Career
This was followed by The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture. This collaboration continued on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which was followed by Joss Whedon"s directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Serenity. Mendel conceived and spent eight years putting together Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
He then went back to work with Shyamalan, producing the box-office hit The Happening.
In 2008, Mendel produced Judd Apatow"s Funny People starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana and Jason Schwartzman and also Drew Barrymore"s directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Whip lieutenant starring Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig and Barrymore and Peacock directed by Michael Lander featuring Cillian Murphy, Page and Susan Sarandon. He then produced Trainwreck, the 2015 hit comedy directed by Judd Apatow and written by and starring Amy Schumer, which received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical).
Mendel is next re-teaming with Apatow to produce The Big Sick, written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani which Michael Showalter is directing. Mendel wrote the biographical entry on Willingham in The Literary Encyclopedia.
