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
I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker.
That love of movies is very much alive in me.
I'm still a great movie fan, and I guess that's the answer to your question.
filmmaker journalist
I was a journalist and wrote about filmmakers, but I didn't review movies per se.
critics
I was never a critic.
fall long incredibles
There was a long period of time when Sam Fuller had a lot of projects fall through and had a lot of difficulties getting a project off the ground. And I was able to observe him during that period, and see his incredible resiliency and courage as he faced this difficulty and just kept working.
His [Sam Fuller] self-discipline was amazing. No matter what happened, he'd always go out to his Royal Upright typewriter and just keep working on his stories, his "yarns" as he called them.
lovers storyteller
I make that distinction only because I came to it strictly as someone who was just a lover of storytellers and cinematic storytellers.
character boys important
Here [in Wonder Boys] I had this group of characters where you didn't know which were the important ones or what direction they were heading.
book character opportunity
The challenge was the opportunity. When I read the first draft of Steve Kloves' fabulous adaptation - I hadn't read [Michael] Chabon's book at that time - what I was immediately captivated by was this group of characters that were at once so engaging and so messed up.
speak term
I can't speak to how Michael [Douglas] approached it in terms of his process.
character boys special
I thought, "If I could bring these characters [Wonder Boys] to life and lead the audience to react the same way I did, this could be a really special picture." Then I read Michael's [Chabon] novel and got even more enthusiastic about it.
thinking surprise surprise-me
When I'm casting a picture, I think who I'd like to see in it if I was sitting in a theater. Who would surprise me?
Most scripts are so linear and simplistic in their plotline.