Lawrence Wright is an author, screenwriter, playwright and a staff writer for The New Yorker. His 2006 history of al-Qaeda, “The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,” was on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks, was nominated for the National Book Award and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, among other honors. Wright co-wrote the 1998 film “The Siege,” which depicts events eerily similar to those occurring in the U.S. after 9/11. In 2006, his one-man play “My Trip to al-Qaeda,” based on the book, enjoyed a sold-out, six-week run in Soho. Wright is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Biography from TMDB.
- August 2, 1947 (79)
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
- Producer and writer, also actor
- 10 on MovieCove
What are Lawrence Wright's films like?
Across their 9 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Power and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 6
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 7
Grounded 6 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 1 · Intense 6
Steady 3 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 6 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 0
Casual 0 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 6
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 4
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 4 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet6
- Ambiguous3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Lawrence Wright's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 8 of their 10 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Lawrence Wright's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
10 credits, 10 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Musk(2026)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
God Save Texas(2024)
Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all shows
Kingdom of Silence(2020)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films
The Looming Tower(2018)
Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all shows
The 2000s(2018)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
My Trip to Al-Qaeda(2010)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Noriega: God's Favorite(2000)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
The Siege(1998)
Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films
Forgotten Sins(1996)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 8 titles from 1996 to 2026.
Biggest box office
The Siege (1998)
Highest rated
Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015)
Most popular right now
Musk (2026)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
a Primetime Emmy from 2 major nominations, 2015–2019.
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Long Form Adapted
- Primetime Emmy, won · Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Lawrence Wright's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 78th percentile, the median of all 7; across their 7 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 79th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up6
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 10 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved1
- Divisive1
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the dialogue 52/100 and the plot and story 61/100 in their films, across 7 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Lawrence Wright work with?
People who share at least 2 of Lawrence Wright's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Alex Gibney shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Alex GibneyShared titles: Musk (2026), God Save Texas (2024), Kingdom of Silence (2020), Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015), My Trip to Al-Qaeda (2010)See all 5 shared titles with Alex Gibney
Producers
- Richard PerelloShared titles: Musk (2026), God Save Texas (2024), Kingdom of Silence (2020)See all 3 shared titles with Richard Perello
- Stacey OffmanShared titles: Musk (2026), God Save Texas (2024), Kingdom of Silence (2020)See all 3 shared titles with Stacey Offman
- Dana O'KeefeShared titles: Musk (2026), My Trip to Al-Qaeda (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Dana O'Keefe
- Erin EdeikenShared titles: Musk (2026), Kingdom of Silence (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Erin Edeiken
