Gavin Hood
Gavin Hood | |
---|---|
Born | |
Education | St Stithians College |
Occupations | |
Years active | 1989–present |
Gavin Hood (born 12 May 1963)[
Early life
Hood was born in Johannesburg and grew up in the Hillbrow area. He is the son of the English-born South African retailer Gordon Hood (d. 2013). Hood attended St Stithians College and went on to graduate with a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.[1] He then pursued a post-graduate degree in screenwriting and directing at a film school in California in 1991.[2]
Directing career
Upon returning to his home country, Hood got his start in directing when he was commissioned to make several short
Hood co-produced and wrote the script for his debut
In 2000, Variety magazine named him as one of its "Ten Directors to Watch".[5]
He directed Rendition (2007), his first Hollywood feature, for New Line Cinema. He also directed the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, with Hugh Jackman reprising his role from the X-Men films.[6]
Prior to the film's release, Gavin talked about the political undertones of the new Wolverine movie:
Any movie that is simply about good versus evil ... is in my view putting out into the world and certainly into a mass audience and young audience's mind a rather dangerous philosophy, which is that there is good and evil in the simplistic and easily defined way
...
I think that for the last eight years, we've had that philosophy very much prevalent in the Bush administration that if you're on the side of good, at least as you perceive it, then you can do no evil ... That's what's so great about this character or about this movie for me and why I wanted to do it ... This is a guy who recognizes his own capacity for evil and I think that's exciting in a sort of popular culture kind of way. After all, the most famous line from Wolverine, the comics, is "I am the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice."[7]
In 2011, Hood began work at the helm of novelist Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. He wrote a draft of Card's screenplay and directed the film.[8][9] Ender's Game was released in U.S. theaters on 1 November 2013.
Hood directed and acted in Eye in the Sky, which was released on 15 September 2015 at the TIFF in Toronto, Canada.
Hood wrote, directed, and executive produced the 2019 British film Official Secrets based on the real life case of the Iraq War whistleblower Katharine Gun.[10][11]
Personal life
Over the course of his career, Hood has "bounced about, back and forth" between South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom.[12]
Filmography
Year | Film | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Writer | Producer | Notes | ||
1998 | The Storekeeper | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
1999 | A Reasonable Man | Yes | Yes | Yes | Directorial Debut
|
2001 | In Desert and Wilderness | Yes | Yes | No | |
2005 | Tsotsi | Yes | Yes | No | Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film |
2007 | Rendition | Yes | No | No | |
2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | Yes | No | No | |
2013 | Ender's Game | Yes | Yes | No | |
2015 | Eye in the Sky | Yes | No | No | |
2019 | Official Secrets | Yes | Yes | Executive |
Acting roles
Year | Title | ||
---|---|---|---|
Role | Note | ||
1991 | The Sheltering Desert | Willi | |
American Kickboxer | Ken Holligan | ||
Curse III: Blood Sacrifice | Robert | ||
1993 | The Game | TV series 13 episodes | |
1994 | Project Shadowchaser II | Tieg | |
1995 | Kickboxer 5
|
German Champion | Direct-to-video |
Human Timebomb | Mike | ||
1996 | Rhodes | Frank Johnson | 4 episodes |
1997 | Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday
|
Sparks | Direct-to-video |
1998 | Beings | US Doctor | |
Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target
|
Sparks | ||
1999 | A Reasonable Man | Sean Raine | |
Traitor's Heart | John Roberts | ||
2004 | In Enemy Hands | Achilles Captain | |
Stargate SG-1 | Colonel Alexi Vaselov | 1 episode | |
King Solomon's Mines | Bruce McNabb | TV mini-series 2 episodes | |
2013 | Ender's Game | Giant | Voice and motion-capture performance cameo
|
2015 | Eye in the Sky | Lieutenant Colonel Ed Walsh |
References
- ^ "Universal Viewer – St Stithians Archives".
- ^ a b "Gavin Hood: from Tsotsi to X-Men". Brand South Africa. 16 April 2009.
- ^ Walsh, Fiona. "SA EXCLUSIVE: Gavin Hood on his new film and how his mom getting hijacked set in motion his Oscar-winning career". Channel. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ "Gavin Hood". goldenglobes.com. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ Higgins, Bill (31 January 2000). "'Dance till wee hours". Variety.
- ^ Gilstrap, Peter; Fleming, Michael (19 July 2007). "Fox says Hood good for 'Wolverine'". Variety.
- SuicideGirls.com. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (20 September 2010). "Gavin Hood: Enders Game". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Gallagher, Brian (28 April 2011). "Ender's Game Lands at Summit Entertainment". MovieWeb.com.
- ^ Smith, Tymon (15 December 2019). "Director Gavin Hood on why he's drawn to telling stories about moral dilemmas". TimesLIVE. South Africa. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ "Standing ovation for Oscar-winning SA director Gavin Hood at the Sundance Film Festival". Channel. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ Walsh, Fiona (19 February 2019). "SA EXCLUSIVE: Gavin Hood on his new film and how his mom getting hijacked set in motion his Oscar-winning career". Channel24. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
External links
- Gavin Hood at IMDb
- Gavin Hood at AllMovie
- Gavin Hood at Rotten Tomatoes
- Gavin Hood at Metacritic