Worst of the Worst. The WORST Action Directors.
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- Stunt Coordinator
- Stunts
- Director
Cole S. McKay is known for Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Far and Away (1992) and Cloverfield (2008).- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Barry Sonnenfeld was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from New York University Film School in 1978. He started work as director of photography on the Oscar-nominated In Our Water (1982). Then Joel Coen and Ethan Coen hired him for Blood Simple (1984). This film began his collaboration with the Coen Bros., who used him for their next two pictures, Raising Arizona (1987) and Miller's Crossing (1990). He also worked with Danny DeVito on his Throw Momma from the Train (1987) and Rob Reiner on When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and Misery (1990). Sonnenfeld got his first work as a director from Orion Pictures on The Addams Family (1991), a box-office success released in November 1991 followed by its sequel, Addams Family Values (1993). He received critical acclaim for his fourth directorial effort, Get Shorty (1995). Produced by Jersey Films and based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, the film won a Golden Globe for best male performance. In 1996 Steven Spielberg asked him to direct Men in Black (1997). Starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, the movie was a critical and financial smash. Producer Jon Peters then asked Sonnenfeld to direct Wild Wild West (1999), an adaptation of an old TV series. He also directed the comedy Big Trouble (2002), after which he made his most successful film sequel, Men in Black II (2002).- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Thunder Levin was born and raised in New York City, graduated from Hunter College High School, and received a BFA in Film from NYU before moving to Los Angeles at age 23. He credits the original Star Trek television series with opening his mind to both the wonders of science fiction and filmmaking as a child, while the original Star Wars solidified his desire to make movies when he grew up.
Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! (2008) starring C. Thomas Howell was Thunder's feature film directorial debut. This led to him writing and/or directing several films for production company The Asylum, including American Warships (2012) and AE: Apocalypse Earth (2013), culminating in the pop culture phenomenon Sharknado (2013). While continuing to write and direct feature films, he is also developing episodic television projects.
Thunder is a lifelong sailor and car enthusiast who's recently taken up motorcycle riding. In addition to his film and television work, he is writing his first novel. He lives in Santa Monica, CA, but considers himself a "temporarily misassigned New Yorker". Thunder is his real name. Please don't ask why.- Stunts
- Writer
- Director
Art Camacho is a multi-award-winning independent film Director whose works include the Dermot Mulroney starrer "Ruthless" and the upcoming Tyrese, Harvey Keitel Actioner "The Wrecker". Camacho was the first Latino filmmaker to Direct a Russian Drama in Moscow, Russia "Wild League" and received numerous awards and award nods for his films Confessions of a pit fighter from Lionsgate and Sony films "Assassin X". His foray into television landed him with his own namesake show; "The Camacho Experiment", for The El Rey Network which was highly acclaimed and in consideration for an Emmy. Camacho's background as a Stunt/fight action director/choreographer has also garnered him honors in the film and martial arts industry.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
With more than two dozen feature films under his belt, Leigh Scott has been working as a professional writer, director, producer, editor, and cinematographer in the film industry for nearly twenty years.
He attended USC's prestigious School of Cinema-Television. While in school he obtained an internship working for Roger Corman's "Concorde Pictures". At Concorde, he worked in production, marketing and development.
Upon graduation, at the age of 22, he successfully produced and directed his first feature film, Beach House (1996). He followed that up four years later with Art House (1998), a comedy that was an official selection at the Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts festival.
Leigh has always looked to push the envelope in both the business and creative aspects of the industry. He was one of the first filmmakers to encourage digital acquisition over film and embrace digital post production. He trained editors at Warner Bros. in the use of computer editing systems as early as 1994, was one of the first directors to shoot on RED digital cinema cameras, and supervised some of the earliest motion-capture tests and shoots for Microsoft.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Roland Emmerich is a German film director and producer of blockbuster films like The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Godzilla (1998), Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000). Before fame, he originally wanted to be a production designer, but decided to be a director, after watching the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Emmerich began his career in his native Germany. In his youth, he pursued painting and sculpting. While enrolled in the director's program at film school in Munich, his student film The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) went on to open the 1984 Berlin Film Festival. The feature became a huge success and was sold to more than 20 countries. In an amazing trivia, he directed his first feature, The Noah's Ark Principle (1984), in 1984. He is openly gay and a campaigner for the LGBT community.
A director/writer/producer with a flair for special effects-driven action, German Roland Emmerich made himself at home in blockbuster-hungry 1990s Hollywood. Born and educated in West Germany, Emmerich studied production design as well as direction at the Munich Film and Television School. After his student film, The Noah's Ark Principle, debuted at the 1984 Berlin Film Festival, Emmerich formed his production company Centropolis and directed supernatural fantasies Making Contact (1986) and Ghost Chase (1987), and the straight-to-video action film Moon 44 (1990). On the latter, he met actor Dean Devlin who subsequently switched jobs to become Emmerich's writing and producing partner once Emmerich set up shop in Hollywood.
After making his solo Hollywood debut directing Jean-Claude Van Damme in the cyborg action fest Universal Soldier (1992), Emmerich and Devlin revealed a talent for conjuring A-level action spectacles out of B-movie scenarios with their first film together, Stargate (1994). A space odyssey mixing ancient Egyptiana and high-tech wizardry, Stargate became an unexpected hit. Emmerich hit his blockbuster stride with his next film, Independence Day (1996). With its eye-popping destruction of major cities and climactic annihilation of a spacecraft via portable computer, Independence Day blew away its summer movie competition on the strength of its visual flash. Geared to repeat with the endlessly- and creatively-hyped version of Godzilla (1998), Emmerich instead faced the conundrum of directing a $100 million grossing film that did not live up to box office expectations. Emmerich and Devlin next turned their epic visions to the decidedly lower-tech (but still CGI-enhanced) action of the American Revolution in the Mel Gibson summer vehicle The Patriot (2000).People don't want to OBSERVE the action with helicopter shots, Roland. People want to FEEL the action. Not to mention that when everything is pretty much CGI it all feels like a damn videogame. People don't want that.
Again, observing the action: this is the worst thing an action director can do.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
As a youth, he produced a number of short films on Super 8 and video. After short stints as guest auditor at Filmacademy Vienna and Filmhochschule Munich, Boll studied literature and economics in Cologne and Siegen. He graduated from university in 1995 with a doctorate in literature. From 1995-2000, he was a producer and director with Taunus Film-Produktions GmbH. Boll was Chief Executive Officer of Bolu Filmproduction and Distribution GmbH which he founded in 1992. He continued to direct, write and produce feature films until 2016. His main companies are Event Films in Vancouver and Bolu Film in Germany. A longtime resident of Canada, Boll owned the restaurant "Bauhaus" in Vancouver from 2015 to 2020. Returned to Germany and resumed filming in 2020.He tried, he failed. And he keeps failing.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born in the Australian rural town of Griffith, New South Wales, Phillip Noyce moved to Sydney with his family at the age of 12. As a teenager, he was introduced to underground films produced on shoestring budgets as well as mainstream American movies. He was 18 when he made his first film, the 15-minute Better to Reign in Hell (1969) utilizing a unique financing scheme selling roles in the movie to his friends.
In 1973 he was selected to attend the Australian National Film School in its inaugural year. Here, he made Castor and Pollux (1973) a 50 minute documentary which won the award for best Australian short film of 1974.
Noyce's first professional film was the 50-minute docudrama God Knows Why, But It Works (1976) in 1975. This helped pave the way for his first feature, the road movie Backroads (1977) which starred Australian Aboriginal activist Gary Foley and iconic Australian actor Bill Hunter who would go on to appear in 2 other Noyce films. In 1978, he directed and co-wrote Newsfront (1978), which won Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the Australian Film Awards, as well as proving a huge commercial hit in Australia. In addition to opening the London Film Festival, Newsfront was the first Australian film to screen at the New York Film Festival.
In 1982, Heatwave (1982), co-written and directed by Noyce and starring Judy Davis, was chosen to screen at the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
The success of the Australian produced Dead Calm (1989), starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane brought Noyce to Hollywood, where he directed 6 films over the next decade, including Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) starring Harrison Ford, and The Bone Collector (1999), starring Oscar© winners Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.
In 2002 Noyce returned to his native Australia, where released two films worldwide at almost the same time. The Quiet American (2002) starred Michael Caine in an Academy nominated Best Actor performance and appeared on over 20 top ten lists for 2002, including the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) was based on the true story of three Aboriginal girls abducted from their families by Australian authorities in 1931 as part of an official government policy. The film won Best Picture at the Australian Film Awards, and together with The Quiet American garnered Noyce numerous best director awards including National Board of Review in the US and UK's London Film Critics Circle.
In 2006 Noyce directed Tim Robbins and Derek Luke in the South African set political thriller Catch a Fire (2006).
2010 Saw Noyce re-teaming with Angelina Jolie for his biggest box-office hit, the spy thriller Salt (2010), which grossed $295 million worldwide.
In Spring 2011, Noyce directed and executive produced the pilot for the ABC series Revenge (2011), which ended a four-season run on May 10, 2015.
In 2013 Noyce directed and executive produced the NBC pilot Crisis (2014), which went to series. Later that year, he returned to South Africa to film The Giver (2014), starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Brenton Thwaites, which opened in the US on August 15, 2014 from The Weinstein Company.
In 2016 Noyce directed the first night of the Emmy nominated miniseries Roots (2016).
In 2017 Noyce directed the pilot and first episode of Fox Network's medical show The Resident (2018) reuniting him with Emily VanCamp, who starred in Revenge.
In 2018 Noyce directed the feature Above Suspicion (2019), starring Emilia Clarke and Jack Huston. In 2018 he also directed the pilot and first episode of the 10-part series What/If (2019), starring Renée Zellweger and created by Revenge creator Mike Kelley, to be released in June 2019 by Netflix.- Producer
- Director
- Music Department
Brett Ratner is one of Hollywood's most successful filmmakers. His diverse films resonate with audiences worldwide and, as director, his films have grossed over $2 billion at the global box office. Brett began his career directing music videos before making his feature directorial debut at 28 years old with the action comedy hit Money Talks. He followed with the blockbuster Rush Hour and its successful sequels. Brett also directed The Family Man, Red Dragon, After the Sunset, X-Men: The Last Stand, Tower Heist and Hercules.
Ratner has also enjoyed critical acclaim and box office success as a producer. He has served as an executive producer on the Golden Globe and Oscar winning The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp; and as a producer on Truth, starring Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett; I Saw the Light, starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen; and the upcoming film Rules Don't Apply, written, directed and produced by Warren Beatty. His other produced films include the smash hit comedy Horrible Bosses and its sequel, and the re-imagined Snow White tale Mirror Mirror.
His additional producing credits include the documentaries Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Catfish, the Emmy-nominated Woody Allen - A Documentary, Helmut by June, I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale, Chuck Norris vs. Communism, the 5-time Emmy nominated and Peabody Award winning Night Will Fall, Bright Lights and National Geographic's upcoming Untitled Leonardo DiCaprio Environmental Documentary, directed, produced by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He also executive produced and directed the Golden Globe-nominated FOX series Prison Break, and executive produced the television series Rush Hour, based on his hit films.
Brett, along with his business partner James Packer, formed RatPac Entertainment, a film finance production and media company, in 2013. RatPac has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. and joined with Dune Capital to co-finance over 75 films including Gravity, The Lego Movie, American Sniper, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. RatPac Entertainment also co-financed The Revenant and Birdman with New Regency. Internationally, Warner Bros. and RatPac have formed a joint venture content fund with China's Shanghai Media Group to finance local Chinese content. In partnership with New Regency, RatPac also finances the development and production of Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment.
Since inception, RatPac Entertainment has co-financed 52 theatrically released motion pictures exceeding $9.3 billion in worldwide box office receipts. RatPac's co-financed films have been nominated for 51 Academy Awards, 20 Golden Globes and 39 BAFTAs and have won 21 Academy Awards, 7 Golden Globes and 17 BAFTAs.
Brett is a Board of Trustees member of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance. He sits on the boards of Chrysalis, Best Buddies and Do Something, while serving on the Dean's Council of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and on the Board of Directors at Tel Aviv University's School of Film and Television. In 2017, he will receive a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
McG was born on 9 August 1968 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dean Semler was born on 26 May 1943 in Renmark, South Australia, Australia. He is a cinematographer and assistant director, known for Apocalypto (2006), Dances with Wolves (1990) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981). He is married to Annie Semler.Great DP though.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Sound Department
Beginning as a commercial artist and photographer, he joined the New Zealand film industry in the late 1970s as a boom operator. He became an assistant director a decade later. Making international award-winning commercials for 10 years, he has also directed several TV series. His first feature film, Once Were Warriors (1994), won the PEN First Book Award.- Producer
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Born in Canada, Richard Pepin is known for directing and producing together with director Joseph Merhi with the PM Entertainment Group which he co-owned many action, fantasy and martial arts films between the 80s and 90s distributed for the direct circuit -to-video; Pepin unlike his colleague has oriented his career as a filmmaker on the genre of science fiction.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Born in Syria, before entering the world of cinema, he owned a chain of pizzerias in Las Vegas; began his career as director and producer in 1986 when he founded the film production company City Lights together with producer Ronald L. Gilchrist; in 1989, however, he decided to start his own business and founded PM Entertainment Group together with the Canadian director and producer Richard Pepin. Merhi specialized in the genre of action films and directed and produced at the turn of the 80/90s many low-cost action and martial arts films that very often were mainly broadcast on television or distributed for the circuit. direct-to-video; As producer he has produced over 100 films and TV series, and in 2000 PM Entertainment was first absorbed by The Harvey Entertainment Group and then purchased by the film company Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. The Syrian director and producer in his career has worked both as a producer and director with actors such as Michael Madsen, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Tom Arnold, Heather Locklear, Lorenzo Lamas, Jeff Fahey, Frank Zagarino, Gary Busey, William Forsythe, Jo Champa, Jill Hennessy, Robert Patrick, and many others; moreover, he often collaborated with numerous martial artists such as Jeff Wincott and Gary Daniels in shooting action films. Today, Merhi actively invests in real estate projects in addition to a wide variety of businesses. His portfolio consists of luxurious single family homes, apartment complexes, hotels, comedy clubs, restaurants, production studios, and retail. Merhi resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Furst started his career in television, portraying a wide variety of characters in dozens of network and cable series, before gaining recognition for his role as the original Lucas Hood in Cinemax's Banshee. He then expanded to supporting and roles in films like The Magnificent Seven, The Founder, Terminator Genisys and Focus. For his work in I Love You Phillip Morris, Variety wrote of Furst's ability to make a large impact with just a few scenes in the article entitled 'Not Nominate But Definitely Memorable.' Furst made his directorial debut with the horror feature 30 Days to Die, distributed by Lionsgate. His second feature, Starve, premiered as an official selection at the Stiges Film Festival. His early success with independent film garnered the attention of Universal Television, which commissioned Furst's directorial services on over a dozen Movies of the Week for their various networks. As of 2022, Furst has produced 37 movies. You Might be the Killer premiered at the Fantastic Film Festival, and Alice was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Furst is the president of Curmudgeon Films. My Sister's Keeper was the first film produced under his banner, starring Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz. In 2018, he produced You Might be the Killer, starring Alyson Hannigan. Furst then went on to work on the cult franchise Tales from the Hood, producing Part 2 and Part 3. The son of actor Stephen Furst (Animal House), Griff lives in Los Angeles.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Bob Misiorowski was born on 25 November 1944 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Tombstone (1993), Point of Impact (1993) and Cover-Up (1991).- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Anthony (Tony), started as a club promoter in London in the early eighties and financed his first short 'rock-a-bye baby' by holding an event at Le'quipe Anglaise, where all the door money went to finance the film. In fact, when it was finished it was the clubs owner Shariffi who showed it to producer Micheal White (Rocky horror show) who was so impressed, he gave Tony a one way ticket to L.A.saying don't come back until you have made it. Tony didn't return for eight years.
in L.A. Tony famously met the producer of 'Waxwork', Staffan Ahrenberg, when he crashed into the back of his car in the motel they were both staying at on Fairfax. Tony, broke at the time, talked Staffan into letting him pay for the damage by writing him a script for $3000 only. Staffan agreed, but wouldn't pay a penny until it was delivered. Tony wrote it in three days. Waxwork.
The script then did the rounds getting turned down by every studio, until an independent, Vestron was the only one left. They turned it down two days before Christmas. it was over the vacation that their friend, producer Mark Burg (Saw), said he couldn't believe that Dan Ireland (the head of the studio) wouldn't have loved it. It turns out he hadn't read it, it never made it past the readers.
The first day after the vacation, Mark sent 'Waxwork' to Dan himself, the rest, as they say, is horror movie history.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Joseph Kahn was born on 12 October 1972. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Bodied (2017), Detention (2011) and Torque (2004).- Art Department
- Director
- Writer
Academy Award winner Roger Christian has had an extensive film career. He won an Academy Award for set decoration on director George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), which began a long collaboration between the filmmakers. Christian subsequently worked with Lucas on Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and was hand-picked by Lucas to direct the second unit on the recent Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). It was through Lucas that Christian got his first opportunity to direct a film, the short feature entitled Ángel Negro (2000), which accompanied the UK release of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Christian followed "Black Angel" with another short, The Dollar Bottom (1981), which won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He followed that success with the thriller The Sender (1998), which received much critical acclaim and a nomination for Best Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
His directing credits include the 1994 Orion Pictures release _Nostradamus (1994/I)_, starring Julia Ormond and F. Murray Abraham, the HBO premiere movie The Final Cut (1995), Underworld (1996) starring Annabella Sciorra and Masterminds (1997) starring Patrick Stewart. Christian has also directed numerous high profile commercials, including worldwide campaigns for SEGA, Taco Bell, Jeep, Lancia, Fiat and Chrysler/Dodge, among others. Christian's work as an art director and production designer was highly regarded. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his art direction on Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). His other art direction credits include Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), Ken Russell's Mahler (1974) and Peter Hall's Akenfield (1974). Roger also directed Battlefield Earth (2000), with John Travolta and Forest Whitaker.
Roger Christian recently wrapped production on Bandido (2004), starring Angie Everhart, for Fries Film Group. Written by Carlos Gallardo, who also wrote El Mariachi, Bandidos continues the saga of the stylish Mexican thief who remains nameless. The same character was also portrayed by Antonio Banderas in Desperado (a remake of El Mariachi). In Bandidos, Carlos Gallardo reprises the starring role as the most infamous thief in Mexico.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Raised as an Air Force brat, Kevin Reynolds' love for cinema inspired him to forsake his law school degree and move to Los Angeles to enroll in the University of Southern California's legendary film school. Reynolds' graduate thesis film "Proof" became the basis for "Fandango" starring Kevin Costner and was produced by Steve Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment as one of its first productions. During his time at USC, Reynolds also wrote the Cold War cult hit "Red Dawn," which John Milius directed.
Reynolds also directed "The Beast," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Rapa Nui," "Waterworld," "The Count of Monte Cristo," "Tristan + Isolde," and "One Eight Seven," as well as the "You Gotta Believe Me" episode of Spielberg's anthology television series, "Amazing Stories."
Most recently, Reynolds directed 'Hatfields & McCoys' for History Channel and Sony Pictures Television.- Producer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christopher Ray was born on 30 July 1977 in Florida, Missouri, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Assault on VA-33 (2021), Minutes to Midnight (2018) and A House Is Not a Home (2015).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Timur Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-Russian film director known for vampire franchise Night Watch (2004) and Day Watch (2006).
He was born Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov on June 25, 1961, in Guryev, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan). His father, Nuruakhit Bekmambetov, is a manager at Guryev Energy company; his mother, Mira Bogoslavskaya, was a journalist. Young Bekmambetov was raised along the Ural river in Kazakhstan, Soviet Union.
In 1978, aged 17, he moved to Moscow. There from 1978 to 1980 he attended the Moscow Energy Institute, but he was more interested in art and movies. Eventually, he dropped out of college, and joined the cultural milieu around such artists as Anatoli Zverev and Oskar Rabin. Then, from 1982 to 1987 he studied painting at Tashkent Theatrical Art Institute, graduating in 1987 as artist of theatre and film. From 1987 to 1988 he served in the Red Army stationed at artillery division near Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan. Then he worked as set designer at "Ilkhom" Drama Theatre in Tashkent, and at Uzbek Film Studio.
Since 1989 he has been directing commercials. In 1992 Bekmambetov made his directorial and writing debut with Peshawar Waltz (1994), a film about the Soviet war in Afghanistan which received awards at several festivals in Europe. From 1992 to 1997 he made 18 commercials for the Russian bank "Imperial" and was named best young director of 1997 by Russian Film Academy. In 1999 he started his own film company, Bazelevs Production.
His big break came with the success of the vampire franchise Night Watch (2004) and Day Watch (2006), which he directed during 2003 - 2005. Both films became international blockbusters, and received several awards and nominations. The third installment, Twilight Watch (2009), is slated for release in 2009.
Since 2005, Bekmambetov has been working in Hollywood, writing, directing and producing several flicks, such as Wanted (2008), 9 (2009), and The Red Star. Back in Russia, he made another success directing The Irony of Fate 2 (2007), a romantic comedy based on the Soviet era characters and capitalizing on nostalgia among some of the post-Soviet audiences.
Timur Bekmambetov established himself as a master of dense narrative. His films often surprise the viewers with eerie details, hectic pace and unusual twists and turns, and remain a challenge even for experienced audiences.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Richard Schenkman writes, directs and produces feature films, commercials, documentaries and more. His first film was The Pompatus of Love (1995), which he wrote with Jon Cryer and Adam Oliensis. A festival favorite, it enjoyed a successful theatrical release in 1995. He then directed the action/drama October 22 (1998) for Nu Image/Millennium Films, and followed that with Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five (1998), his second collaboration with Cryer. It won numerous awards on the festival circuit, was theatrically released and successfully acquired by Blockbuster Video as an exclusive rental title. (In 2018 it was finally released on Blu-Ray). Later he and Cryer set up the sitcom pilot "Us and Them" at 20th Century Fox TV, and a romantic comedy dance musical at VH1. Schenkman wrote VH1's pilot for an original animated Elvis series, and crafted commercials and promos, most notably two award winning Mill Valley Film Festival trailers. He- also directed episodes of 'Dick Wolf''s Arrest & Trial (2000) and wrote dialogue for EA's 007 Racing (2000) Playstation game.
Next he wrote and directed VH1's original movie A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000), which was a holiday ratings blockbuster and continues to air annually. When his daughter was born, he decided to take a multi-year break from filmmaking to concentrate on raising her. He did, however, teach a Master Class for the Rhode Island International Film Festival, on whose advisory board he serves, and guest-lectured at both USC and Cal Arts. He also created "Drama Queen", an NBC sitcom for Vanessa Williams, and completed several new spec screenplays with Jon Cryer. One of these, "Cosmodrome", is being developed as a television series for Warner Brothers.
Two feature films he directed were released in 2007: And Then Came Love (2007), a romantic-comedy starring Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt, and the cult phenomenon Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth (2007), based on the final screenplay by the legendary science-fiction author, which has won many awards and is still ranked on IMDB as one of the top science fiction films of all time. He also served as a guest faculty member of the L.A. Film School, teaching comedy directing, taught commercial production at Columbia College in Hollywood, and wrote several popular IOS platform games for TinyCo.
Starting in 2012, made three films back-to-back for beloved B-movie factory The Asylum, the most notable being the historical/horror mashup Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012). 2017 saw him on the set of a new comedy, Misfits, as well as the release of the long awaited "Man from Earth" sequel, The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017).
In 2010 he published his first novel for children, "The Girl From Atlantis" and has completed a second, "The Empress's New Shoes."
Prior to his feature-film career, Schenkman spent more than a decade in the corporate media world. He was one of the original staffers at MTV: Music Television, creating distinctive and award-winning promos, network IDs, show wraps, news segments, marketing videos and documentary programs. After five years there, he established his own successful production company, produced and directed music videos, fashion videos, commercials and on-air promos for many clients including Swatch Watch, MTV, Honda Scooters, Pepsi Cola, Showtime, Lifetime, and perhaps most notably his Clio-winning national commercials for the children's cable TV network, Nickelodeon. During this period he also worked as a segment producer/director on Don Ohlmeyer's NBC news magazine Fast Copy (1985), produced and directed the multi-camera SPIN New Music Concert and created openings and segments for such other series and specials as "Fashion America", Showtime's "Funniest Person in America", "The MTV Video Music Awards" and "The Rolling Stone Reader's Poll Awards".
In 1990 he was brought to Los Angeles by Playboy Enterprises to revamp the total on-air look of its cable network, from ten-second IDs to hour-long series. He ultimately served as VP of Production, overseeing dozens of projects. Additionally, he personally created over 30 hours of original programming for cable, home video and international syndication, including "The Club", an original comedy series he co-wrote, produced and directed, as well as many other short- and long-form comedic and dramatic programs, several documentaries, two pilots and "Late Night", an extremely successful magazine-format lifestyle series that was rated #1 in Italy and Germany.- Director
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- Producer
Ringo Lam was born on 8 December 1955 in Hong Kong. He was a director and writer, known for City on Fire (1987), Full Alert (1997) and Wild City (2015). He died on 29 December 2018 in Hong Kong, China.- Director
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Roel Reiné is an award-winning director from the Netherlands, whose works include multiple feature films and television series for Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, Netflix, Disney+, Starz, Showtime and many more.
Roel Reiné won the Dutch Academy Award for Best Director in 2000 with his first theatrical feature 'The Delivery' and has been nominated for Best Director in 2015 for his historical drama 'Michiel DE Ruyter'. At international film festivals around the globe he has won multiple awards for his movies 'Admiral' and 'Redbad'.
Roel Reiné is known for his impeccable, commercial & unique vision and broad artistic skill-set, ranging from directing, cinematography, writing and producing with his production company Rebel Entertainment.
Some of his latest critically acclaimed works include: the very successful action movie 'Seal Team Eight' for 20th Century Fox, the supernatural western 'Dead in Tombstone' with Mickey Rourke for Universal became a VOD hit, and two very popular 'Death Race'; prequels, with Sean Bean.
His 2015 Feature film 'Admiral', a.k.a. 'Michiel DE Ruyter', an epic historical Dutch language movie, had a very successful theatrical release worldwide. In spite of competing with 'Jurassic World' and 'Fast and Furious' in its release window. The film was a major financial success worldwide and held a remarkable position among the top ten box office revenues of the Netherlands in 2015. The movie tells the story of a 17th Century Admiral, Michiel DE Ruyter, who protects the Dutch population from a civil war between two political factions while defeating English armadas in massive sea-battles. At the Toronto European Film Festival it got the award for best movie.
After 10 years working in Hollywood and building a solid reputation as a very talented and visionary director, Roel Reiné began directing for prime-time US shows; Series like 'Black Sails' for Starz and 'Blood Drive' for Syfy. By 2017, he directed the pilot episodes of 'Marvel's Inhumans', for Marvel Studios and IMAX. This TV series pilot was globally released on IMAX screens and later broadcast on ABC and now on Disney+.
In 2017, Roel Reiné also directed another Europan Feature Film named 'Redbad'. This movie has been theatrical released all over the world and has won many awards for best Director, best Cinematography and best Foreign Language Movie on several international film festivals.
In 2018 and 2019, Reiné has been directing epic TV shows like 'Knighfall' with big battle sequences and 'Wu Assassins' for Netflix. Also, a TV movie for Shark Week and a highly acclaimed docudrama miniseries for History Channel about George Washington called 'Washington' that broke viewing records.
At the present year, Roel Reiné is directing two episodes of the Science Fiction TV show 'Halo' for Showtime and for Stephen Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.