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Scott Rudin is an American producer of films such as There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men. He has won four major honors: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

Synopsis

Scott Rudin is an American producer who was born in New York City in 1958. By his late 20s Rudin was president of production at 20th Century FOX. He produced a steady stream of hits there and at Paramount, with films such as The Firm, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Rudinis only one of 14 people to have received the four major entertainment honors: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. For his work on Captain Phillips (2013), he was nominated for yet another Oscar in 2014 for best picture.

Early Life

Scott Rudin was born on July 14, 1958, in New York City, and grew up in the town of Baldwin on Long Island. The older of two brothers, he was not especially fond of his childhood or close to his family. Rudin stated, "I've never been nurtured" and admitted he doesn't get along with his mother. He said of his upbringing: "I was a Jewish kid from Long Island who didn't want to be a Jewish kid from Long Island. There's no mystery to it. It's fairly self-explanatory. My father sold men's clothing. I don't know where he works now. He was a salesman."

Rudin gained career experience at age 15 by working as an assistant to legendary theater producer Kermit Bloomgarten and later for producers Robert Whitehead and Emanuel Azenberg. After graduating from high school, Rudin shocked his parents by declining a scholarship from Brown University. Instead he worked as a casting agent, and within a couple of years he launched his own casting company.

Career Success

At age 21, Rudin relocated to Hollywood and worked as a producer on dramas such as the miniseries Little Gloria … Happy at Last (1982), a biopic based on Gloria Vanderbilt, and He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1983), an Emmy-winning children's program. Rudin then created his own production company, Scott Rudin Productions. The company found success in films such as Mrs. Soffel (1984), for which its lead actress, Diane Keaton, was nominated for a Golden Globe.

20th Century FOX soon recognized Rudin's talent and recruited him to serve as its executive producer. By his late 20s, Rudin was promoted to president of production, a position he held for a year before resigning to revive his production company. Scott Rudin Productions partnered with Paramount to produce films such as Pacific Heights (1990), Regarding Henry (1991), The Addams Family (1991), Little Man Tate (1991) and Sister Act (1992).

In 1992 Rudin signed with Tri-Star Pictures, but soon thereafter several films he had worked on at Paramount were released, including the hit films The Firm (1993) and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). Rudin then delved into theatre, where in 1994 he won a best musical Tony Award for his production of Passion. In his career, he would go on to win Tony Awards for a multitude of productions including Copenhagen (2000), The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia (2002), Doubt (2005), The History Boys (2006) and Book of Mormon (2012).

Rudin delayed his move to Tri-Star Pictures indefinitely and continued to work at Paramount on films including Clueless (1995), The First Wives Club (1996) and Ransom (1996). He dabbled in television with the based-on-the-movie series Clueless (1996-99) and then worked on other hit films like Wonder Boys (2000), Zoolander (2001) and The Hours (2002), which received an Academy Award nomination for best picture. In 2004 he left Paramount and collaborated with Disney on the movie M. Night Shyalaman's The Village. Rudin's dual Oscar nominations took place in 2007 with There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men, the latter which won the award for best picture.

In 2010, Rudin's streak of hit films continued with The Social Network and True Grit followed by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). His success carried on the next year with his Grammy win for producing the 2012 best musical theater album for Book of Mormon. Rudin is only one of 14 people to have received the four major entertainment honors—Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. For his work on Captain Phillips (2013), he gained another Oscar nomination in 2014 for best picture.

Personal Life

With his zeal for working non-stop, there's little time for personal relationships for Rudin, who is openly gay. He is known in the entertainment industry for both his intelligence and his bad behavior, and the turnover rate for his assistants is notoriously high, due to his demanding and sometimes extreme behavior. Rudin reportedly requires his assistants to line up calls continuously, one after the other, so no time is wasted, lest they face his wrath should there be a gap between calls.

Rudin is also known as one to break the rules, as he has admitted to parking in handicapped spots on the Paramount lot. He rationalized, "I loosely interpreted handicapped as covering emotionally handicapped in addition to physically." The practice only ended when guards, frustrated at Rudin's continual defiance, called Los Angeles police who issued him three $330 tickets.

Rudin's frustration has at times turned physical, including during an incident in which he broke the windshield of his. He stated, "I once threw the phone into my windshield when I was on the phone with Jodie Foster. It was her telling me she wanted to cast Harry Connick in Little Man Tate and me saying, 'Not without a test you're not.' I don't want to be told who's going to be in a movie I'm producing."