David Gordon Green
Encyclopedia
David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He has directed dramas such as George Washington, All the Real Girls
, and Snow Angels
, as well as the thriller Undertow, all of which he wrote or co-wrote. Since 2008, he has also transitioned into comedy, directing the films Pineapple Express
and Your Highness
, as well as episodes of the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down
. He will release his next comedy The Sitter
in December 2011.
, Texas. His mother, Jean Ann (née Hunter), was a Lamaze
instructor, and his father, Hubert Gordon Green, Jr., was a medical school dean
. Green attended Richardson High School
and the North Carolina School of the Arts
, where he studied film directing. He currently lives in New Orleans.
tales set in small rural towns, have been categorized as belonging to the Southern Gothic
tradition. Green's dialog often has an obtuse, semi-poetic quality. While in university, he made the two short films, Pleasant Grove and Physical Pinball, at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he both wrote and directed. He followed that in 2003 with All the Real Girls
and Undertow in 2004. In 2007, he directed Snow Angels
, his first film of another author's screenplay, adapted from the Stewart O'Nan
novel. The film debuted at Sundance
in January 2007 and stars Sam Rockwell
and Kate Beckinsale
. It was released by Warner Independent Pictures
.
Green was intended to direct the film version of the John Kennedy Toole
novel A Confederacy of Dunces
, but never actually began production due to difficulties pertaining to the publishing rights In March 2007, it was reported that Warner Independent Pictures
had inked a deal with Green to write and direct a screen adaptation of the nonfiction John Grisham
book The Innocent Man
. Green recently took a turn toward the mainstream with the Seth Rogen
buddy comedy Pineapple Express
and the HBO series Eastbound & Down
, for which he directed six episodes and served as a consulting producer. He will produce the Slasher flick Splatter Sisters, which stars Evan Rachel Wood
and Marilyn Manson
. Green will direct the US remake of the Italian cult classic film Suspiria
.
. Malick himself served as an executive producer of Green's 2004 film Undertow. Green has suggested that no other director had used voice-over narration so well, citing Malick's classic 1978 film Days of Heaven
as the principal source of inspiration for Undertow.
In 2006 Green was the opening night guest at the CineYouth Festival – a film festival celebrating the work of youth filmmakers and presented by Cinema/Chicago also the presenting organization behind the Chicago International Film Festival.
All the Real Girls
All the Real Girls is a 2003 romantic drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2003. It stars Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham, Danny R. McBride, Patricia Clarkson, Maurice Compte and Benjamin Mouton...
, and Snow Angels
Snow Angels (film)
Snow Angels is a 2007 drama film starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was directed by David Gordon Green, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival...
, as well as the thriller Undertow, all of which he wrote or co-wrote. Since 2008, he has also transitioned into comedy, directing the films Pineapple Express
Pineapple Express (film)
Pineapple Express is a 2008 American stoner action comedy directed by David Gordon Green, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and starring Rogen and James Franco. Producer Judd Apatow, who previously worked with Rogen and Goldberg on Knocked Up and Superbad, assisted in developing the story,...
and Your Highness
Your Highness
Your Highness is a 2011 fantasy comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Danny McBride and Ben Best, and starring McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel. Filming began in the summer of 2009 in Northern Ireland and concluded in October 2009...
, as well as episodes of the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down is an American comedy television series broadcast on HBO, starring Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball pitcher, who after an up and down career in the major leagues is forced to return to his hometown middle-school in Shelby, North Carolina, as a...
. He will release his next comedy The Sitter
The Sitter (2011 film)
The Sitter is an upcoming American comedy film directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Michael De Luca. The film tells the story about a male student who, after being suspended from college, is lured into a babysitting gig for which he is woefully unprepared.This film studio is Michael De...
in December 2011.
Background
Green, one of four children, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and grew up in RichardsonRichardson, Texas
Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 99,223. In 2011 the population was estimated to be 107,684. Richardson is an affluent inner suburb of Dallas and home of the Telecom Corridor with a high...
, Texas. His mother, Jean Ann (née Hunter), was a Lamaze
Lamaze
The Lamaze Technique, often referred to as Lamaze, is a prepared childbirth technique developed in the 1940s by French obstetrician Dr. Fernand Lamaze as an alternative to the use of medical intervention during childbirth...
instructor, and his father, Hubert Gordon Green, Jr., was a medical school dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
. Green attended Richardson High School
Richardson High School
Richardson High School is a High school in Richardson, Texas, United States with a 2006 enrollment of approximately 2500 and a student/teacher ratio of 12.8.-Background:...
and the North Carolina School of the Arts
North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...
, where he studied film directing. He currently lives in New Orleans.
Film work
Green's films, which are usually coming-of-ageComing of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
tales set in small rural towns, have been categorized as belonging to the Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place exclusively in the American South. It resembles its parent genre in that it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot...
tradition. Green's dialog often has an obtuse, semi-poetic quality. While in university, he made the two short films, Pleasant Grove and Physical Pinball, at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he both wrote and directed. He followed that in 2003 with All the Real Girls
All the Real Girls
All the Real Girls is a 2003 romantic drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2003. It stars Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham, Danny R. McBride, Patricia Clarkson, Maurice Compte and Benjamin Mouton...
and Undertow in 2004. In 2007, he directed Snow Angels
Snow Angels (film)
Snow Angels is a 2007 drama film starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was directed by David Gordon Green, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival...
, his first film of another author's screenplay, adapted from the Stewart O'Nan
Stewart O'Nan
- Life and work :Born on February 4, 1961 to John Lee O'Nan and Mary Ann O'Nan, née Smith. He and his brother were raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
novel. The film debuted at Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in January 2007 and stars Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
and Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
. It was released by Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
.
Green was intended to direct the film version of the John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best-known for his posthumously published novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He also wrote The Neon Bible. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole's novels were rejected...
novel A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel written by John Kennedy Toole, published by LSU Press in 1980, 11 years after the author's suicide. The book was published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy and Toole's mother Thelma Toole, quickly becoming a cult classic, and later a...
, but never actually began production due to difficulties pertaining to the publishing rights In March 2007, it was reported that Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
had inked a deal with Green to write and direct a screen adaptation of the nonfiction John Grisham
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
book The Innocent Man
The Innocent Man
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town is a nonfiction book written by John Grisham, and his first outside the legal fiction genre. He tells the story of Ronald 'Ron' Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma, a former minor league baseball player who was convicted in 1988 of the rape and...
. Green recently took a turn toward the mainstream with the Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
buddy comedy Pineapple Express
Pineapple Express (film)
Pineapple Express is a 2008 American stoner action comedy directed by David Gordon Green, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and starring Rogen and James Franco. Producer Judd Apatow, who previously worked with Rogen and Goldberg on Knocked Up and Superbad, assisted in developing the story,...
and the HBO series Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down is an American comedy television series broadcast on HBO, starring Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball pitcher, who after an up and down career in the major leagues is forced to return to his hometown middle-school in Shelby, North Carolina, as a...
, for which he directed six episodes and served as a consulting producer. He will produce the Slasher flick Splatter Sisters, which stars Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
and Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
. Green will direct the US remake of the Italian cult classic film Suspiria
Suspiria
Suspiria is a 1977 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Daria Nicolodi. The film follows an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany, only to discover that it is controlled by a coven of witches. The film's score was...
.
Influences
It has been suggested, even by the director himself, that Green's films take a lot of influence from the works of fellow Texan Terrence MalickTerrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
. Malick himself served as an executive producer of Green's 2004 film Undertow. Green has suggested that no other director had used voice-over narration so well, citing Malick's classic 1978 film Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven is a 1978 American romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in the early 20th century, it tells the story of two poor lovers, Bill and Abby, as they travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest...
as the principal source of inspiration for Undertow.
In 2006 Green was the opening night guest at the CineYouth Festival – a film festival celebrating the work of youth filmmakers and presented by Cinema/Chicago also the presenting organization behind the Chicago International Film Festival.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credited as | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer Screenwriter Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:... |
Producer | ||
| 1997 | Pleasant Grove | |||
| 1998 | Physical Pinball | |||
| 2000 | George Washington | |||
| 2003 | All the Real Girls All the Real Girls All the Real Girls is a 2003 romantic drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2003. It stars Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham, Danny R. McBride, Patricia Clarkson, Maurice Compte and Benjamin Mouton... |
|||
| 2004 | Undertow | |||
| 2007 | Shotgun Stories Shotgun Stories Shotgun Stories is a 2007 drama film about a feud between two sets of half-brothers following the death of their father in rural Arkansas. The film was written and directed by Jeff Nichols, and stars Michael Shannon, Barlow Jacobs, and Glenda Pannell.... |
|||
| Great World of Sound Great World of Sound Great World of Sound is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Zobel. Zobel won Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival.-Plot:... |
||||
| 2008 | Snow Angels Snow Angels (film) Snow Angels is a 2007 drama film starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was directed by David Gordon Green, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival... |
|||
| Pineapple Express Pineapple Express (film) Pineapple Express is a 2008 American stoner action comedy directed by David Gordon Green, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and starring Rogen and James Franco. Producer Judd Apatow, who previously worked with Rogen and Goldberg on Knocked Up and Superbad, assisted in developing the story,... |
||||
| Eastbound & Down Eastbound & Down Eastbound & Down is an American comedy television series broadcast on HBO, starring Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball pitcher, who after an up and down career in the major leagues is forced to return to his hometown middle-school in Shelby, North Carolina, as a... |
||||
| 2011 | Your Highness Your Highness Your Highness is a 2011 fantasy comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Danny McBride and Ben Best, and starring McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel. Filming began in the summer of 2009 in Northern Ireland and concluded in October 2009... |
|||
| The Sitter The Sitter (2011 film) The Sitter is an upcoming American comedy film directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Michael De Luca. The film tells the story about a male student who, after being suspended from college, is lured into a babysitting gig for which he is woefully unprepared.This film studio is Michael De... |
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| 2012 | L.A.P.I. |