Birthdate: Nov 7, 1978
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Will Gluck is a director/writer/producer of comedies and musical adaptations, for which he has contributed new songs as lyricist and composer. Gluck made his feature filmmaking debut as director-writer (under the pseudonym “Freedom Jones”) of Fired Up! (2009), with Nicholas D’Agosto, Sarah Roemer, Philip Baker Hall, and John Michael Higgins, and released by Screen Gems.
Gluck stayed in the raunchy teen comedy mode and also with Screen Gems for his next directorial project (and his first as producer under his new banner, Olive Bridge Entertainment), Easy A (2010), starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, and Stanley Tucci, turning an $8 million budget into a $75 million global gross after premiering at the Toronto film festival.
Will Gluck’s first movie as director/writer/producer was the comedy, Friends with Benefits (2011), his third consecutive project with Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Releasing, co-starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, with Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Jenkins, and Woody Harrelson, and landing a robust return of $149.5 million.
After serving as producer (with Will Packer) of the successful Steve Pink-directed rom-com, About Last Night (2014), starring Kevin Hart and profiting with a strong $50 million global gross, Gluck began to make a string of movies as director/writer/producer first with a contemporary spin (and the second big-screen version) of the 1977 Broadway musical, Annie (2014), for which Gluck wrote and composed new additional songs, co-starring Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz, and which overcame poor reviews for good worldwide box-office returns of about $134 million.
Gluck took on Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit tales as director/writer/producer of the live-action/animated Peter Rabbit (2018) and the sequel, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021), starring voice actor James Corden (as Peter), Margot Robbie, and Elizabeth Debicki and live-action actors Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne, and Sam Neill, returning a combined $505 million globally for Sony Pictures.
Gluck turned to the rom-com genre as director/co-writer/producer of Anyone but You (2023), a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, co-starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, and with Hadley Robinson, Dermot Mulroney, and Rachel Griffiths, and released by Sony Pictures.
Will Gluck made a big shift in his filmmaking focus as director/producer of the Hollywood remake of the 2011 Norwegian feature adapting the Jo Nesbø crime novel, Jackpot (date to be announced), with Jennifer Garner, Bryan Cranston, and Mila Kunis.
Will Gluck was born in New York City and was raised by parents Carol Gluck (Japan academic expert) and Peter L. Gluck (architect). Gluck is married to Trista Gladden; the couple has two children. Gluck’s height is 6’.
Nominee, Best Adapted Screenplay, Australian Academy of Cinema and TV Arts Awards (2021); Nominee, Best Song, Golden Globe Awards (2015).
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Famed Parents: Will Gluck’s parents were both acclaimed in their extremely different fields—mother Carol, a well-regarded academic whose specialty is Japanology, and father Peter, founder of the New York architecture firm, Gluck+Studios.
Shingle: Gluck has his own production company, Olive Bridge Entertainment, which has a long-term pact with Sony Pictures.
Filmmaker-Composer: Will Gluck is one of the few Hollywood-based directors who also has numerous composing-songwriting credits on his features, including Easy A, Friends with Benefits, Annie, and Peter Rabbit.