Curtis Hanson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Curtis Hanson | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Curtis Hanson |
|||||||||||||||
| Born | Curtis Lee Hanson March 24, 1945 Reno, Nevada |
||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Film director, producer and screenwriter | ||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1970 - present | ||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Curtis Lee Hanson (born March 24, 1945) is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker. A former photographer, freelance writer of Hollywood-themed articles and editor of Cinema magazine, Hanson honed his filmmaking skills by writing screenplays for low-budget thrillers before establishing himself as a director of Oscar-caliber work.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Hanson was born in Reno, Nevada and grew up in Los Angeles, the son of Beverly June and William Hanson. His uncle, Jack Hanson, owned "Jax", a popular women's clothing store.[1] Dissatisfied with the discipline of going to high school, Hanson dropped out. He eventually found his way onto a film set by way of taking photos of Faye Dunaway that helped the actress land her seminal role in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967). Hanson used his clout with Dunaway to get onto the set where he interviewed director Arthur Penn and star Warren Betty. He then segued into the filmmaking side by co-writing "The Dunwich Horror" (1970), a cheaply-executed adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s story courtesy of schlock producer Roger Corman. Hanson became a director with the genuinely unsettling Tab Hunter cult flick "The Arousers/Sweet Kill" (1973), then segued to producing as the associate producer (and screenwriter) of "The Silent Partner” (1978), starring Elliot Gould and Christopher Plummer.
[edit] Career
After trying his hand making a kids' adventure ("The Little Dragons" 1980) and a teen sex comedy ("Losin' It" 1983, with a young Tom Cruise), Hanson came into his own as a suspense specialist in the late 1980s and early 90s. He wrote and directed "The Bedroom Window" (1989), a surprisingly good Hitchcock homage, and followed up by directing the slick, "Strangers on a Train"-like psychological suspense film "Bad Influence" (1990), starring Rob Lowe and James Spader. Hanson finally enjoyed a runaway box-office success with "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" (1992), a compelling, expertly acted and cannily directed nanny-from-hell thriller that starred a startlingly creepy Rebecca DeMornay. He advanced to the genre A-list with "The River Wild" (1994), a tense adventure set in the great outdoors that starred Meryl Streep in her action movie debut and featured a top-notch supporting cast including Kevin Bacon and David Strathairn.
After several years of working in near-obscurity, Hanson found success with The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild. His next film, L.A. Confidential, earned him an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, with Brian Helgeland, and a nomination for Best Director. Hanson released Lucky You starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore on May 4, 2007 and has The Crimson Petal and the White in production about a young prostitute who finds herself in a position of power when she becomes the mistress of a powerful patriarch.
A movie buff (almost all of his movies reference or feature films from the Golden Age) who claims to be heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, in the special features on the Rear Window DVD, he discusses Hitchcock's mastery, and how he was inspired by it. He is also featured on the retrospective documentary of Nicholas Ray's noir classic In a Lonely Place (1950) giving his analysis on it, and it is apparent that the film is among his favorites. He previously stated that the film was among many that he watched in preparation for the filming of his most famous movie, L.A. Confidential (1997).[2]
[edit] Filmography
- Losin' It (1983)
- The Children Of Times Square (1986)
- The Bedroom Window (1987)
- Bad Influence (1990)
- The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)
- The River Wild (1994)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Wonder Boys (2000)
- 8 Mile (2002)
- In Her Shoes (2005)
- Lucky You (2007)
