Born in Houston,
Texas, raised and educated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Doug Claybourne
first came into the film business from a background of advertising
and art direction studies after obtaining a BS degree from the
University of Tulsa. Thereafter came two years of post graduate
study at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles before
Claybourne turned to film. It took a six month stint as an assistant
art director on The City of San Francisco magazine and a working
relationship with the owner, Francis Ford Coppola, to convince
Claybourne to make the switch official.
Early in 1976, during his first semester of film school after
exiting City magazine, Claybourne, prompted by a quote attributed
to Coppola, “ ...the problem with most film students is,
they're afraid to take risks,” Claybourne offered to work
“at no charge” for the next eight weeks, just to find
out if the movie business was something he really wanted to pursue
over the long term. The film was “Apocalypse Now” and
eight weeks turned out to be 3 1/2 years.
Falling back on his Vietnam, Marine Corps experience, he joined
the Coppola unit in the Philippines as a production assistant
wrangling helicopters. Later he became the assistant director
on the 2nd unit, coordinating the shooting of helicopter and
patrol boat footage. Eventually, he graduated to the main unit
taking over as Coppola’s 1st assistant director. He stayed
on after shooting as the post production coordinator and special
assistant to the producers during the remaining two and a half
years of production and post production until the release in
August 1979.
Claybourne’s mentor association with Coppola and Zoetrope
continued through the years with “The Black Stallion”
(assistant director), “The Escape Artist” (producer),
“The Black Stallion Returns” (producer/assistant director),
“Rumble Fish” (producer), “Peggy Sue Got Married”
(assistant director) and “Jack” as executive producer.
The Zoetrope relationship also produced the 1992 Emmy and ACE
award winning documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s
Apocalypse,” which Claybourne conceived with George Zaloom
and executive produced with his long time associate Fred Roos.
“Hearts of Darkness” was directed by Fax Bahr and George
Hickenlooper with the original documentary footage directed by
Eleanor Coppola.
Claybourne also produced “Ernest Saves Christmas” for
Disney’s Touchstone banner as a birthday present for his
daughter Signe Laurin, born December 6, 1983. Years later, Doug
put on a special screening of "The Fast and the Furious"
prior to it's opening for his son Dorsey's 13 th birthday -
that became Dorsey's favorite movie produced by his dad and he
now owns a suped up Honda.
In July of 1998, Claybourne completed work on his 21st feature
film, “The Mask of Zorro,” for Steven Spielberg’s,
Amblin Entertainment and Tristar Pictures. Zorro filmed on location
in Pachuca, Sonora, Tlaxcala and Mexico City from November 1996
through July 1997, another 2 1/2 year adventure. “The Mask
of Zorro” was nominated for two Golden Globes, including
Best Picture and Best Actor for Antonio Banderas. Zorro was also
nominated for two academy awards in Sound and Sound Effects achievement.
Claybourne met Rob Cohen while filling in as a favor, as an assistant
director during the making of “The Legend of Billie Jean.”
This meeting led to a three picture producing association with
the Taft/Barish company and ultimately to, “The Fast
and the Furious” with Cohen directing. Touted as a “cultural
phenomenon” F&F opened to a phenomenal June 22, 2001
weekend of $41.7 million with a negative cost of $39 million
dollars.
Other movies with Cohen were “Light of Day” with Michael
J. Fox and “The Serpent and the Rainbow” with Wes Craven
directing and David Ladd sharing producing duties.
Doug also executive produced and completed work on “North
Country” in Mexico and Minnesota, directed by New Zealander Niki Caro, starring Charlize
Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson and
Sean Bean. Following that, he produced for his writer partner,
L.D. Napier the feature length documentary, “Every Twenty
One Seconds,” eight stories of Brain Injury in seven parts
for the State of New Mexico released in 2006.
Most recently, Doug produced an off broadway play, THE G WORD: FOR THOSE BORN LATER, to benefit Darfur refugees. The play was written and directed by L.D. Napier and all proceeds went to three on the ground organizations in Darfur. The show went up at La MaMa in the East Village. In film, "Nights in Rodanthe" was released in October, with Diane Lane and Richard Gere, Doug executive produced for Warner Brothers. A love story, this was the Doug's 2nd film with Diane Lane and the feature directing debut of George C. Wolfe out of the New York Public Theatre.
Doug continues to
actively develop projects for his production company, Poetry
& Pictures Inc. while pursuing his passion for writing
poetry and painting watercolors. He has written some twenty five
books of poetry, since 1995, only one of which has he self published.
The published book is entitled “One
hundred love sonnets and one sad poem...”
The readings are
accompanied by an original score created by the popular solo
pianist Jim Brickman of Windham Hill Records. All of the artists
donated their work for the project as proceeds from the package
went to a college education fund for six children in Mexico along
with Doug’s own two children.
Doug and L.D. Napier principally reside in Parkslope, an area in West Brooklyn, near the Brooklyn Bridge, while keeping a presence in Los Angeles, California.
