Ruben Fleischer

Template:Infobox person Ruben Samuel Fleischer (Template:IPAc-en; born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director. He is best known as the director of Zombieland (2009), his first feature film, and its sequel Zombieland: Double Tap (2019). He has also directed the films 30 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, Uncharted, and 2018's Venom featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Prior to features, he directed television commercials for such brands as Cisco, Eurostar, ESPN, and Burger King, and music videos for artists such as M.I.A., Electric Six, DJ Format and Gold Chains.

Early life

Fleischer was born and raised in Washington, D.C, the son of Karen Lee (née Samuel) and David Elliot Fleischer, who is a physician at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and a professor of medicine.Template:Unreliable source? His brother, Lucas, works in new media. His father was born to a Jewish family, while his mother converted to Judaism. Fleischer was raised in Reform Judaism.

After graduating with a major in history from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Fleischer moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a freelance HTML programmer, unsure what he wanted to do with his life.

Career

Taking the advice of close friend Mike White (also a Wesleyan graduate), Fleischer worked as a PA in the writers' office of Dawson's Creek. After working as assistant to director Miguel Arteta, he eventually turned to directing and worked his way through the industry, tackling music videos, and television commercials before landing his first feature film, Zombieland, in 2009. His second feature, 30 Minutes or Less, opened in theaters on August 12, 2011.

Fleischer directed Gangster Squad, a 2013 action thriller film, based on the special tactical group created by the LAPD to combat the Los Angeles crime family. He next directed Venom, a film about Marvel Comics character Eddie Brock, starring Tom Hardy; it was released on October 5, 2018.

In 2019, he directed Zombieland: Double Tap, reuniting the four original leads. In February 2020, he was hired to direct Uncharted, based on the video game series of the same name. In September 2022, he was hired to direct Now You See Me: Now You Don't.

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Producer
2001	The Girls Guitar Club	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2005	Gumball 3000: 6 Days in May	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Executive producer
2009	Zombieland	Template:Yes	Template:No
2011	30 Minutes or Less	Template:Yes	Template:No
2013	Gangster Squad	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2018	Venom	Template:Yes	Template:No
	The Mule	Template:No	Template:Yes
2019	Zombieland: Double Tap	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2021	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	Template:No	Template:Yes
2022	Uncharted	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2025	Now You See Me: Now You Don't	Template:Yes	Template:No

Producer

• Two Night Stand (2014)
• Unicorn Store (2017)
• Bad Trip (2021)
• Little Brother (2026)

Television

Year	Title	Director	Executive producer	Notes
2003–2006	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Template:Yes	Template:No	3 episodes
2006–2007	Rob & Big	Template:No	Template:Yes	Also creator
2008	Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis	Template:Yes	Template:No	2 episodes
2009–2015	Fantasy Factory	Template:No	Template:Yes	Also creator
2010	Funny or Die Presents	Template:Yes	Template:No	4 episodes
2015	Marry Me	Template:Yes	Template:No	Episode "F Me"
2015–2021	Superstore	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Directed 7 episodes
2016	American Housewife	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Directed episode "Pilot"
2017	Santa Clarita Diet	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Directed 2 episodes
2017–2021	The Bold Type	Template:No	Template:Yes
2019–2020	Stumptown	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Directed 1 episode
2023	The Good Doctor	Template:Yes	Template:No	1 episode
	White House Plumbers	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Jury Duty	Template:No	Template:Yes
2024	St. Denis Medical	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Directed 2 episodes
2025	Motorheads	Template:No	Template:Yes

Music video

Title	Artist
"Galang"	M.I.A.
"Fix Up, Look Sharp"	Dizzee Rascal
"Stand Up Tall"
"Pro Nails"	Kid Sister
"I Came From SF"	Gold Chains
"Cali Nights"
"The Game"
"Nada"
"Dance Commander"	Electric Six
"Vicious Battle Raps"	DJ Format
"We Know Something You Don't"
"The Hit Song"
"Mocito"	Pigeon Funk
"Pies"	Wiley
"Dirty Girl"	Bobby Light
"Wash in the Rain"	The Bees
"Here She Comes Again"	The Stands
"I Believe in You"	Amp Fiddler
"Stadtkind"	Ellen Allien
"Time Bomb"	The Dismemberment Plan
"Just a Simple Plan"	Piebald
"French Jacuzzi Dub"	Explosion Robinson
"Come On to Me"	Major Lazer featuring Sean Paul

Commercials

Title	Brand
"Ladies Man"	Boost Mobile
"Geek"
"Shopaholic"
"Good Inside"	McDonald's
"After Party"
"Revision 43A"	Cisco
"Jack 245"
"Call Jimmy"
"Manager"
"Up Late with The King"	Burger King
"Handoff"
"Bounce"
"Circles"	Eurostar
"Quiet"	ESPN
"Mascots"
"The Drop"	Courir
"Nose"	Cinnamon Toast Crunch
"Infomercial"	Borat soundtrack
"Believe It or Not"	G4
"Asai Kenichi"	Levi's
"Hiroshi Fujiwara"
"Chara"
"Cops"	Ribena
"Down Home"	KFC
"Har Mar Superstar"	Vladivar
"A Way In"	Vogue

Reception

Year	Title	Rotten Tomatoes Rating (%)	Budget ($)	Box office ($)
2009	Zombieland	89%	23.6 million	102.4 million
2011	30 Minutes or Less	45%	28 million	40.7 million
2013	Gangster Squad	30%	60–75 million	105.2 million
2018	Venom	31%	100–116 million	856.1 million
	The Mule	70%	50 million	174.8 million
2019	Zombieland: Double Tap	68%	42–48 million	125.2 million
2021	Venom: Let There Be Carnage	57%	110 million	506.8 million
2022	Uncharted	41%	120 million	407.1 million
2025	Now You See Me: Now You Don't	61%	90 million	219 million

Collaborations

Like many directors, Fleischer has worked with certain actors on two or more of his films:

Actor	Zombieland (2009)	30 Minutes or Less (2011)	Gangster Squad (2013)	Venom (2018)	Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)	Uncharted (2022)	Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025)	Total
Template:Rh|Abigail Breslin	Template:U2713				Template:U2713			2
Template:Rh|Jesse Eisenberg	Template:U2713	Template:U2713			Template:U2713		Template:U2713	4
Template:Rh|Woody Harrelson	Template:U2713			Template:U2713	Template:U2713		Template:U2713	4
Template:Rh|Bill Murray	Template:U2713				Template:U2713			2
Template:Rh|Michael Peña		Template:U2713	Template:U2713					2
Template:Rh|Emma Stone	Template:U2713		Template:U2713		Template:U2713			3

External links

• Template:IMDb name