Mark Boal

Mark Boal
Born	1973 New York

Mark Boal (born 1973) is an American journalist, screenwriter and film producer. He won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture for The Hurt Locker (2009). His screenplay won six other major awards as well.

Early life and education

Mark Boal was born in 1973 in New York City. He attended Bronx High School of Science and was on the high school's Speech and Debate Team. He earned his undergraduate degree from Oberlin College in 1995.

Career

Boal has worked as a freelance journalist and screenwriter. He has contributed articles to such magazines as The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Playboy.

Boal's 2004 article "Death and Dishonor", about the 2003 murder of veteran Richard T. Davis after his return to the United States, was published in Playboy magazine. It inspired writer/director Paul Haggis, who adapted it for his fictional screenplay for the film In the Valley of Elah, which he also directed. Boal and Haggis have writing credit for the story.^[1][2]

As a journalist, Boal was embedded with troops and bomb squads in 2004 during the Iraq War. He wrote an article about one of the bomb experts, Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver, in an article entitled "The Man in the Bomb Suit", published in September 2005 in Playboy magazine.

Boal went on to write an original screenplay titled The Hurt Locker about a fictional set of characters and events based on his interviews and observations in Iraq. He was also a producer for the 2009 film set in Iraq, about an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal EOD bomb squad. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, his business partner and co-producer.

In March 2010 (five days before the Academy Awards ceremony), Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver announced he was suing the producers of The Hurt Locker because screenwriter Mark Boal allegedly based the main character and "virtually all of the situations" in the film on events involving him. Sarver also claimed to have coined the phrase "the hurt locker".^[3]

The producers' spokesperson has reiterated the screenplay is fictional.^[4] In addition, citations for the phrase "the hurt locker", date back to 1966 during the years of the Vietnam War. The phrase has been used among military members for decades.^[5]

He wrote an essay in Rolling Stone about US troops killing Afghan civilians.^[6]

Filmography

• The Hurt Locker (2009), screenplay, producer
• In the Valley of Elah (2007), screenplay by Paul Haggis; based on story by Mark Boal and Haggis^[1]

Awards

• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Academy Award for Best Picture
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Nantucket International Film Festival - "The Showtime Tony Cox Award" for Screenwriting
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
• The Hurt Locker (2009) - Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Mark Boal IMDB listing
2. ^ Mark Boal, "Death and Dishonor", Playboy
3. ^ " 'Hurt Locker' Producers Sued Days Before Oscars", ABC News, Retrieved March 6, 2010.
4. ^ Bernie Woodall, "U.S. bomb expert says 'Hurt Locker' stole his story", Reuters, 4 Mar 2010, accessed 8 Mar 2010
5. ^ "Sorry, Sgt. Sarver", Language Log, University of Pennsylvania, 5 Mar 2010, Retrieved March 6, 2010
6. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327

External links

• Mark Boal at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Boal, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1973
Place of birth	New York
Date of death
Place of death