andrew gunn, the producer behind Disney films including Freaky Friday and Sky High, has died at 58. He had been diagnosed in 2024 with ALS and passed away at his home in Toronto, his family announced Monday. Gunn rose to prominence in the early 2000s producing big‑budget studio comedies under an exclusive first‑look deal with Disney.
Andrew Gunn’s Disney era and signature films
Gunn built a prolific slate in the early 2000s, producing remakes, originals and movies inspired by Disneyland rides during an era when Disney was led by Chairman Dick Cook and Motion Pictures President Nina Jacobson. The producer shepherded Freaky Friday to the screen after pitching the idea to Jacobson; the film ultimately starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan and became a commercial hit that earned Curtis a Golden Globe nomination. The same period included the superhero comedy Sky High and other studio comedies that defined Gunn’s profile at the studio.
On casting Freaky Friday, Gunn navigated several configurations: an early lineup that included Annette Bening, Michelle Trachtenberg and Tom Selleck collapsed when Trachtenberg could not be released from her schedule, prompting a search that led to Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Audition notes in his career files show Lohan’s chemistry read pushed her to the top of a crowded shortlist that included Kristen Stewart, Kristen Bell, Brie Larson and Shiri Appleby.
Immediate reactions, family and later work
“We made movies with genuine creative exuberance at that time and Andrew never had any shortage of that, ” recalled Nina Jacobson, Motion Pictures President, Disney. Jacobson’s comment underscores the creative partnerships that defined his time at the studio and his influence over casting and development decisions.
Gunn continued working in film beyond those early hits. He reteamed with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan for a sequel released last year, a project he described as especially meaningful because it involved his family: his two adult children, Isabelle and Connor Gunn, worked on the production in the camera department and props respectively. “I can’t express what that meant to me, ” Andrew Gunn, Producer, wrote in 2025.
Born in Toronto in 1967, Gunn graduated from the University of Western in Canada before moving to Los Angeles to earn a Master’s in Communication Management from The Annenberg School at USC. Early roles included work for producer David Permut and a development post at Great Oaks Entertainment, the company run by John Hughes, where he helped shape projects in the late 1990s.
What’s next
Tributes and remembrances are expected from colleagues and collaborators who worked with andrew gunn across decades of family films and studio comedies. The family has announced his passing; further details and any planned memorials have not been released. Industry observers will watch for formal statements from his longtime creative partners and any posthumous acknowledgments of his work.
