Lynda Obst

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Lynda Rosen Obst^[1] (April 14, 1950 – October 22, 2024) was an American film producer and author.

Obst was born in New York City on April 14, 1950,^[1] and grew up in Harrison adjacent to White Plains, New York.^[2] She was a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California, and studied philosophy in the graduate program at Columbia University.^[3]

Obst was set up on a blind date with physicist Kip Thorne by physicist Carl Sagan. They dated in 1979-1980, and parted and remained friends, to the extent that they later collaborated on the movie Interstellar.^[4]

She was married to producer David Obst.^[2] Their son, Oly is a producer and artist manager.^[2] Rick Rosen, one of the founders of the Endeavor talent agency, was Lynda's younger brother.^[2]

Obst worked as an editor at The New York Times before moving to Los Angeles with her husband David Obst. Beginning at The Geffen Film Company as a d-girl, her first major project was developing scripts which eventually became Flashdance.

Obst partnered with Debra Hill in 1986. They produced Adventures in Babysitting, Heartbreak Hotel, and The Fisher King among other projects. After The Fisher King (1991), Obst and Hill parted ways; Obst became an in-studio producer and produced notable films including Sleepless in Seattle, One Fine Day, Someone Like You, Contact, Hope Floats, and The Siege. In 1989, Obst founded a production company, Lynda Obst Productions. Initially based at Columbia Pictures, it moved to 20th Century Fox in 1993. By 2007, the company was named Obst/Rosen Productions.^[5]

In 2009, Obst completed principal photography as producer on The Invention of Lying (originally titled "This Side of the Truth" and the directing and co-writing debut of Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson) starring Gervais and Jennifer Garner. It was released in October 2009. She was the producer of Gurinder Chadha's Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, released by Nickelodeon in 2008. In 2014, Obst collaborated with director Christopher Nolan and co-produced Interstellar, a science-fiction drama starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. It marked the first time her production company, Lynda Obst Productions, was credited with a production.

Obst was the author of the memoir Hello, He Lied (1996), detailing her experiences in the modern studio system. She was one of the central figures in the battle over the Richard Preston book, Crisis in the Hot Zone.

LRO Enterprises, Ltd.,^[6] doing business as Lynda Obst Productions, is an American film and television production company started by Lynda Obst. She formed the company in 1989 and moved it to Columbia Pictures.^[7] In 1993, her company moved to 20th Century Fox.^[8] While Obst had producer credits for films from the 1980s to present, Interstellar was the first to display her company banner.^[9]

Lynda Obst died at her home in Los Angeles on October 22, 2024, at the age of 74.^[10] She had COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) at the time of her death, having been a longtime smoker.^[2]

Obst was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Thanks

As writer

• The Sixties (Random House: New York, NY, 1978. ISBN 978-0394732398)
• Dirty Dreams: A Novel (New Amer Library Trade: New York, NY, 1990. ISBN 0-453-00731-7)
• Hello, He Lied (Little, Brown & Company: New York, NY, 1996. ISBN 0-316-62211-7)
• Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business (Simon & Schuster: New York, NY, 2013. ISBN 978-1476727745)

• Lynda Obst at IMDb
• Lynda Obst Productions
• Lynda Obst discography at Discogs
• Interview with Lynda Obst for The Women Take Over