Appian Way Productions

American film production companyTemplate:SHORTDESC:American film production company
Template:Good article

* Entertainment
* Motion picture
* Film production
* Television shows

**Appian Way Productions** is a Los Angeles–based film and television production company founded in 2001 by actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio. Jennifer Davisson serves as President of Production. Since its launch, Appian Way has released a diverse slate of films, including Academy Award–winning films *The Aviator* (2004) and *The Revenant* (2015), Academy Award–nominated films *The Ides of March* (2011) and *The Wolf of Wall Street* (2013), as well as the drama *The Assassination of Richard Nixon* (2004), the comedy-drama *Gardener of Eden* (2007), the biographical crime drama *Public Enemies* (2009), the psychological horror *Orphan* (2009), the psychological thriller *Shutter Island* (2010), the crime dramas *Out of the Furnace* (2013) and *Live by Night* (2016), and the biographical drama *Richard Jewell* (2019). The company has also produced the series *Greensburg* (2008–2010), *Frontiersman*, and *The Right Stuff* (2020) for Disney+.

In recent years, Appian Way has been producing documentary films, especially pertaining to progressive environmental change. The company worked in partnership with National Geographic to produce *Before the Flood* (2016). It also worked with Netflix on the Oscar-nominated *Virunga* (2014) and *Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret* (2014). Appian is in partnership with Netflix on several additional documentaries, including *How to Change the World* (2015), *Catching the Sun* (2015), and *The Ivory Game* (2016). Other projects released include *The 11th Hour* (2007), *Sea of Shadows* (2019), which won the Audience Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival*, Ice on Fire* (2019) with HBO, and *And We Go Green* (2019).

## History

### 2001–2010

Appian Way Productions was founded by Leonardo DiCaprio in 2001. It takes its name from the Roman road of the same name. Its first film was *The Assassination of Richard Nixon* (2004), starring Sean Penn as Samuel Byck, who attempted to assassinate US president Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The company's next film was the 2004 biopic *The Aviator*, produced in association with Forward Pass, Intermedia, and Initial Entertainment Group. Based on the 1993 non-fiction book *Howard Hughes: The Secret Life* by Charles Higham, the film depicted the life of Howard Hughes (DiCaprio), an aviation pioneer who became a successful film producer between the late 1920s and late 1940s while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive–compulsive disorder. Writing for *The Daily Telegraph*, Sukhdev Sandhu described the film as "a gorgeous tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood" even though it "tips the balance of spectacle versus substance in favour of the former". He praised Martin Scorsese's direction, DiCaprio and the supporting cast. The film proved to be a commercial success, with a worldwide gross of $213.7 million against a budget of $110 million. It earned a total of eleven nominations at the 77th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Scorsese) and Best Actor (DiCaprio), and won five of them, including a Best Supporting Actress award for Cate Blanchett.

 File:Leonardo DiCaprio visited Goddard Saturday to discuss Earth science with Piers Sellers (26105091624) cropped.jpg
Kevin Connolly, a close friend of DiCaprio, directed Appian Way's next film—the comedy drama *Gardener of Eden* (2007), which, according to *The Hollywood Reporter'*s Frank Scheck, "lack[ed] the necessary dramatic urgency or black humor to connect with audiences". A few months later, Appian Way released *The 11th Hour*, a documentary about global warming. The film, featuring 50 experts who suggested solutions to various environmental problems, won the Earthwatch Environmental Film Award through the National Geographic Channel in March 2008. DiCaprio wrote a three-season television series *Greensburg* (2008–10) which was produced by the company.

Appian Way later produced another biopic, *Public Enemies* (2009), a Michael Mann-directed mob drama starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Following the final years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Depp) as he is pursued by FBI agent Melvin Purvis during Great Depression, the film was an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book *Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34*. A commercial success, it also received generally positive reviews, though critics found historical inaccuracies in the film. The company, along with Dark Castle Entertainment, released the 2009 psychological horror film *Orphan*, which told the story of a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious 9-year-old girl. The film was considered by the adoption community to promote negative stereotypes about orphans. Although the film received mixed reviews, it was a commercial success.

Scorsese reunited with the company to make the film *Shutter Island* (2010), a psychological thriller based on the 2003 novel of same name by Dennis Lehane. DiCaprio played U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who investigates a psychiatric facility located on an island but eventually comes to question his own sanity. A commercial success, the film received generally positive reviews; Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* praised the film's direction and performances but criticized its "silly twist ending", calling it "supremely exasperating".

### 2011 onward

*Red Riding Hood*, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, was Appian Way's first release in 2011. The film, set in a village haunted by werewolves, follows a young girl who falls in love with an orphan woodcutter, much to her family's displeasure. Earlier in production, the film was titled *The Girl with the Red Riding Hood*. Although it was poorly received by critics—Mary Pols of *Time* named it one of the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011—it had moderate box-office returns. The company's second release in 2011 was *Detachment*, a Tony Kaye-directed drama about the high school education system. George Clooney directed and co-produced the company's final film of the year *The Ides of March*, which is based on Beau Willimon's play *Farragut North*. Starring Ryan Gosling, Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this political drama takes place during a presidential primary, when an ambitious press secretary (Gosling) becomes embroiled in a political scandal. The film received positive reviews; one from *The Guardian* praised the direction and the performances of the cast.

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Three films were produced by Appian Way in 2013; the first was *Runner Runner*, an ensemble crime thriller, which *The Guardian*'s Xan Brooks described as "a lazy, trashy film that barely goes through the motions". The thriller *Out of the Furnace*, the company's second release, was also negatively received by critics and was a box office bomb. Scorsese directed the company's final film in 2013—*The Wolf of Wall Street*, a biopic on the life of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), a New York stockbroker who runs a firm that engages in securities fraud and money laundering on Wall Street in the 1990s. The screenplay was adapted by Terence Winter from Belfort's memoir of the same name. The film was banned in Kenya, Malaysia and Nepal for its controversial depiction of events, explicit sexual content, profanity, and hard drug use. Nonetheless, it was a commercial success, becoming the 17th-highest-grossing film of 2013. According to copyright infringement tracking site Excipio, the film was the most widely infringed of 2014, as it was downloaded illegally over 30 million times via BitTorrent sites. It was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, although it failed to win in any category.

In 2015, DiCaprio produced and co-starred with Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson in *The Revenant*, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. This biographical western thriller is based on in part on Michael Punke's 2002 novel of the same name, which itself was inspired by the frontiersman Hugh Glass's survival after being mauled by a grizzly bear in 1823. Co-produced with Regency Enterprises, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Anonymous Content and M Productions, the film was well received with particular praise for the performances, direction and cinematography. "Bleak as hell but considerably more beautiful, this nightmarish plunge into a frigid, forbidding American outback is a movie of pitiless violence, grueling intensity and continually breathtaking imagery", according to Justin Change of *Variety*. Built on a budget of $135 million, the film earned $533 million worldwide. *The Revenant* received 12 nominations at the 88th Academy Awards, and won three, including Best Director and Best Actor.

In May 2016, Appian Way Productions signed a three-year, first-look production deal with Paramount Pictures. In December 2016, the company released *Live by Night*, based on the 2012 novel of same name by Dennis Lehane. Directed by, written by and starring Ben Affleck, this Prohibition-era gangster drama received largely unenthusiastic reviews and failed to recoup its $65 million production budget. Also that year, the company produced four documentaries, *Davi's Way*, *The Last Shaman*, *The Ivory Game* and *Before the Flood*, the last of which won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Documentary.

In 2017, Appian Way produced *Under the Bed*, a television film thriller about a young woman trying to get over a breakup, while befriending a stalker on social media. In association with Blumhouse Productions and GK Films, the company will produce *Delirium*, a supernatural horror film scheduled for a 2017 release.

In 2023, Appian Way produced *The Featherweight*, the debut film of Robert Kolodny, which had its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival and Martin Scorsese's *Killers of the Flower Moon*, which was distributed by Apple TV+ and Paramount Pictures.

More recently, the studio signed first-look deals with Apple for documentaries and television and with Sony Pictures Entertainment for feature films.

## Television

* *Greensburg* (2008–10)
* *Under the Bed* (2017)
* *Pete the Cat* (2018–2022)
* *Grant* (2020)
* *The Right Stuff* (2020)
* *Shining Girls* (2022–present)

## Notes

### Footnotes

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1. ↑ A television film thriller, the production is inspired by true events.

### References

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 History Greenlights "frontiersmen" From Executive Producer Leonardo Dicaprio Of Appian Way Productions And Stephen David Entertainment. A&E Networks (November 14, 2016).
2. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Lyons, Josh (June 20, 2016). "Leonardo DiCaprio And Appian Way Team With Misher Films For 'The Outlaw Ocean' At Netflix (EXCLUSIVE)". *The Tracking Board*. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
3. ↑ The Good, the Bad, Not the Ugly. *The New York Times* (August 11, 2011).
4. ↑ IEG, DiCaprio gang up. *Variety* (August 5, 2001).
5. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>McCarthy, Todd (May 17, 2004). "Review: 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon'". *Variety*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
6. ↑ The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Cannes Film Festival.
7. ↑ Template:Cite book
8. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Winter, Jessica (June 10, 2005). "The Aviator". *The Guardian*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
9. ↑ Thrillingly bumpy ride towards madness. *The Daily Telegraph* (December 24, 2004).
10. ↑ The Aviator (2004). Box Office Mojo.
11. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"The 77th Academy Awards (2005) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
12. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Scheck, Frank (April 26, 2007). "The Gardener of Eden". *The Hollywood Reporter*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
13. ↑ Why You Should Watch 'The 11th Hour' With Leonardo DiCaprio. abcofsolar.com (December 21, 2014).
14. ↑ Greensburg Season 3 to Air on Planet Green. Greensburgks.org.
15. ↑ Template:Cite book
16. ↑ Public Enemies. Metacritic.
17. ↑ Public Enemies (2009) (en). Box Office Mojo.
18. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Crary, David (July 19, 2009). "Advocates of adoption upset by 'Orphan' film". *Los Angeles Times*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
19. ↑ Template:Cite book
20. ↑ Shutter Island (2010). Box Office Mojo.
21. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Bradshaw, Peter (March 11, 2010). "Shutter Island". *The Guardian*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
22. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
23. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
24. ↑ Red Riding Hood. Box Office Mojo.
25. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
26. ↑ The Ides of March. Rotten Tomatoes.
27. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>French, Philip (October 29, 2011). "The Ides of March – review". *The Guardian*. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
28. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Brooks, Xan (September 26, 2013). "Runner Runner – review". *The Guardian*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
29. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Kaufman, Amy (December 8, 2013). "'Frozen' tops 'Catching Fire,' but 'Furnace' generates no heat". *Los Angeles Times*. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
30. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Harding, Nick (January 12, 2014). "Jordan Belfort: The real Wolf of Wall Street and the men who brought him down". *The Independent*. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
31. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Kenya arrests over banned Wolf of Wall Street film". *BBC News*. February 13, 2014. Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
32. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"'The Wolf Of Wall Street' banned in Malaysia and Nepal". *NME*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
33. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"2013 Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 5, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
34. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Spangler, Todd (December 28, 2014). "Top 20 Most Pirated Movies of 2014 Led by 'Wolf of Wall Street,' 'Frozen,' 'Gravity'". *The Hollywood Reporter*. Archived from the original on December 13, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
35. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Oscar nominations 2014: full list of nominees". *The Daily Telegraph*. March 2, 2014. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
36. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Chang, Justin (December 4, 2015). "Film Review: 'The Revenant'". *Variety*. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
37. ↑ The Revenant (2015) (en). Box Office Mojo.
38. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Rottenberg, Josh (January 14, 2016). "Oscars 2016: 'The Revenant' and 'Mad Max: Fury Road' lead the pack in Oscar nominations". *Orlando Sentinel*. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
39. ↑ Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions Signs Three-Year Deal With Paramount. *The Hollywood Reporter* (March 30, 2016).
40. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (January 14, 2017). Box Office: Why Ben Affleck's 'Live by Night' and Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' Fared So Poorly. *The Hollywood Reporter*.
41. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (October 21, 2016). 'The Ivory Game' Trailer: First Look At Netflix's Latest Leonardo DiCaprio-Produced Docu. Deadline.com.
42. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Moore, William (November 17, 2016). "Evening Standard British Film Awards - The Longlist". *London Evening Standard*. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>McNary, Dave (December 7, 2016). "Lifetime Buys Thriller 'Under the Bed' Starring 'Black Sails' Actress Hannah New (Exclusive)". *Variety*. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
44. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Lang, Brent (September 17, 2015). "How Jason Blum Plans to Upend Film Distribution With 'Green Inferno,' 'Delirium'". *Variety*. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
45. ↑ Gyarkye, Lovia (2023-09-03). The Featherweight Review: A Poetic Tribute to Boxing Champion Willie Pep (en).
46. ↑ https://www.killersoftheflowermoonmovie.com
47. ↑ Apple Signs First Look TV and Movie Deal With Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Production Company (en).
48. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (2020-08-13). Leonardo DiCaprio & Jennifer Davisson's Appian Way Sets First Look Film Deal At Sony (en).
49. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Scheck, Frank (April 26, 2007). "The Gardener of Eden". *The Hollywood Reporter*. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Orphan (2009) | BFI (en).
51. ↑ Liza Foreman (November 8, 2012). 'The Wolf of Wall Street' Secures Overseas Distribution in Multiple Territories Through Universal. *TheWrap*.
52. ↑ Dominic Patten (November 8, 2012). Universal International Acquires 'Wolf Of Wall Street' European Rights. *Deadline*.
53. ↑ Warner Bros Takes Stephen King Bestseller 'Billy Summers', Bad Robot & Appian Way To Produce (February 3, 2023).

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