Martin Wiley Dies: Veteran Film Producer & Executive Was 65

Martin Wiley, a veteran producer and executive whose credits include Acts of Violence, Never Talk to Strangers and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, died March 20, his family told Deadline. He was 65.

A USC alum who got his post-graduate degree from UCLA, Wiley served as a creative executive in charge of development on films produced at Warner Bros., Sony, Lionsgate and other studios and the supervising producer and/or unit production manager for more than a dozen theatrical features.

Wiley began his career in the late 1980s, serving as a producer or co-producer on films including Mutator, Diving In and Little Sister. His first executive producing credit came on the Steven Seagal action sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995), and he was a producer on the Antonio Banderas-Rebecca DeMornay thriller Never Talk to Strangers the same year.

Other feature credits as producer include Chill Factor, Tamara, Madison, Drive Thru, The Plague, Woodstock or Bust and The Lazarus Project. He also wrote and directed the 2004 Brian Friedman dance documentary Freestyle and penned the screenplay for The Speak (2011).

As a production executive, he acquired and developed the 1999 Paramount Pictures hit Varsity Blues and other films including Nurse Betty, American History X and The Cooler.

Wiley was a producer at L.A.-based Red River Films since 2007 and served as head of production at Armada Pictures in Beverly Hills from 2005-08.

“Martin was one of the best producers I’ve ever worked with in my 30 years as a DGA member,” said his longtime friend and colleague Leslie Bloom of Big Kid Films told Deadline. “He produced my directorial debut Woodstock or Bust in Portland, Oregon, where we both grew up. He believed in my training as AD to take the next step. We were mounting my next film Rainbow Cowboy when he fell ill. Martin and I were like peas and carrots on the set. I will have a hard time finding that perfect match again.”

Wiley also was a senior consultant at J.J. Little and Associates from 2011-14, specializing in entertainment litigation and transactional law practice, and a former instructor at UCLA Extension’s Professional Film Production Program, where he taught a course called “The Art of Line Production.”

No word yet on plans for a memorial service.