John Francis Daley

John Francis Daley (birthname: John Francis Daley) is a writer-director-producer and occasional actor (mostly in episodic television) who has specialized in comedy, working consistently with creative partner Jonathan Goldstein. Daley’s show business career began in theater, playing the title role in the national touring production of The Who’s Tommy.

This led to a string of TV comedy roles, including on Freaks and Geeks (1999) and Bones (2005). Daley co-wrote Horrible Bosses (2011) with Goldstein (based on Michael Markowitz’s story), launching his feature film career. Daley co-wrote the screenplay of (with Goldstein) the Vegas spoof comedy, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), followed by the animated sequel Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), whose script was co-written by Daley with Goldstein and Erica Rivinoja.

Daley wrote the original story (with Goldstein) of Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), with additional story writing by director Sean Anders and co-screenwriter John Morris. For the first time, John Francis Daley got his first feature as co-writer and director (again with partner Goldstein) with Vacation (2015), starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann, Beverly D’Angelo, and Chevy Chase, grossing over triple $31 million costs with a $107.2 million box office.

With partner Goldstein, John Francis Daley wrote the story for the MCU hit, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and co-wrote the screenplay with director Jon Watts (and credited co-screenwriters Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers), starring Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Zendaya.

Daley (with Goldstein) was hired by New Line Cinema to rewrite and co-direct the hit action comedy, Game Night (2018), and though they didn’t receive script credit, the pair reported that they rewrote “almost all of the original script dialogue, totally overhauled the characters…and comprehensively reworked the original script’s third act.”

Game Night co-starred Jason Bateman (originally slated to direct and also serving as a lead producer), Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, and Kyle Chandler, and earned $117.7 million, triple the $37 million budget. Daley was the producer (with partner Goldstein) for the buddy cop comedy, Stuber (2019), directed by Michael Dowse and co-starring Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, grossing a modest $32.3 million on an $18 million budget.

John Francis Daley proceeded to co-write and co-direct (with partner Goldstein) the $151-million-budgeted Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), the reboot of the original Dungeons & Dragons franchise which Daley and Goldstein shared screenwriting credit with Michael Gillo, and starred Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, with Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant. With Goldstein, Daley co-wrote (with third credited writer Joby Harold) the story for The Flash (2023), directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, and Ron Livingston.