Gavin Hood
Gavin Hood
Gavin Hoodis a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for writing and directing Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He also directed the films X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ender's Game...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth12 May 1963
although became famous finance hard holding onto period problem published setting written year
Athol Fugard became famous as a playwright, so although 'Tsotsi' the book was written in the '60s, it was only published in the '80s. It was then optioned pretty much every year by producers. I think the problem was that holding onto its period setting made it very hard to get finance.
mean thinking years
I think if you read the story as bad guy turns good guy, then clearly it is a cliché. But my experience, when I spent three years working with young people in the townships on issues principally around HIV/AIDS, is that people are usually neither entirely good or bad. They are usually variations of both. Just because someone is a carjacker doesn't mean they are a ruthless cold-blooded murderer.
african allowed exciting filmmakers hope industry south stories struggles whatever
One of the struggles and one of the exciting things for South African filmmakers is: What stories are we allowed to tell? I hope for the industry that more and more, it will tell whatever stories it likes.
frozen people seen time
I was frozen in my seat. It was the first time I had ever seen people like me on the screen.
hold proud tells
I feel very, very proud to hold this (Oscar) because it tells me, and all of us at home, that we can do it.
african buy genuine investor local money people south ticket
When you buy a ticket and when you buy a genuine DVD, you are an investor in South African film as your money is going back to people who invest in local films.
anyone buys rough
It's a rough mess, so anyone who buys it is getting a poor-quality version.
african deal fact matter pressure sounds south
You don't want to make a big deal out of it because it sounds indulgent. But the fact of the matter is that, for all South African filmmakers, because we don't make a lot of films, you feel an unrealistic pressure that your film has to say so much and has to be about everything in South Africa.
country france la next released six sound speak sweden week worked
This may sound melodramatic but I have never, ever worked so hard. The film will be released in a different country every week for the next six weeks. I've just come back from Germany, France and Sweden to be in LA for the nominations and to speak to the American press.
although baby becomes ghetto hides intimate kid quickly seems
Although it seems to be a ghetto movie, it very quickly becomes a much more intimate story, the story of this young, teenage, lost, crazy, out-of-control kid and a baby that he hides from his friends.
films grew hope watching
We grew up watching American films and I hope that Americans will watch our stories.
cape excited
We are excited to be in Cape Town.
angeles arranged believed dialect drop impact language local los meeting name shooting speak youth
We arranged a meeting in Los Angeles with big name stars, but I had to drop the idea. I wanted to film in the local Soweto dialect that only Soweto youth can speak and believed that shooting in any other language would dilute the impact of the film.
free south together
Without what you did, we would not have been able to make this film together as South Africans in a free country.