Aditya Shankar (born January 8, 1985) is an American film producer, screenwriter, film director, television program creator, television showrunner, and occasional actor. He is best known for Dredd, Castlevania, and his "Bootleg Universe" One-Shot series of fan films. He is the youngest producer to have a number one film at the North American box office with The Grey.

Early life

Aditya Shankar was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, to a banking executive and an educator. His family spent his formative years relocating among Chennai, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He immigrated to Rhode Island, USA by himself at the age of 15 two days before 9/11. Shankar studied communications, business, and theater at Northwestern University and graduated in June 2007.

Career

His Bootleg satires include The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, Venom: Truth in Journalism, and Power/Rangers. In 2015, Shanker signed a three-picture deal with Disney's Maker Studios.

Influences

For his controversial "Bootleg Universe" Shankar cites British street artist Banksy as a major influence. In addition, Shankar frequently cites rapper Eminem, writer Warren Ellis, artist Takashi Murakami, wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, and Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth as artistic and stylistic influences.

The Apu Problem

Not to be confused with The Problem with Apu. In April 2018, Shankar started a script contest which he hoped would encourage people to rewrite The Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon "that takes the character of Apu and in a clever way subverts him, pivots him, intelligently writes him out, or evolves him". He stated that, in the event that the show's producers will not take on the winning script, he would produce and distribute the episode as part of his, "Bootleg Universe" fan films.

On October 26, 2018, Shankar leaked during an interview with IndieWire that Apu was going to be written out of the show, stating that he got the information from two people who work for The Simpsons and a third source who works directly with creator Matt Groening. A representative for the show at Fox responded, saying, "Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode My Way or the Highway to Heaven." In the episode, Apu makes an appearance as one of dozens of characters gathered around God in Heaven. On October 28, Simpsons executive producer and show runner Al Jean responded on Twitter by saying "Adi Shankar is not a producer on the Simpsons. I wish him the best but he does not speak for our show."

The character was absent from the show for two years, and on Jan 17, 2020 Hank Azaria announced he was stepping down from the role of Apu permanently. Shankar has stated that he was against the cancellation of the character: “Silencing Apu is a step sideways. It doesn’t undo the damage, address the damage or benefit the show’s ‘creativity.’ It just removes another brown face from TV.”