Francis Veber (born July 28, 1937 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French director, screenwriter, playwright, dialogue writer and producer.
He specializes in comedies since The '70s, with his biggest successes as director happening in The '80s and The '90s. He's also moved across the pond for some time, as an uncredited script doctor on some Touchstone Pictures productions. Possibly due to his Touchstone gig giving him exposure in Hollywood, a number of the comedies he wrote and/or directed have had American remakes (such as The Toy, The Birdcage, Fathers' Day, Pure Luck and Dinner for Schmucks — he even directed one such himself).
Since about 2008 he's retired from filmmaking and focuses exclusively on directing stage plays.
Works on TV Tropes:
- The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972, as co-screenwriter)
- The Return of the Tall Blond Man (1974, as co-screenwriter)
- Le Magnifique (1973, as uncredited screenwriter)
- La Cage aux folles (1978, adapted the play and did some dialogues)
- La Cage aux Folles 2 (1980, as screenwriter)
- La Chèvre (1981, as director and screenwriter)
- Partners (1982, as screenwriter)
- Les Compères (1983, as director and screenwriter)
- Hold-up (1985, as co-screenwriter)
- Les Fugitifs (1986, as director and screenwriter)
- Three Fugitives (1989, as director and screenwriter)
- Out On a Limb (1992, as director)
- My Father the Hero (1994, as uncredited script doctor)
- Le Jaguar (1996, as director and screenwriter)
- The Dinner Game (1998, as director and screenwriter)
- The Closet (2001, as director and screenwriter)
Tropes in his works:
- Associated Composer: Vladimir Cosma has scored a number of Veber's films.
- Odd Couple: Veber's protagonists are usually two completely different individuals, with one being an incurable goofball anywhere between The Ditz and a Cloudcuckoolander (and often a Nice Guy by way of Dumb Is Good), and the other being any variant of the Straight Man and Only Sane Man. The plot usually has the two finding themselves forced to cohabit, flee together or work together to solve a major problem.
- Production Posse:
- He has worked multiple times with actors such as Gérard Depardieu, Michel Aumont, Pierre Richard, Richard Berry and Jacques Villeret. And Vladimir Cosma very frequently scored his films.
- Pierre Mondy often directed his plays on stage.
- Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: The Closet (Le Placard) is a rare example of a Veber work that was a film first then a stage play (it's the reverse usually).
- Signature Style: He often uses "François Perrin" or "François Pignon" to name his goofball and naive characters.
