Perry Moore
Encyclopedia
William Perry Moore IV also known as Perry Moore, was an American author, screenwriter, and film director. He was an executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia
film series and the author of Hero
, an award-winning novel about a homosexual teenage superhero.
, Virginia, to William and Nancy Norris Moore. His father was a Vietnam War
veteran who received the Bronze Star
. He had two sisters, Jane and Elizabeth. He grew up in Virginia Beach
, Virginia, and graduated high school from Norfolk Academy
in 1990. He graduated from the University of Virginia
in 1994, and while still in college intern
ed at the Virginia Film Festival
. He also served as an intern in the White House
and at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
studios in New York City.
He worked on the production team for The Rosie O'Donnell Show
, then joined Walden Media
(a media production company created by conservative billionaire Phillip Anschutz to produce family-friendly movies, documentaries, and television programs). He was the executive in charge of production for the film I Am David, an adaptation the Anne Holm
novel North to Freedom.
. Moore spent several years seeking the movie rights to the seven novels by C. S. Lewis
which comprise the Narnia books. Moore's persistence proved critical for Walden Media in winning the rights; an obituary in Variety
called his role "instrumental". As the New York Times
reported in 2005: "At the beginning of 2001, Perry Moore embarked on a forbidding quest. Mr. Moore, an executive with an untested movie company called Walden Media, dispatched an impassioned letter to the chief executive of the C. S. Lewis Company, seeking movie rights to the much-loved Chronicles of Narnia fantasy novels." After a meeting of executives, a handshake sealed the deal for the rights. Moore continued his role as executive producer with Prince Caspian
(2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
(2010).
He co-wrote and co-directed (with life partner
Hunter Hill) the 2008 film Lake City
, a drama that tells the story of a mother (Sissy Spacek
) and son (Troy Garity
) who reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them apart. He also co-produced (again with Hill) a Spike Jonze
-directed 2010 documentary (Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak) about children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak
.
In early 2010, Moore said he and Hill were planning to co-direct a feature film to star actress Julianne Moore
. The night before he died, Moore told his father that he had just secured financing for a fourth Narnia movie based on the book The Magician's Nephew
.
A longtime fan of children's literature and comic books, Moore's novel Hero was first published by Hyperion Books in August 2007. The young adult novel tells the story of a closeted homosexual teenager who becomes a superhero. In May 2008, Hero won a Lambda Literary Award
as the best LGBT Children's/Young Adult novel of the past year. In 2008, Moore was in talks with veteran comic book writer Stan Lee
about producing a television series based on the book. Moore began writing a sequel to Hero in 2009. Moore's father said that in early 2011 his son was working on turning Hero into a movie on the Starz cable television channel.
In February 2010, Moore said he was also at work on a new novel, Way of the Wolf, Book One: Fire, about triplets who inherit super powers and have to stop a villain from taking over the Earth.
gay and lived in New York City with life partner Hunter Hill (a writer for Paper
magazine). Moore was also a Christian and spoke publicly about his faith. According to family members, Moore had suffered knee and back problems before his death, which required pain medication and corrective surgery, but which he had put off to continue working.
reported his death was from an apparent drug overdose. His body was discovered by Hill. The New York Times and Variety
reported that the cause of death was yet to be officially announced, and that a medical examiner's report was pending. Local police said there was no obvious evidence of foul play. An initial autopsy
proved inconclusive.
The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of English fantasy films from Walden Media that are based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels written by C. S. Lewis...
film series and the author of Hero
Hero (novel)
Hero is a Lambda-winning first novel by openly gay film producer and novelist Perry Moore. The fantasy novel is about a teenage superhero, Thom Creed, who must deal with his ex-superhero father's disgrace, his own sexuality, and a murderer stalking the world's heroes.-Plot summary:Thom Creed is a...
, an award-winning novel about a homosexual teenage superhero.
Early life
Moore was born on November 4, 1971, in RichmondRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, Virginia, to William and Nancy Norris Moore. His father was a Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran who received the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
. He had two sisters, Jane and Elizabeth. He grew up in Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
, Virginia, and graduated high school from Norfolk Academy
Norfolk Academy
Norfolk Academy is an independent co-educational day school in Norfolk, Virginia. Chartered in 1728, it is the oldest secondary school in Virginia and the eighth oldest in the United States...
in 1990. He graduated from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1994, and while still in college intern
Intern
Internship is a system of onthejob training for white-collar jobs, similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. They may also be as young as middle school or in...
ed at the Virginia Film Festival
Virginia Film Festival
The Virginia Film Festival is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, held usually in late October/ early November.- Themes :The Virginia Film Festival has historically had a different theme each year...
. He also served as an intern in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
studios in New York City.
He worked on the production team for The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show is an Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002...
, then joined Walden Media
Walden Media
Walden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
(a media production company created by conservative billionaire Phillip Anschutz to produce family-friendly movies, documentaries, and television programs). He was the executive in charge of production for the film I Am David, an adaptation the Anne Holm
Anne Holm
Anne Holm, born Else Anne Lise Jørgensen was a Danish journalist and children's writer. At times she also wrote under the pseudonym Adrien de Chandelle....
novel North to Freedom.
Film career
Moore was an executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of...
. Moore spent several years seeking the movie rights to the seven novels by C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
which comprise the Narnia books. Moore's persistence proved critical for Walden Media in winning the rights; an obituary in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called his role "instrumental". As the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported in 2005: "At the beginning of 2001, Perry Moore embarked on a forbidding quest. Mr. Moore, an executive with an untested movie company called Walden Media, dispatched an impassioned letter to the chief executive of the C. S. Lewis Company, seeking movie rights to the much-loved Chronicles of Narnia fantasy novels." After a meeting of executives, a handshake sealed the deal for the rights. Moore continued his role as executive producer with Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 epic fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the second published, fourth chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It is the second in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walden Media, following The...
(2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a 2010 3D fantasy-adventure film based on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third novel in C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia . It is the third installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walden Media...
(2010).
He co-wrote and co-directed (with life partner
Life partner
A life partner is a romantic or otherwise very close friend for life. The partners can be of the same or opposite sexes, married or unmarried, and monogamous or polyamorous....
Hunter Hill) the 2008 film Lake City
Lake City (film)
Lake City is a 2008 American drama film directed by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill and stars Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity and Dave Matthews.-Plot:...
, a drama that tells the story of a mother (Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
) and son (Troy Garity
Troy Garity
Troy Garity is an American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Barry Winchell in the 2003 television movie Soldier's Girl, but may be best known for his role as Isaac Rosenberg in the Barbershop films.-Early life and...
) who reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them apart. He also co-produced (again with Hill) a Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
-directed 2010 documentary (Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak) about children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
.
In early 2010, Moore said he and Hill were planning to co-direct a feature film to star actress Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
. The night before he died, Moore told his father that he had just secured financing for a fourth Narnia movie based on the book The Magician's Nephew
The Magician's Nephew
The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. It was the sixth book published in his The Chronicles of Narnia series, but is the first in the chronology of the Narnia novels' fictional universe. Thus it is an early example of a prequel.The novel is initially set in...
.
Writing career
In addition to his work in production and development, Moore wrote The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list in December 2005 and January 2006.A longtime fan of children's literature and comic books, Moore's novel Hero was first published by Hyperion Books in August 2007. The young adult novel tells the story of a closeted homosexual teenager who becomes a superhero. In May 2008, Hero won a Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
as the best LGBT Children's/Young Adult novel of the past year. In 2008, Moore was in talks with veteran comic book writer Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
about producing a television series based on the book. Moore began writing a sequel to Hero in 2009. Moore's father said that in early 2011 his son was working on turning Hero into a movie on the Starz cable television channel.
In February 2010, Moore said he was also at work on a new novel, Way of the Wolf, Book One: Fire, about triplets who inherit super powers and have to stop a villain from taking over the Earth.
Personal life
Moore was openlyComing out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay and lived in New York City with life partner Hunter Hill (a writer for Paper
Paper (magazine)
Paper magazine is a New York City–based independent magazine covering and discovering cultural movements with a focus on fashion, design, pop-culture, nightlife, music, art and film. The magazine covers trends, new creative talent, urban American lifestyle as well as international lifestyles and...
magazine). Moore was also a Christian and spoke publicly about his faith. According to family members, Moore had suffered knee and back problems before his death, which required pain medication and corrective surgery, but which he had put off to continue working.
Death
Moore died on February 17, 2011, at the age of 39. The New York Daily NewsNew York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
reported his death was from an apparent drug overdose. His body was discovered by Hill. The New York Times and Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the cause of death was yet to be officially announced, and that a medical examiner's report was pending. Local police said there was no obvious evidence of foul play. An initial autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
proved inconclusive.
External links
- "Beautiful People 2006: Perry Moore." Paper. April 4, 2006. Accessed October 14, 2007.
- Perry Moore Stories – official website
- "Video: Perry Moore – 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'." Independentfilm.com. No date. Accessed October 14, 2007.