In 1966, he met film director
Peter Bogdanovich at a birthday party for the daughter of director
John Ford, a friend of his father. Marshall volunteered to work on Bogdanovich's first film,
Targets (1968), which became his apprenticeship in film production, as he assumed various productions roles, even appearing in a bit part. Following graduation from UCLA, Marshall spent the next two years working in
Aspen and
Marina del Rey, as a waiter/guitar player at "The Randy Tar," a steak and lobster restaurant. While traveling through Europe in March 1970, he received another call from Bogdanovich, offering him a position on
The Last Picture Show (1971). Three days later he arrived in Archer City, Texas, doubling as location manager and actor in this seminal film. Under Bogdanovich's guidance, Marshall would work his way up from producer's assistant to associate producer on five more films. He branched out to work with
Martin Scorsese as a line producer on the music documentary
The Last Waltz (1978) and as an associate producer on director
Walter Hill's gritty crime thriller,
The Driver (1978). The following year, Marshall earned his first
executive producer credit on Hill's cult classic street gang movie,
The Warriors (1979) and first producer credit on
George Lucas and
Steven Spielberg's
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He continued to collaborate with Bogdanovich, completing their tenth film together,
Orson Welles' unfinished
The Other Side of the Wind in 2018. In 1981, together with his future wife
Kathleen Kennedy and
Steven Spielberg, he co-founded
Amblin Entertainment, one of the industry's most productive and profitable production companies. As a producer, Marshall has received five
Oscar nominations for
Best Picture for
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008),
Seabiscuit (2003),
The Sixth Sense (1999),
The Color Purple (1985) and
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). During the 1980s and 1990s, Marshall served on the advisory board of the
National Student Film Institute. His feature film directing debut was the thriller
Arachnophobia (1990), starring
Jeff Daniels. In 1991, he and Kennedy created
The Kennedy/Marshall Company and began producing their own films. Marshall directed the company's first film,
Alive (1993), about a rugby team struggling to survive in the snow after their plane crashes in the Andes. Next, he directed
Congo (1995), based on
Michael Crichton's novel, followed by
Eight Below (2006), Marshall stated that the documentary, broadcast in 2012, sought to capture not only Koss' sporting career and the ideals behind his nonprofit organization, but also his "drive and how it has changed the world." From 1991 to 2012, The Kennedy/Marshall Company produced many films, including
The Sixth Sense,
Signs,
Seabiscuit,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,
War Horse,
Lincoln,
Sully, the
Bourne series and the feature documentary
The Armstrong Lie (2013). Since taking over as sole principal of the company, Marshall has broadened its slate beyond feature films to include television, documentaries and
Broadway musicals. Those include the summer blockbuster series
Jurassic World, Orson Welles's final film,
The Other Side of the Wind, and the Emmy Award-nominated documentaries
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All,
Laurel Canyon and
McCartney 3,2,1. In 2020, he directed the
Hélder Guimarães virtual magic shows
The Present and
The Future for the Geffen Stayhouse, both which had sold-out runs and
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, which was nominated for six Emmys. In 2022, he produced the Tony Award-winning musical
A Strange Loop and co-directed the Grammy-winning documentary
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story. His 2023 productions included
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and
Good Night, Oscar, starring Tony Winner Sean Hayes. In 2024, Marshall directed
The Hope Theory at Geffen Playhouse with Hélder Guimarães,
The Beach Boys documentary for Disney+ and produced
Twisters for Universal Pictures. ==Personal life==