James M. Johnston is an American film producer and director based in Fort Worth, Texas. He is a co-founder of Sailor Bear, a production company established in 2010 alongside filmmaker David Lowery and producer Toby Halbrooks. Johnston has produced several independent films, including Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), A Ghost Story (2017), and The Green Knight (2021). He received the Piaget Producers Award at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards alongside Halbrooks. Johnston's feature directorial debut, Strawweight, starring Lupita Nyong'o and Chloë Grace Moretz, was announced in 2024.
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Career
Johnston co-founded the Texas-based production company Sailor Bear in 2010 with filmmaker David Lowery and producer Toby Halbrooks. Johnston was also a 2011 Creative Producing Fellow at the Sundance Institute. Sailor Bear joined commercial production company Lucky 21.
Johnston's early producing credits include Ciao (2008), a drama directed by Yen Tan and set in Dallas, and St. Nick (2009), a drama written and directed by David Lowery. In 2011, Johnston produced the short film Pioneer, written and directed by Lowery, which won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW and at five additional film festivals. Johnston also produced Pit Stop (2013), a drama directed by Yen Tan that premiered in the NEXT section of the Sundance Film Festival.
Johnston produced Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), written and directed by David Lowery, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and starred Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster. The film earned Johnston and co-producer Toby Halbrooks the Piaget Producers Award at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Johnston continued his producing partnership with Lowery on A Ghost Story (2017), starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by A24.
He subsequently produced The Old Man & the Gun (2018), directed by Lowery and starring Robert Redford, with Sailor Bear's Johnston and Halbrooks among the film's producers, and The Green Knight (2021), a fantasy film written and directed by Lowery and released by A24, starring Dev Patel. Johnston served as second unit director on Peter Pan & Wendy (2023), directed by Lowery for Disney+.
Directorial work
Johnston has written and directed several short films. Receive Bacon (2009), a short comedy, was featured on the Rooftop Films blog. Knife (2011), an 11-minute wordless short about a man confronting the impact of natural gas drilling on his rural Texas community, received a grant from the Rooftop Films Filmmakers Fund and screened at SXSW, LA Shorts Fest, the Sarasota Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Sidewalk Film Fest. It was also featured in Vice's "I'm Short, Not Stupid" short film series.
Melville (2015), a 15-minute short following a man recently diagnosed with lung cancer who struggles to confide in those closest to him, premiered at SXSW and won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Dallas International Film Festival. It was also selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick and named one of the best American short films of 2015 by IndieWire.
Johnston's feature directorial debut, Strawweight, was announced in February 2024. The film stars Lupita Nyong'o and Chloë Grace Moretz as competing UFC fighters. The screenplay was written by Paul Harrill from a story by Johnston and Harrill, and it is co-produced by Lowery and Halbrooks of Sailor Bear alongside Lars Knudsen of Square Peg and Patrick Newall. UFC champion Rose Namajunas serves as a fight consultant and executive producer.
Other ventures
Johnston co-owns Spiral Diner & Bakery, a vegan restaurant group in the Fort Worth–Dallas area, with his wife Amy McNutt. He has also been involved in the development of the Citizen Theater, a vegan art house cinema in Fort Worth.