Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hansonis an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes the psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential, the comedy Wonder Boys, the hip hop drama 8 Mile, and the romantic comedy-drama In Her Shoes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth24 March 1945
CityReno, NV
CountryUnited States of America
couple writing attention
I wrote a couple of scripts on spec that didn't get made but got some attention, and I then got offers to write professionally.
writing direct
I had written the script a few years earlier for Paramount, then later got hired with Sam [Fuller] to write an entirely new script that he was going to direct. And that was one of the great thrills of my professional life.
writing
Whereas to write, all you need is paper and an idea, so I felt that writing might be my stepping stone.
writing horror producers
My very first professional writing credit was on a movie called The Dunwich Horror, and Roger Corman was the executive producer.
writing people journalist
I didn't look at it as a transition so much, because I never intended to have a career as a journalist, writing about people who make movies.
writing scene learning-experience
Roger [Corman] didn't actually hire me, though. I was hired by AIP [American International Pictures], the studio that made the picture, which was Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson. It was a great learning experience for me, because not only did I work on the script, but they hired me back to go on location when they were making the movie, to write new scenes and so forth.
filmmaker journalist
I was a journalist and wrote about filmmakers, but I didn't review movies per se.
critics
I was never a critic.
chick diminishes flick insulting lit sort women
Chick flick or chick lit diminishes it and is sort of insulting to women and men,
falling-in-love weekend thinking
The bigger problem still is that it determines in many ways what movies get made in the first place. Because as sources of finance are considering a project, they ask themselves, "Does this lend itself to a simplistic marketing approach which will guarantee a big opening weekend?" As a movie-goer, I think that's tragic, because when you look back at those movies that made us fall in love with movies in the first place, most of them were not high-concept, and most of them would not have "won their weekend."
successful giving circumstances
Consequently, it's so gratifying to then make a picture that's successful and gives you leverage to have better circumstances than you've ever had, before the next time out.
unique film extraordinary
First of all, Sam Fuller left a group of extraordinary movies that are unique, that are "Fuller-esque," as one might say, which makes them stand apart from any other director's films.
unhappy ridiculous influence
Bad Influence, which is an early movie of mine that I'm very fond of. It was an unhappy experience when that picture got released, because it coincided with that ridiculous Rob Lowe videotape scandal.
unique thinking
It was a unique experience in several ways, because I don't think Sam [Fuller] had ever collaborated with another writer over his whole career.