Gregory Widen

Gregory Widen is an American screenwriter and film director. He is the creator of the Highlander film and television franchise, and the writer-director of the cult horror film The Prophecy.

Biography

A native of Laguna Beach, California, Gregory Widen holds a master's degree from UCLA and once worked full-time as a city firefighter.

While still an undergrad film student at UCLA, he sold his script for Highlander. The film stars Christopher Lambert, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. Its tagline, "There can be only one" has gained pop culture fame. The original movie became a cult classic, spawning five sequels and Highlander: The Series, tie-in novels and video games.

Widen worked as a firefighter for three years while still an undergraduate at UCLA. He witnessed a person being killed by an explosive backdraft, which became the basis for the screenplay he wrote for the movie Backdraft, directed by Ron Howard and starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro. Released in 1991, Backdraft received three Academy Award nominations.
Backdraft was turned into a ride for Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan.
A sequel began production in April 2018.

In 1995, Widen wrote and directed the supernatural thriller The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. The film spawned four sequels: The Prophecy II, The Ascent, Uprising and Forsaken.

Widen was the creator, writer and executive producer of the series Rescue 77 and wrote for Tales from the Crypt.

Film

Direct-to-video

Television

In 2013 he released his debut novel, Blood Makes Noise published by Thomas & Mercer. The book received critical praise, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.