Curtis Hanson

Curtis Hanson
Hanson at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Curtis Lee Hanson March 24, 1945 Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Died	September 20, 2016 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Director producer screenwriter
Years active	1970–2016

Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His directing work included the psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential (1997), the comedy Wonder Boys (2000), the hip hop drama 8 Mile (2002), and the romantic comedy-drama In Her Shoes (2005).

Hanson won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1998, for co-writing L.A. Confidential with Brian Helgeland.^[1]

Early life

Hanson was born in Reno, Nevada, and grew up in Los Angeles.^[2] He was the son of Beverly June (Curtis), a real estate agent, and Wilbur Hale "Bill" Hanson, a teacher.^[3][4][5] Hanson dropped out of high school, finding work as a freelance photographer and editor for Cinema magazine.^[6]

Film career

Hanson began screenwriting in 1970, when he co-wrote The Dunwich Horror, a film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's short story. Hanson wrote and directed his next feature Sweet Kill in 1973, then in 1978 wrote and produced The Silent Partner, starring Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer. From the early 1980s into 1990s, Hanson directed a string of comedies and dramas. He did thrillers, too: many of them deal with people who lose their sense of control or security when facing danger or under threat of death. Some, like the financial executive in Bad Influence and the police officers in L.A. Confidential, unexpectedly walk into violence and disaster.

In the 1990s, Hanson found box-office success with The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, and received significant critical acclaim with his 1997 film L.A. Confidential, an adaptation of the James Ellroy novel. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, and won two — Best Adapted Screenplay (a credit Hanson shared with Brian Helgeland), and Best Supporting Actress (for Kim Basinger).^[1] Hanson's later works included In Her Shoes, Wonder Boys, 8 Mile, and Lucky You.

Hanson said that he was heavily influenced by the directors Alfred Hitchcock and Nicholas Ray. In an interview with the New York Times in 2000, Hanson stated that Ray's film In a Lonely Place was among many that he watched in preparation for the filming of L.A. Confidential.^[7] In 8 Mile, Kim Basinger's character watches Elia Kazan's Pinky on television. The film is about a mixed-race girl who passes as white; the reference to it in Hanson’s film functions as an homage to the themes of racial mixing and boundary-crossing that are features of much of his work.

In 2011, Hanson made Too Big to Fail, based on the 2009 Andrew Ross Sorkin book of the same name about the beginnings of the financial crisis of 2007–2010. The film, produced by Hanson's production company Deuce Three Productions for HBO, featured among its all-star cast William Hurt as Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson, and Cynthia Nixon as his liaison to the press; James Woods as Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers; and Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke.^[8] His last film was Chasing Mavericks in 2012, but he was unable to finish the film due to ill health. Michael Apted replaced him as director during the final days of shooting.^[9]

Death

Hanson later retired from film work and was reported to have frontotemporal dementia. He died of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home at the age of 71.^[6]

Filmography

Title	Year	Credited as				Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Other
The Dunwich Horror	1970		Yes
Sweet Kill	1973	Yes	Yes	Yes
The Silent Partner	1978		Yes
The Little Dragons	1980	Yes		Yes
White Dog	1982		Yes
Losin' It	1983	Yes
Never Cry Wolf			Yes
The Children of Times Square	1986	Yes	Yes			Television film
The Bedroom Window	1987	Yes	Yes
Evil Town		Yes				Credited as Edward Collins
Bad Influence	1990	Yes
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle	1992	Yes
The River Wild	1994	Yes
L.A. Confidential	1997	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wonder Boys	2000	Yes		Yes
8 Mile	2002	Yes		Yes
Greg the Bunny		Yes				Episode: "Piddler on the Roof"
Adaptation					Yes	Role: Orlean's Husband
In Her Shoes	2005	Yes		Yes		Co-produced by Deuce Three Productions (as Deuce Three) [10]
Lucky You	2007	Yes	Yes	Yes		Co-Produced by Deuce Three Productions (as Deuce Three) [11][10]
Three Rivers	2010				Yes	Executive producer, episode: "Win-Loss"
Too Big to Fail	2011	Yes			Yes	Television film; executive producer; Co-produced by Deuce Three Productions [10]
The Big Year				Yes		Co-produced by Deuce Three Productions (as Deuce Three) [10]
Chasing Mavericks	2012	Yes		Yes		Co-directed with Michael Apted Co-produced by Deuce Three Productions (as Deuce Three) [10]

References

1. Weinraub, Bernard (24 March 1998). "'Titanic' Ties Record With 11 Oscars, Including Best Picture". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
2. "Curtis Hanson, Oscar-winning director of LA Confidential, dies aged 71". The Guardian. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
3. "* Wilbur (Bill) Hanson; Educator". Los Angeles Times. February 16, 1994.
4. "Survival Lesson For 'River' Director". The New York Times. October 5, 1994.
5. Kappa Delta Sorority (1941). Angelos. ISSN 1064-5837. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
6. McLellan, Dennis; Vankin, Deborah (20 September 2016). "Curtis Hanson dead at 71". Los Angeles Times.
7. Lyman, Rick (15 December 2000). "A Dark Lesson in Trust". The New York Times.
8. "Too Big To Fail": The story behind HBO's movie", interview with Curtis Hanson, Marketplace (radio program), May 23, 2011.
9. "Curtis Hanson: Oscar-winning writer and director dies at 71". BBC News. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
10. Deuce Three Productions at the Internet Movie Database
11. Lowry, Brian (May 2, 2007). "Review: 'Lucky You'". Variety.com. Retrieved 27 November 2016.

External links

• Curtis Hanson at the Internet Movie Database
• Curtis Hanson on Facebook
• Frontotemporal Degeneration association