James Greer (writer)

James Greer (writer)
James Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, director, musician, and critic. As a screenwriter, he is known for writing the 2018 thriller Unsane directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple, as well as the family comedies Max Keeble's Big Move, Just My Luck and The Spy Next Door. He lives in Los Angeles.
Career
Musician/Critic
Greer was senior editor and senior writer at Spin magazine in New York City in the early 1990s, during which time he helped define the generational cohort that became later widely-known as Generation X.
He wrote and performed all instruments/vocals on the song "Trendspotter Acrobat" on the EP Sunfish Holy Breakfast by Guided By Voices. He was the bassist in the band from 1994 to 1996.
Greer started a band in 2012 with musician Lola G. called DTCV. Pronounced "detective", it was an indie rock duo from Joshua Tree, California. The band released a double album called Hilarious Heaven in 2013 on Xemu Records, followed by a compilation of their early singles and EPs, The Early Year. The duo released their second studio album, Uptime!, in 2015. In April 2016 the band released its third and final studio album, entitled Confusion Moderne, on Xemu Records.
Novelist/Author
Greer has published three novels: Artificial Light (Little House on the Bowery/Akashic, 2006), The Failure (Akashic, 2010). Artificial Light won a California Book Award Silver Medal for First Fiction. and Bad Eminence (And Other Stories, 2022), which Andrew Gallix in The Irish Times called "this year's cult classic," writing that the novel was "hilarious, exhilarating and mind-blowing"
In 2013 Greer released his first book of short fiction, titled Everything Flows, via Curbside Splendor. Publishers Weekly said of the book "Halfway between the mind of God and a vivid dream, Everything Flows is proof that there remain new places to go, both on paper and in the known universe."
FICTION
Artificial Light (2006)
The Failure (2010)
The Speed Chronicles (2011)
Everything Flows (2013)
Bad Eminence (2023)
NON-FICTION
R.E.M.: Behind the Mask (1992)
Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll (2005)
Screenwriter
Greer has written or co-written several movies, including Max Keeble's Big Move (Disney, 2001), Just My Luck (20th Century Fox, 2006) starring Lindsay Lohan, the Jackie Chan vehicle The Spy Next Door (Lions Gate, 2010) and Unsane, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple (Fingerprint Releasing, Bleecker Street, Regency, 2018). In February 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Greer was set to write a script called Planet Kill for Soderbergh to produce. He also has adapted the John Barth novel The Sot-Weed Factor (novel) for a projected series from Soderbergh.
Discography
Guided By Voices
Alien Lanes (1995)
Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996)
Under The Bushes, Under The Stars (1996)
DTCV
Hilarious Heaven (2013)
Uptime! (2015)
Confusion Moderne (2016)
Filmography
Writer
FILM
2023 - Mirror Moves (director/writer)
2018 - Unsane
2010 - The Spy Next Door (screenplay) / (story)
2008 - La femme qui n'était rien (Short)
2008 - Bait Shop (Video) (teleplay)
2008 - Diegesis (Short)
2006 - Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft (Video short)
2006/II - Mimesis (Short)
2006 - Just My Luck (story)
2006 - Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector
2001 - Max Keeble's Big Move (screenplay) / (story)
TV
The Horse's Mouth (writer/co-creator)
Director
2023 - Mirror Moves (feature film)
2017 - A Walk Across the Human Bridge (Video short)
2016 - Bourgeois Pop (Video short)
2015 - Miley Cyrus Wins the Race (Video short)
2008 - La femme qui n'était rien (Short)
2008 - Diegesis (Short)
2006 - Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft (Video short)
2006/II - Mimesis (Short)
References
External links
Akashic Books page for Greer's novel Artificial Light
Akashic Books page for Greer's novel The Failure
And Other Stories page for Greer's novel "Bad Eminence
IMDB page for Unsane
Living people
21st-century American novelists
American magazine editors
American male novelists
American rock guitarists
American male screenwriters
American male guitarists
21st-century American male writers
Guided by Voices members
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American screenwriters