Austin Chick

Austin Chick
Born

July 29, 1971


Hartford, CT, United States
Occupation Film director, screenwriter and film producer
Known for XX/XY (2002)
August (2008)
Spouse(s) Morena Baccarin (m. 2011)
Children 1

Austin Chick (born July 29, 1971)[1] is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, who made the films XX/XY, released in 2002, and August, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Early life

Although born in Hartford,[2] Chick moved to New Hampshire as a youngster.[3] In the late 1980s[3] he attended high school at High Mowing School, a boarding school in Wilton, NH. He went on to Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, where he specialized in literature and psychology with the aid of grants from the King Foundation.[4] Chick spent a number of years unsure of what he wanted to do with his life and took on a life of a wanderer for some time. Watching Kings of the Road, he says in an interview with Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life,[5] helped him find the direction he'd been searching for.

I wanted to be doing something that was a little bit more, I don’t know, populist? More accessible. I felt like a narrative interested me, and it wasn’t until I saw Kings of the Road that I realized that film was a place that might make sense for me.[6]

In 1998,[4] Chick graduated from SUNY Purchase Film School in Purchase, New York, having studied cinematography.[7]

Career

His first major film, which he wrote and directed, was released in 2002. It was titled XX/XY, and it starred Mark Ruffalo and Kathleen Robertson. It examined the complex relationship between three Sarah Lawrence College students, both during their time at the school and then many years later.[8] It was an independent production, which was shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival (where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize[9]) and subsequently taken up by IFC Films.[3]

He co-produced Sidney Lumet's 2007 film Before the Devil Knows You're Dead,[10] which featured Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman as two brothers who stage the robbery of their parents' jewellery shop in an effort to get rich quick, with tragic consequences.[11]

His most recent movie, called August, was released by ContentFilm International in 2008. The cast list is headed by Josh Hartnett, and features Adam Scott, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn, and David Bowie.[12] The plot centered on two brothers, with one of them, Tom (Hartnett), involved in a struggle to save his internet company on the stock market just before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[13] Chick directed the film and was also executive producer.[14]

Personal life

Chick married actress Morena Baccarin over Thanksgiving in 2011.[15] They have a son, Julius, who was born on October 22, 2013 in Glendale, California.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Year of birth (approx.): IMDB.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  2. ↑ Place of birth: from an article at NewEnglandFilm.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Residence in Williamsburg, New York: FreeWilliamsburg.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Education: Google translation of references at Zinema.com (Spanish) website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  5. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/1556528256
  6. ↑ Chick, Austin. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p125. Print.
  7. ↑ More on education and graduation: DVD Future website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ XX/XY (2002) film review: Qwipster.net website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  9. ↑ Grand Jury Prize nomination, 2002 Sundance Film Festival: Metacritic website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  10. ↑ Co-producer, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007): IMDB.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  11. ↑ Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) – plot summary: IMDB.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  12. ↑ Latest film, August (2008): IMDB.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  13. ↑ August (2008) synopsis: AOL's Moviefone website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  14. ↑ Director and executive producer, August (2008): IMDB.com website. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Morena Baccarin on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson". December 13, 2011.
  16. ↑ http://celebritybabies.people.com/2013/10/24/homeland-morena-baccarin-welcomes-son-julius/

External links