Arne Olsen, the Canadian screenwriter behind films including the Burt Reynolds comedy Cop and 1/2 and the franchise-starting Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, has died. He was 64.
Olsen, who worked in several genres, died Saturday in his native Vancouver of complications related to cancer, a family spokesperson announced.
He often said that a highlight of his career was writing and directing the Canadian-produced dramedy Here’s to Life! (2000), starring Eric McCormack as a blackmailed retirement-home administrator. The movie went on to be nominated for eight Genie Awards, winning one.
Olsen arrived in Los Angeles at age 21 looking to pursue a career in screenwriting. After he graduated from the AFI in 1987, he quicky landed his first industry job, receiving story and screenplay credits on the action-thriller Red Scorpion (1988), starring Dolph Lundgren.
He wrote the spec script for Cop and 1/2, and after Universal won a bidding war with Disney, the Henry Winkler-directed film from Imagine Entertainment opened at No. 1 in theaters in April 1993.
Olsen was a co-writer on the thriller Black Ice (1992) and among the credited screenwriters on All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), and he received a Leo Award nomination in British Columbia for his sci-fi thriller Repeaters (2010).
He also wrote the 1997 pilot for Escape From Atlantis for Starz/Encore as well as a 2002 episode of the syndicated action series Relic Hunter that starred Tia Carrere.
His last film was the Voltage Pictures thriller Distorted (2018), starring John Cusack and Christina Ricci.
Olsen mentored many young screenwriters, having taught at Capilano University in Vancouver and the Vancouver Film School and serving as a story editor on dozens of features.
Survivors include his wife, Dianne, and his children, Ryan and Alyssa.
