James Jacks

James Jacks left a career as a Wall Street stock analyst to try his hand at screenwriting. When that did not pan out, he turned to a career first as a successful studio executive at Universal and later as an independent producer with Alphaville Productions, formed with Sean Daniel. The producing pair delivered such box office hits as the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle "Hard Target" (1993) and the John Travolta fantasy "Michael" (1996), as well as critically-acclaimed indie fare like Richard Linklater's 1970s high school period piece "Dazed and Confused" (1993). Although the international blockbuster "The Mummy" (1999) was Jacks' biggest financial success, he continued producing films up until his 2014 death.