David R. Ellis, who called schlock entertainment his playground, has died at age 60. At this time, there is no official cause.
He never would have won an Oscar, but he did give us hands-down the best installment of the Final Destination franchise, Final Destination 2, as well as Snakes on a Plane, Shark Night 3D, and...Homeward Bound 2. (For real.)
The man proved he was usually in on the joke and never turned his nose down on the more low-brow projects on which he worked. And allowing Samuel L. Jackson to bellow his infamous line from Snakes on a Plane, which was born not during the scripting stage but rather much earlier on the Internet, courtesy of fan boy enthusiasm, proved he was a class act. It wasn't enough that he willingly took on the project and had fun with the outlandish concept, but because SOAP was a fan-driven project, it was his way of letting the fans have a more-than-usual level of input.
R.I.P., good sir. I'll watch FD2 in your honor.
