Justin Kuritzkes

Biography

Justin Kuritzkes (born May 5, 1990) is an American playwright, novelist, and screenwriter best known for writing the scripts for two of Luca Guadagnino's films, Challengers and Queer. He has also been the subject of media coverage because of his activities on YouTube, such as the 2011 video "Potion Seller". Kuritzkes was born into a Jewish family and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father is a gastroenterologist, and his mother practises real estate law. In 2008, Kuritzkes graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. Kuritzkes attended Brown University, where he studied philosophy and literary arts. At Brown, Kuritzkes studied with playwrights Gregory Moss, Lisa D'Amour, and Erik Ehn, participated in a Production Workshop, and was involved in local protests affiliated with the Occupy movement. Kuritzkes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2012. Kuritzkes's one-act play An Autobiography of my Brother, first written for the 2008 Harvard-Westlake Playwrights Festival, was among the works honoured at the 2010 Young Playwrights Competition. Beginning at Brown University, Kuritzkes uploaded videos recorded using the Photo Booth application to YouTube. The most famous of these videos, Potion Seller, went viral online and inspired parodies in publications including The New Yorker. Kuritzkes received a MacDowell Fellowship in both 2012 and 2016. In 2016, his play The Sensuality Party toured the university circuit of New York state. He released the novel Famous People in 2019. In 2021, Kuritzkes's spec script Challengers was featured in the annual edition of The Black List, which was then adapted into a feature film by Luca Guadagnino. Ahead of the film's release, he was named one of the top 10 screenwriters to watch in 2023 by Variety. He also adapted William S. Burroughs' 1985 novel Queer for a film directed by Guadagnino. In April 2024, Variety reported that Kuritzkes would write the screen adaptation of the Don Winslow novel City on Fire, set to star Austin Butler. In June 2024, he was announced to be developing an untitled film with Jude Law, reportedly inspired by the works of Mike Nichols. In November 2024, it was announced he had penned a feature film based on the DC character Sgt. Rock, which would reunite him with Queer collaborators Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig. Kuritzkes has been married to filmmaker Celine Song since June 11, 2016. They live together in New York City.

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