Sam Mercer

For Sam Mercer "The BFG" has marked the continuation of a relationship with producer Frank Marshall and executive producer Kathleen Kennedy that began in 1990. As vice president of motion picture production for The Walt Disney Company's Hollywood Pictures, Mercer met and worked with Marshall and Kennedy on Marshall's directorial debut, the comedy-horror classic "Arachnophobia," starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. When Mercer left to venture into independent producing he reunited with the successful duo on Marshall's next directorial venture, the box-office success "Congo."

Other fruitful long-standing relationships that Mercer has forged in his years as a producer include: seven films with M. Night Shyamalan, including the Kennedy/Marshall produced "The Sixth Sense," "Signs" and "The Last Airbender," as well as "Unbreakable," "The Village," "Lady in the Water" and "The Happening."

Mercer first planted his roots in the film business as a freelance location and unit production manager on such films as "The Witches of Eastwick," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Stripes," "Swing Shift" and "The Escape Artist." He also served as the associate producer/unit manager for KCET-TV in Los Angeles where he received a Daytime Emmy® for the live presentation of the San Francisco Opera's production of "La Gioconda."

He then joined The Walt Disney Company as a production executive, supervising such films as "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Three Fugitives" and "Dead Poets Society." Within a few years, Mercer was promoted to vice president of motion picture production for Hollywood Pictures, and, in addition to "Arachnophobia," was responsible for such releases as "Quiz Show," "The Joy Luck Club," "Born Yesterday," "Swing Kids" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle."

Other credits for Mercer include Sam Mendes' "Jarhead," Stephen Sommers' "Van Helsing," Susanne Bier's "Things We Lost in the Fire," Peter Hyams' "The Relic" and Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars," as well as "Heaven is for Real" and "Snow White and the Huntsman," which he produced in collaboration with Joe Roth.

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