Craig Gillespie
Encyclopedia
Craig Gillespie is an Australian film director best known for directing the 2007 films
Lars and the Real Girl
and the Fright Night
remake.
's School of Visual Arts
. He first developed an interest in film in his early twenties when a friend of his was becoming a film director and encouraged him to do the same.
, commonly working with cinematographers Adam Kimmel and Rodrigo Prieto
. He changed advertising agencies
often, once working at six agencies in the space of five years. Following nominations in 2001
and 2002
in the Directors Guild of America Award category for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials", he won in 2006
for his Ameriquest
and Altoids
commercials. He also won a Golden Lion Award at 2005's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
, and two of his commercials belong to the Museum of Modern Art
in Midtown Manhattan
's permanent collection.
Gillespie's debut feature film was 2007's Mr. Woodcock
. He left the project after several negative test screening
s, and many scenes were re-written and re-shot, David Dobkin
replacing Gillespie in the director's role. Upon initially receiving the script, Gillespie had assumed that audiences would respond well to the dark humor
he had been using in his commercials, but, according to him, "it was obvious the audience wanted a broader comedy, not the one I'd made. I appreciated the predicament New Line was in, so I stepped aside." Less than a month after principal photography
of Mr. Woodcock concluded, Gillespie set up pre-production of Lars and the Real Girl
, for which he had had the script for four years but had not attached any cast members or a studio. He had first read the script before he was attached to Mr. Woodcock, but the pitch for Lars and the Real Girl—a man falling in love with a sex doll
—which he had almost turned down himself, believing the premise to be an "absurd notion", put off away many major studios and he chose to direct Mr. Woodcock first.
Gillespie directed several episodes, including the pilot, of the first season of Steven Spielberg
and Diablo Cody
's television series The United States of Tara
. He is set to re-team with Lars and the Real Girl lead actor Ryan Gosling
for The Dallas Buyer's Club, a film telling the true story of Ron Woodroof, an electrician given six months to live after he was diagnosed with AIDS, but used a variety of drugs which he smuggled to other AIDS patients to live for another six years. In March 2010, it was announced that Gillespie would direct the Fright Night
remake, starring Colin Farrell
, Anton Yelchin
and Toni Collette
for the lead roles. Gillsespie finalized his contract to direct an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
on 18 April 2011.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
and the Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
remake.
Early life
Born and raised in Sydney, Gillespie moved to New York City at the age of nineteen to study illustration, graphic design and advertising at ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
. He first developed an interest in film in his early twenties when a friend of his was becoming a film director and encouraged him to do the same.
Career
Gillespie worked for fifteen years as a commercial directorCommercial director
A commercial director is a someone who specializes in creating visual advertising. These are called commercials and are then used as promotional tools for a client's product....
, commonly working with cinematographers Adam Kimmel and Rodrigo Prieto
Rodrigo Prieto
-Life and career:Prieto was born in Mexico City, Mexico. His grandfather was mayor of Mexico City and leader of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, but was later persecuted by the country's ruler because of political differences. The grandfather escaped with his family to Texas and then to Los...
. He changed advertising agencies
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
often, once working at six agencies in the space of five years. Following nominations in 2001
Directors Guild of America Awards 2001
The 54th Directors Guild of America Awards, given on 9 March 2002, honored the best film and television directors in 2001.-Film:*Best Director - Motion Picture:**Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind*Best Director - Documentary:...
and 2002
Directors Guild of America Awards 2002
The 55th Directors Guild of America Awards, given on 1 March 2003, honored the best film and television directors in 2002.-Film:Best Director - Motion PictureRob Marshall - Chicago*Stephen Daldry - The Hours...
in the Directors Guild of America Award category for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials", he won in 2006
Directors Guild of America Awards 2006
The 59th Directors Guild of America Awards, were given on 3 February 2007, honoring the best film and television directors in 2006.-Film:*Best Director - Motion Picture:**Martin Scorsese - The Departed*Best Director - Documentary Feature:...
for his Ameriquest
Ameriquest
ACC Capital Holdings was a national mortgage lender based in Orange, California. The company is the largest privately held retail mortgage lender in the United States and the largest subprime lender by volume...
and Altoids
Altoids
-Flavors and varieties:-Mints:Altoids mints are available in eight flavors: peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, cinnamon, ginger, liquorice, crème de menthe and cool honey. "Sugar-Free Smalls", tiny square mints sweetened with sorbitol and sucralose, are also available in peppermint, wintergreen,...
commercials. He also won a Golden Lion Award at 2005's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
, and two of his commercials belong to the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in Midtown Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's permanent collection.
Gillespie's debut feature film was 2007's Mr. Woodcock
Mr. Woodcock
Mr. Woodcock is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, and Ethan Suplee. The film was released on September 14, 2007.-Plot:...
. He left the project after several negative test screening
Test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. Harold...
s, and many scenes were re-written and re-shot, David Dobkin
David Dobkin (director)
David Dobkin is an American film director, producer and former screenwriter best known for directing Clay Pigeons, Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers, Fred Claus and The Change-Up.-Early life and education:...
replacing Gillespie in the director's role. Upon initially receiving the script, Gillespie had assumed that audiences would respond well to the dark humor
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
he had been using in his commercials, but, according to him, "it was obvious the audience wanted a broader comedy, not the one I'd made. I appreciated the predicament New Line was in, so I stepped aside." Less than a month after principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
of Mr. Woodcock concluded, Gillespie set up pre-production of Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
, for which he had had the script for four years but had not attached any cast members or a studio. He had first read the script before he was attached to Mr. Woodcock, but the pitch for Lars and the Real Girl—a man falling in love with a sex doll
Sex doll
A sex doll is a type of sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner for aid in masturbation....
—which he had almost turned down himself, believing the premise to be an "absurd notion", put off away many major studios and he chose to direct Mr. Woodcock first.
Gillespie directed several episodes, including the pilot, of the first season of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody
Brook Busey , better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, writer, blogger, journalist, and author. She was first known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her Pussy Ranch blog and her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper...
's television series The United States of Tara
The United States of Tara
United States of Tara is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which began airing on Showtime in 2009. The series follows the life of Tara , a suburban housewife and mother coping with dissociative identity disorder....
. He is set to re-team with Lars and the Real Girl lead actor Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
for The Dallas Buyer's Club, a film telling the true story of Ron Woodroof, an electrician given six months to live after he was diagnosed with AIDS, but used a variety of drugs which he smuggled to other AIDS patients to live for another six years. In March 2010, it was announced that Gillespie would direct the Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
remake, starring Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
, Anton Yelchin
Anton Yelchin
Anton Viktorovich Yelchin is an American film and television actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television roles, as well as the Hollywood films Along Came a Spider and Hearts in Atlantis...
and Toni Collette
Toni Collette
Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....
for the lead roles. Gillsespie finalized his contract to direct an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a 2009 parody novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. It is a mashup combining Jane Austen's classic 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice with elements of modern zombie fiction, crediting Austen as co-author...
on 18 April 2011.
Filmography
- Mr. WoodcockMr. WoodcockMr. Woodcock is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, and Ethan Suplee. The film was released on September 14, 2007.-Plot:...
(2007) - Lars and the Real GirlLars and the Real GirlLars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
(2007) - Fright NightFright Night (2011 film)Fright Night is a 2011 3D comedy horror film directed by Craig Gillespie. It is a remake of the 1985 Tom Holland film of the same name. The film had its premiere at The O2 in London on August 14, 2011, and was widely released on August 19 in Real D 3D & IMAX 3D.-Plot:The film opens with a vampire ...
(2011) - The Dallas Buyer's Club (TBA)
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (TBA)