920e.jpg) Steven Zaillian — Image via TMDB - ![Steven Zaillian](https://film.one/media/person/77704/gallery-09e119fd8628.jpg) Steven Zaillian — Image via TMDB - ![Steven Zaillian](https://film.one/media/person/77704/gallery-37ae65ebe228.jpg) Steven Zaillian — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won, 4 nominated - 2020: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Irishman* - 2012: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Moneyball* - 2003: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Gangs of New York* - 1994: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Schindler's List* - 1991: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Awakenings* ### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won - 1994: Best Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Schindler's List* ### Golden Globes — 1 won - 1994: Best Screenplay (won), for *Schindler's List* ### Other awards — 6 won - Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement 2011: Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement (won) - Austin Film Festival 2009: Austin Film Festival (won) - USC Scripter Award 1999: USC Scripter Award (won) - USC Scripter Award 1994: USC Scripter Award (won) - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 1994: Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Schindler's List* - USC Scripter Award 1991: USC Scripter Award (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/steven-zaillian