| Colin Strause | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 8, 1976 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S. |
| Other names | Brothers Strause |
| Occupation | Film director, producer |
| Greg Strause | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 16, 1975 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S. |
| Other names | Brothers Strause |
| Occupation | Film director, producer |
Brothers Greg and Colin Strause (self-titled as Strause Brothers) are a directing duo, most famous for directing Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and Skyline, and special effects artists. They are the founders of Hydraulx, a special effects company.[1][2]
They began experimenting with visual effects in their early teens. In 1995, they moved to Los Angeles and started working on the special effects for The X-Files film. From there they moved on to big-budget films such as The Nutty Professor, Volcano, and the iceberg sequence of James Cameron's Academy Award-winning Titanic. They then broke into the music video and commercial arena, handling the special effects for artists such as U2, Britney Spears, Godsmack, Tool, and Aerosmith as well as spots for Nike, Jeep, and Pepsi.
In 2000, Colin won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video, "Californication." This led the brothers to start directing under the moniker "The Brothers Strause," and their Linkin Park clip "Crawling" was nominated for Best Direction and Best Rock Video at the 2001 VMA's. Other artists they have directed for include A Perfect Circle, Nickelback, Paulina Rubio, Opeth, Flyleaf, Disturbed, Staind, Taproot (band) and Abandoned Pools. Their music video for A Perfect Circle's "Passive" marked their second collaboration with the band. The video was shot almost entirely with thermal cameras[3] and featured on the Constantine soundtrack and DVD.
The Strause's have performed special effects work on such films as 300, X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and The Day After Tomorrow, for which Greg won a British Academy Award (BAFTA).
The Brothers have directed spots for Coca Cola, World of Warcraft, Gatorade, Ford Motor Company, the United States Marine Corps, Toyota, Fresca, Universal Studios and Sony PlayStation's God of War.
The Brothers Strause made their film directing debut by directing a sequel to Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator. The sequel was called: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The film was released on Christmas 2007 to generally negative reviews.
In the fall of 2008, the Brothers directed 50 Cent's music video "Get Up" as well as commercials for Pennzoil and Shell, in addition to supplying some visual effects for Avatar.[4]
In 2010, the Brothers directed and produced the science fiction thriller Skyline, written by Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell, starring Scottie Thompson, Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, and David Zayas. The film was met with negative reviews [5] but given its budget was $10m and it grossed $65m worldwide a sequel is expected.