Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Bryan Buckley returns to features on the Reese Witherspoon vehicle Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus at Lionsgate Summit. The film is based on the John Gray self-help title, a guide to relationships and marriage that is the best selling non-fiction hardcover book of all-time (excepting the Bible and Koran) with over 7 million copies in circulation. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont have written the script and Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun are set to produce with Andrew Mittman co-producing and Meredith Milton overseeing for Summit. Plan is to shoot the film in January.

While Buckley has stuck mostly to commercials, you’ve likely seen his work. Called “King of the Super Bowl,” he has directed over 40 spots for the annual NFL title game. In the process, he has won 37 Cannes Lions, and gotten 6 Emmy nominations. He’s directed everything from the recent Siri campaigns for the Apple iPhone to the American Express spots with Ellen DeGeneres and Conan O’Brien, and the baseball rivalry campaign with John Krasinski and Alec Baldwin. Latter campaign, which pits the Yankees loving Baldwin against the Red Sox loving Krasinski, was just added to the permanent connection at the Museum of Modern Art. Buckley most recently wrote and directed the film Asad, which was honored as Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012. The film, which now qualifies for this year’s Oscars, features a cast comprised entirely of Somali refugees.

Buckley is repped by Apostle’s George Heller, WME, and Bloom Hergott.