After living the first year-and-a-half of his life in historic Cowpens,
South Carolina (best known as the site of a pivotal battle during the
American Revolutionary War), Richard O'Sullivan moved to Forest City,
North Carolina in 1970 following the tumultuous breakup of his parents'
marriage.
His dad, Ronald, a volatile ex-Green Beret who volunteered for two
tours of duty in Vietnam, later remarried and fathered a second son,
Terry. His mother, Barbara, raised Richard alone until he was ten years
old, at which point she remarried as well, this time to a former police
officer.
Known for his sardonic wit even as a child, O'Sullivan rejected the
Disney fare he was force-fed and embraced such films as
Woody, der Unglücksrabe (1969),
Frankenstein Junior (1974), and
Dr. Seltsam oder: Wie ich lernte, die Bombe zu lieben (1964).
It was his love for those movies that inspired him to beg his mother
for a Super-8 millimeter camera.
Growing up, O'Sullivan's mother was friends with the then-wife of
filmmaker Earl Owensby, a producer best
known for converting an abandoned nuclear power plant into a giant
underwater set for the Oscar-winning
James Cameron film,
Abyss - Abgrund des Todes (1989). In 1978, while still
a fourth-grader, O'Sullivan wrote a feature-length screenplay called
'Hot Water' and passed it along to Owensby. The producer was amused but
opted against buying the script.
Undaunted, O'Sullivan continued writing throughout his teen years,
finding no shortage of inspiration in Forest City, a town once dubbed
"Little Detroit" because of its abundance of used car dealerships.
As he approached his twenties, O'Sullivan - buoyed by the works of
heroes like author George Orwell,
filmmaker Alex Cox and musician
Bruce Springsteen - dropped out of
college and began a career in radio. Both revered and reviled for his
on-air antics, O'Sullivan was fired numerous times due to his behavior
during live broadcasts.
In 2003, O'Sullivan began his career in television writing scripts for
the NBC television network's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning ''The More
You Know'' series (crafting PSA's for such stars as David Schwimmer,
Goran Visnjic, Sharif Atkins, Christopher Meloni, Brittany Snow, and
Donald Trump). O'Sullivan's campaign for ''The More You Know'', which
focused on family communication and cultural diversity, garnered NBC
numerous honors, including a Promax Award and a Lambda Legal Liberty
Award.
In 2004, he directed and co-wrote the snuff feature "Communication
Breakdown," a film co-produced by John Edmonds Kozma (producer of the
Nick Cassavetes' film ''Kentucky Rhapsody'').
In 2009, he shot numerous segments for the NBC Universal, Inc.-owned
digital channel, New York Nonstop, and for the New York Yankees' YES
Network (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network). O'Sullivan also
shot footage on former WBA junior welterweight champion Vivian Harris'
boxing comeback for a syndicated reality series.
In November 2009, it was reported by such media outlets as ABC News,
IMDb.com and PopCrunch.com that Lindsay Lohan was in talks to play the
lead in the O'Sullivan-scripted ''One Night With You." Lohan later told
GossipCop.com that she hadn't yet been offered the role. After almost
two years of attempting to launch the project as a vehicle for the
troubled Lohan, O'Sullivan announced that he was attaching newcomer
Castille Landon in the role.
In 2011, it was announced that Dale Alexander Carnegie (executive
producer of 2010's "Clash of the Titans" remake, which grossed some
$500 million worldwide) would produce a dark comedy/horror film written
and directed by O'Sullivan called "Hallows," as well as a crime drama
developed by O'Sullivan called "Crossface" about Chris Benoit, the
wrestler who killed his wife and young son before hanging himself in
2007. "Crossface," which O'Sullivan serves on as a producer, is based
on the book "Ring of Hell" by Matthew Randazzo V (creator of the Fox TV
series "Breakshot," produced by Oscar winner Robert Moresco, of
"Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash" fame). On January 17, 2012, actor
Liam Neeson denied that he was in talks to play wrestling promoter
Vincent Kennedy McMahon in "Crossface."
Also in 2011, O'Sullivan optioned the Random House novel ''The Wizard
of Seattle'', written by New York Times best-selling author Kay Hooper,
and the acclaimed novel ''She-Rain'' by 27-time Emmy winner and
national Edward R. Murrow recipient Michael Cogdill (whose work has
appeared on NBC's Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC, and CNN).
In 2012, O'Sullivan went into production on "The Genesis of Lincoln," a
film based very loosely on the book of the same name by James Harrison
Cathey, which claims that Abraham Lincoln wasn't born in a Kentucky log
cabin, but was, in fact, the illegitimate son of a North Carolina
cattle rancher. The film made headlines when The Huffington Post, AOL,
Radar Online, and IMDb reported that controversial actor Doug Hutchison
("The Green Mile," "Lost," "24," "The X-Files") dropped out of the film
over concerns that people would confuse his character (a filmmaker who
has sexual relations with a 16-year-old pop star) with his real-life
persona (he married 16-year-old pop singer Courtney Stodden that same
year).
