Nicholas Andrew Simon, (born 21 March 1969) known professionally as Nicholas Simon, is a Hungarian-American film producer born in Rockford, Illinois, now currently residing in Bangkok, Thailand.[1] He has been producing feature films, TV series, and commercials in Southeast Asia for two and half decades. For his work on City of Ghosts, A Prayer Before Dawn, Kong: Skull Island, Avengers: Infinity War, Simon has gained the title of “Hollywood’s man in Southeast Asia.”[2]
Nicholas Simon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 21 March 1969 Rockford, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Years active | 1995 - present |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | 1 |
Simon is known for being the founder and managing partner of two production companies, Indochina Productions and Studio Muso.
Early life and education
editAn American/Hungarian dual national,[1] Simon was born in Rockford, Illinois, and lived on a farm before moving with his family to Beloit, Wisconsin, at the age of three.[2] He attended highschool at Phillips Academy, graduating in 1987, before obtaining a B.A. at Columbia University in 1992, specializing in Asia.[3][4]
Simon was also an active cycler, participating in the 1985 USCF Junior National Championships, the Phillips Academy Varsity Team from 1986 to 1987, and the Columbia University Team from 1991 to 1993.[5]
In 2020, he acquired the certificate of completion for Stanford University's “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” program.
Career
editSimon arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, via New York City in 1993 with the intent of becoming a journalist. However, he quickly realized he didn't enjoy writing and sought out other jobs.[2] Simon eventually met the producers of Trần Anh Hùng’s Cyclo and helped out on the film in an informal capacity. In the following year, he founded Sud-Est Productions, a production company based in Vietnam. During his time, he serviced production for and co-produced numerous films, the most notable being Matt Dillon’s City of Ghosts. He sold Sud-Est Productions in 2003, and it is now a fully Vietnamese company.[2][3]
While working as an independent industry consultant, Simon moved to Bangkok with his wife and daughter in 2009.[1] In 2010, he founded Indochina Productions, which provides production services for projects in Southeast Asia. The company initially provided support for Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, but now provides production services in 14 territories throughout Asia.[2][6] It has since been dubbed by the NYFA as “the only company in Southeast Asia to produce and service big-budget Hollywood studio films and Fortune 500 advertising commercial needs.”[7]
Simon has been the line producer for Indochina Productions on several major feature films, such as Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods and Sam Hargrave’s Extraction, and the executive producer for Indochina Productions on Hong Khaou’s Monsoon and Daniel Roby’s Target Number One.[8] He is also known for his work as a line producer on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as well as on Kong: Skull Island.[9][10][11] Upcoming projects include adapting Jon Swain’s River of Time with Lawrence Osborne as the screenplay writer for a feature film,[12] as well as Lawrence Osborne’s own Hunters in the Dark for the big screen.[13][14][15]
Simon has been on the board of Luang Prabang Film Festival since 2012 and a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Production Guild UK since 2015.[1][16][17]
In 2020, Simon also founded another production company, Studio Muso.[18]
He has been a jurist and panelist at several industry events since 2003.[19][20] He has also written op-eds for the Thai Enquirer.[21][22]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Director | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Cyclo | Trần Anh Hùng | Post-Production Producer/Special Thanks |
| 1997 | Distant Skies | Thierry Chabert | Line Producer, Vietnam |
| 2000 | The Vertical Ray of the Sun | Trần Anh Hùng | Line Producer |
| 2003 | City of Ghosts | Matt Dillon | Associate Producer |
| 2003 | Step into Liquid | Dana Brown | Line Producer, Vietnam |
| 2003 | What Alice Found | A. Dean Bell | Executive Producer (uncredited)[23] |
| 2004 | The Beautiful Country | Hans Petter Moland | Line Producer, Vietnam |
| 2005 | Rx | Ariel Vromen | Producer |
| 2010 | Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston | Whitney Sudler-Smith | Producer |
| 2010 | The Best and the Brightest | Josh Shelov | Producer |
| 2011 | Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon | Michael Bay | Line Producer, Cambodia |
| 2012 | Act of Valor | Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh | Line Producer, Cambodia |
| 2015 | Pan | Joe Wright | Line Producer, Vietnam VFX Unit |
| 2015 | Kenzhe | Ermek Tursunov | Line Producer, Thailand |
| 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Joss Whedon/Scott Mahaffie (Second unit) | Line Producer, Bangladesh |
| 2017 | Lima | Neill Blomkamp | Line Producer, Thailand |
| 2017 | Kong: Skull Island | Jordan Vogt-Roberts | Line Producer, Vietnam |
| 2017 | A Prayer Before Dawn | Jean-Stephane Sauvaire | Producer |
| 2017/ON HOLD[24] | Hue 1968 | Michael Mann[25] | Co-Producer, Thailand and Vietnam |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Russo Brothers | Line Producer and Aerial Unit, The Philippines |
| 2018 | Les Confins Du Monde | Guillaume Nicloux | Co-Producer and Line Producer |
| 2019 | Buoyancy | Rodd Rathjen | Production Consultant, Cambodia |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Russo Brothers | Line Producer and Aerial Unit, the Philippines |
| 2019 | Monsoon | Hong Khaou | Executive for Indochina Productions, Vietnam |
| 2020 | Extraction | Sam Hargrave | Line Producer for Indochina Productions, Thailand and Bangladesh |
| 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Spike Lee | Line Producer for Indochina Productions, Vietnam |
| 2020 | Target Number One | Daniel Roby | Executive for Indochina Productions, Thailand |
| 2020 | Penguin Bloom | Glendyn Ivin | Executive for Indochina Productions |
| 2021 | Finding 'Ohana | Jude Weng | Line Producer for Indochina Productions, Thailand |
| 2021 | Hunters in the Dark | Simon Evan | Co-Producer |
| 2021 | River of Time | TBA | TBA |
| 2023
(upcoming) |
The Symphatizer | Park Chan-Wook | Co-Producer |
| 2023 | The Creator | Gareth Edwards | Co-Producer |
| 2023 | Deane's Dynasty | Patrick Carr | Producer, Co-Creator |
| 2023 | Meg 2 | Ben Wheatley | Line Producer |
| 2023 | Mandalorian | Jon Favreau | Line Producer, Vietnam - Plate Unit |
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Nicholas Simon". Thailand Tatler. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Brzeski, Patrick (18 May 2015). "Cannes: IndoChina Head Talks 'A Prayer Before Dawn' and Shooting in Southeast Asia". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ a b Fox, Peter (Spring 2021). "A Time Like No Other: Nicholas Simon's Indochina Productions Quietly Yet Boldly Leads The Industry Through Its Most Challenging Period". Venü Magazine. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Nicholas Simon". LinkedIn. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Leddin, Adam (2012). "VIGO CYCLES CX 002". The Spoken. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ "Home". Indochina Productions. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY (NYFA) WELCOMES CEO OF INDOCHINA PRODUCTIONS AND PRODUCER NICHOLAS SIMON FOR LIZ HINLEIN'S 'THE 20/20 SERIES'". NYFA. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Our Work". Indochina Productions. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Vu Van Viet (4 April 2016). "Kong: Skull Island: the art of filming to a Vietnamese backdrop". VN Express. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "PH's Banaue Rice Terraces featured in 'Avengers: Infinity War'". Coconuts Manila. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Uy, Jerald (26 April 2018). "Spoiler warning: 'Avengers: Infinity War' features a PH tourist spot". CNN Philippines. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Brzeski, Patrick (24 June 2020). "Novelist Lawrence Osborne to Script Film Adaptation of Cult War Memoir 'River of Time'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Flynn, Gerald (8 November 2019). "Film adaptation of Hunters in the Dark to start shooting in Cambodia next year". Capital Cambodia. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (9 November 2019). "AFM: Alex Pettyfer to Lead 'Hunters in the Dark' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Brzeski, Patrick (21 February 2020). "Berlin: Lawrence Osborne Thriller 'Hunters in the Dark' Fills Out Cast (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "About". Luang Prabang Film Festival. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "The Team". Indochina Productions. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Our Team". Studio Muso. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "SIP Judges". Greater Philadelphia Film Office. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "BKK DOC International Jury". BKK DOC. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Simon, Nicholas (3 July 2020). "Opinion: Destroying Scala is destroying past hopes and future dreams". Thai Enquirer. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Simon, Nicholas (9 December 2020). "Thailand must take steps to attract foreign film productions or lose them to regional rivals". Thai Enquirer. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Nicholas Simon". IMDb. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Author Mark Bowden Revisits the True Story of 'Black Hawk Down'". Military.com. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Fleming, Mike (6 July 2017). "FX To Turn Mark Bowden Tet Offensive Chronicle 'Hue 1968' Into Limited Series; Michael Mann & Michael De Luca Producing". Deadline. Retrieved 30 March 2021.