Elie Samaha

Production

Elie Samaha

Born

1955-05-10 (71)

Place of birth

Beirut, Lebanon

Known for

Production

Credits

41 titles

Elie Samaha (Arabic: إيلي سماحة) is a film producer in Los Angeles, with production credits beginning with The Immortals in 1995. He has produced over 83 works, primarily films along with some video games. He produced The Boondock Saints (1999), Battlefield Earth (2000), Driven (2001), 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Heist (2001), The Pledge (2001), Spartan (2004), Back on the Strip (2023), among many others. Samaha built his reputation in Hollywood first as the owner of Celebrity Cleaners and then with his nightclub on Sunset Strip, the Roxbury. Parlaying the Hollywood friendships he formed through his clubs, Samaha was given a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures in 1998. Descrip…

Known for

Heist poster
6.3

Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.

Heist

2001

The Boondock Saints poster
7.2

Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

The Boondock Saints

1999

Driven poster
5.2

Talented rookie race-car driver Jimmy Bly has started losing his focus and begins to slip in the race rankings. It's no wonder, with the immense pressure being shoveled on him by his overly ambitious promoter brother as well as Bly's romance with his arch rival's girlfriend Sophia. With much riding on Bly, car owner Carl Henry brings former racing star Joe Tanto on board to help Bly. To drive Bly back to the top of the rankings, Tanto must first deal with the emotional scars left over from a tragic racing accident which nearly took his life.

Driven

2001

The Whole Ten Yards poster
5.7

Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski now spends his days compulsively cleaning his house and perfecting his culinary skills with his wife, Jill, a purported assassin who has yet to pull off a clean hit. Suddenly, an uninvited and unwelcome connection to their past unexpectedly shows up on Jimmy and Jill's doorstep; it's Oz, and he's begging them to help him rescue his wife, Cynthia.

The Whole Ten Yards

2004

The Pledge poster
6.6

A police chief, about to retire, pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer.

The Pledge

2001

Tristan & Isolde poster
6.7

An affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.

Tristan & Isolde

2006

Film credits

Behind the camera

Heist poster
6.3

Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.

Heist

2001

The Boondock Saints poster
7.2

Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

The Boondock Saints

1999

Driven poster
5.2

Talented rookie race-car driver Jimmy Bly has started losing his focus and begins to slip in the race rankings. It's no wonder, with the immense pressure being shoveled on him by his overly ambitious promoter brother as well as Bly's romance with his arch rival's girlfriend Sophia. With much riding on Bly, car owner Carl Henry brings former racing star Joe Tanto on board to help Bly. To drive Bly back to the top of the rankings, Tanto must first deal with the emotional scars left over from a tragic racing accident which nearly took his life.

Driven

2001

The Whole Ten Yards poster
5.7

Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski now spends his days compulsively cleaning his house and perfecting his culinary skills with his wife, Jill, a purported assassin who has yet to pull off a clean hit. Suddenly, an uninvited and unwelcome connection to their past unexpectedly shows up on Jimmy and Jill's doorstep; it's Oz, and he's begging them to help him rescue his wife, Cynthia.

The Whole Ten Yards

2004

The Pledge poster
6.6

A police chief, about to retire, pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer.

The Pledge

2001

Tristan & Isolde poster
6.7

An affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.

Tristan & Isolde

2006

Sweepers poster
4.4

Dolph Lundgren is Christian Erickson, a leading demolition expert trained to disarm mine fields in a humanitarian minesweeping operation in Angola. His son is killed and he discovers that mines are being planted during the war to kill people in the area.

Sweepers

1998

Get Carter poster
5.2

Jack Carter, a mob enforcer living in Las Vegas, travels back to his hometown of Seattle for his brother's funeral. During this visit, Carter realizes that the death of his brother was not accidental, but a murder. With this knowledge, Carter sets out to kill all those responsible.

Get Carter

2000

The Foreigner poster
3.9

This story is about a freelance agent who is the courier of a package from France to Germany. He soon finds that many people want to get their hands on it.

The Foreigner

2003

3000 Miles to Graceland poster
5.9

It was an ingenious enough plan: rob the Riviera Casino's count room during an Elvis impersonator convention. But Thomas Murphy decided to keep all the money for himself and shot all his partners, including recently-freed ex-con Michael Zane. With $3.2 million at stake, the Marshals Service closing in, Michael must track down Murphy.

3000 Miles to Graceland

2001

Angel Eyes poster
6.1

A story about a seemingly unlikely couple who cross paths under life-threatening circumstances as though they are destined not only to meet but to save each other's lives. Not once, but twice.

Angel Eyes

2001

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj poster
5.1

Taj Mahal Badalandabad leaves Coolidge College behind for the halls of Camford University in England, where he looks to continue his education, and teach an uptight student how to make the most out of her academic career.

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj

2006

Battlefield Earth poster
3.3

In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlos, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the powerful Terl, the Psychlos are stripping Earth clean of its natural resources, using the broken remnants of humanity as slaves. What is left of the human race has descended into a near primitive state. After being captured, it is up to Tyler to save mankind.

Battlefield Earth

2000

Spartan poster
6.2

U.S. government agent Scott is assigned to rescue the daughter of a high-ranking government official. As willing as he is to bend the rules to get things done, though, Scott is shocked to find that others are willing to go even further to protect a political career.

Spartan

2004

The In-Laws poster
5.6

Right before his daughter's wedding, a mild-mannered foot doctor discovers that his new in-laws are international smugglers.

The In-Laws

2003

City by the Sea poster
5.8

Vincent LaMarca is a dedicated and well-respected New York City police detective who has gone to great lengths to distance himself from his past, but then makes the terrible discovery that his own son has fallen into a life of crime.

City by the Sea

2002

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever poster
4.3

Jeremiah Ecks, an FBI agent, realizes that he must join with his lifelong enemy, Agent Sever, a rogue DIA agent with whom he is in mortal combat, in order to defeat a common enemy. That enemy has developed a "micro-device" that can be injected into victims in order to kill them at will.

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

2002

Avenging Angelo poster
5.4

A woman who has recently discovered that she is the daughter of Angelo, a major mafia boss, decides to wreak vengeance when he is killed by a hitman. She's aided by his faithful bodyguard, with whom she soon falls in love.

Avenging Angelo

2002

Half Past Dead poster
5.1

A man goes undercover in a hi-tech prison to find out information to help prosecute those who killed his wife. While there, he stumbles onto a plot involving a death-row inmate and his $200 million stash of gold.

Half Past Dead

2002

No Code of Conduct poster
5.4

A cop, his partner, and his father uncover a plot by city elders to smuggle drugs from Mexico into Phoenix, Arizona.

No Code of Conduct

1999

The Third Miracle poster
5.9

The Vatican sends a priest to verify some miracles, performed by a woman who has been nominated for sainthood...

The Third Miracle

1999

The Flock poster
5.7

Erroll Babbage has spent his career tracking sex offenders and his unorthodox methods are nearly as brutal as the criminals he monitors. When he links one of his deranged parolees to the disappearance of a local girl, he and his new partner must scour the S&M underground to find her before it's too late.

The Flock

2007

Animal Factory poster
6.3

Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

Animal Factory

2000

The Caveman's Valentine poster
5.9

Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?

The Caveman's Valentine

2001

Into the Sun poster
4.5

After the assassination of Tokyo's Governor by Yakuza members, the CIA bureau chief for Tokyo puts out a call to an agent that had been raised in Japan and trained by ex-Yakuza. Using his former ties, he quickly determines that a war is brewing between old-guard Yakuza members and a young, crazed leader with ties to the Chinese Tong.

Into the Sun

2005

A Murder of Crows poster
6.1

In the wake of a career-ending scandal, disgraced lawyer Lawson Russell moves to Key West, where he befriends aging novelist Christopher Marlowe. After letting Russell borrow his latest manuscript, Marlowe dies of a heart attack. When Russell publishes the dead man's manuscript under his own name, he makes the best-seller list—and unwittingly becomes the prime suspect in the investigation of a grisly multiple homicide.

A Murder of Crows

1999

The White River Kid poster
5.1

Two con men are traveling through the American South when they are held hostage by a serial killer who is running from the authorities.

The White River Kid

1999

Out of Reach poster
4.5

Vietnam veteran Billy Ray Lancing, a former CSA agent who now works on a wildlife refuge in Northern Alaska, has been exchanging letters in a pen-pal relationship with Irina Morawska, a 13-year-old orphaned girl in Poland that he's helping out financially. When the letters suddenly stop coming, Billy heads to Poland to figure out why -- only to discover that the orphanage that Irina was staying in, which is financed by honest -- and unsuspecting -- good-intentioned Samaritans, is a cover for a human trafficking network.

Out of Reach

2004

Back on the Strip poster
5.6

Aspiring magician Merlin moves to Las Vegas but gets waylaid by his natural gifts and a place with the black male strippers The Chocolate Chips.

Back on the Strip

2023

Break Up poster
5.1

Housewife Jimmy Dade stays with her violent husband, Frankie, even after his abuse leads to the loss of her hearing. When his car is found with an unidentifiable dead body inside, police officers John Box and Andrew Ramsey suspect Jimmy has killed him. But, after discovering her bank account has been emptied, Jimmy fears that Frankie is still alive, and she goes on the run -- with the police in pursuit.

Break Up

1998

Alex & Emma poster
5.2

Writer Alex Sheldon must finish his novel within a month. If he doesn't, he won't get paid. And, if that happens, angry Mafia types to whom he owes money will come looking for him. In order to expedite things, Alex hires typist Emma Dinsmore and begins dictating his novel. The book is about a doomed love affair between a character similar to Alex and a character named Polina Delacroix. But, as Alex falls for Emma, his work takes a different turn.

Alex & Emma

2003

The Confession poster
5.8

After his young son dies from the negligence at a hospital, Harry Fertig takes matters into his own hands and kills the doctor, nurse and clerk responsible. Slick lawyer Roy Bleakie, looking only to win a case and not caring of the matters involved, is asked by Fertig's boss to defend him. Shocked to hear that his client wants to plead guilty, the case causes Bleakie to question his own morals by defending an honorable man.

The Confession

1999

Mercy poster
5.3

Detective Catherine Palmer is on the trail of an elusive serial killer. During her investigation she meets Vickie Kittrie, who belongs to an exclusive club of women who engage in secret sessions of bondage and S&M. Matters become even more complicated when Palmer finds herself attracted to Kittrie, leading to a brief lesbian encounter. Palmer soon learns that each victim belonged to this club of prominent, sexually experimental women. In order to catch the killer, Catherine must trust Vickie to guide her through the dangerous and illicit underground.

Mercy

2000

The Big Kahuna poster
6.8

Three salesmen working for a firm that makes industrial lubricants are waiting in the company's "hospitality suite" at a manufacturers' convention for a "big kahuna" named Dick Fuller to show up, in hopes they can persuade him to place an order that could salvage the company's flagging sales.

The Big Kahuna

1999

Top of the World poster
5.3

In Las Vegas for a quicky divorce, a just-paroled ex-cop and his wife wander into the Top of the World Casino, run by the shady Charles Atlas. They win big, right as the casino is being robbed. The police believe their big win was a staged diversion, and the two of them become suspects. Over the course of the evening and next morning, the two attempt to escape to surrounded casino, and to prove their innocence, as well as to save their marriage.

Top of the World

1997

Green Dragon poster
6.2

A tale about Vietnamese refugees sent to an orientation camp on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California, 'Green Dragon' focuses on a young boy and his sister. Set in 1975, the film chronicles the stories told to the two children by other refugees in the camp and of Tai Tran, who dares to introduce himself to Sergeant Jim Lance. In developing a relationship with Lance, Tran is able to improve

Green Dragon

2001

The Immortals poster
5.6

An elaborate heist unites 8 strangers in a simultaneous assault on targets all over the city- and explodes in a hailstorm of gunfire and high-speed chases in this powerful action-thriller. Recruited by a Mafia nightclub owner (Eric Roberts), 4 teams launch a brutal cross-town attack to retrieve suitcases full of cash. But as the violence escalates, the team members discover just who their real target has been all along - and the shocking truth they have in common.

The Immortals

1995

Zig Zag poster
5.7

An autistic 15-year-old boy steals money from his boss to provide rent for his abusive father, who uses the money to repay a loan shark.

Zig Zag

2002

If... Dog... Rabbit poster
4.5

Johnnie Cooper served time for an armed robbery that also his father and brother participated in. When he's released from jail he's determined to live a normal life and gets work at a gas station. But soon his brother pays a visit.

If... Dog... Rabbit

1999

Entropy poster
5.9

Entropy is a semi-autobiographical film which tells the story of a young director struggling to make a film for a despotic studio while his life falls apart around him. Along the way, he goes on tour with U2 to help them make a music video, gets married in Vegas, and has a conversation with his cat.

Entropy

1999