Daniel R. Adams is an American feature film director. He is best known for directing and writing the films The Lightkeepers, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, and The Golden Boys, starring David Carradine, Bruce Dern, Rip Torn, Charles Durning, and Mariel Hemingway.
Adams grew up in the Boston area, went to the University of Vermont for two years, from 1980 to 1981, and attended some Harvard Extension School classes in the early 1980s, spokesmen for both schools confirmed. Adams worked for several political campaigns before going into movies. After working in politics, including two gubernatorial campaigns, a race for attorney general, and a presidential campaign, he also garnered valuable film production experience directing television commercials for a Boston advertising agency.
He then co-wrote and directed his first feature film in 1989, A Fool And His Money (originally titled, Religion, Inc.), which starred Sandra Bullock (Adams is credited with casting Ms. Bullock in her first leading role), Jonathan Penner, George Plimpton and Jerzy Kosinski (released through Trimark Pictures - now Lions Gate). He then went on to write and direct his second feature, the critically acclaimed Primary Motive, which starred Judd Nelson, Justine Bateman, Richard Jordan, John Savage and Sally Kirkland, for Twentieth Century Fox. His third feature, which he also wrote and directed, was a comedy entitled, The Mouse, starring Rip Torn and John Savage, and released through Strand Releasing. The Mouse also received positive reviews throughout the United States and abroad. His film, The Golden Boys, was released through Roadside Attractions and Lions Gate Films in 2009. Also in 2009, he directed the feature film, The Lightkeepers, from a script he wrote. Lightkeepers, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, was released through New Films Cinema in the spring of 2010.