David F. Sandberg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

David F. Sandberg (born 21 January 1981) is a Swedish filmmaker. He is best known for his collective no-budget horror
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s under the online pseudonym ''ponysmasher'' and for his 2016 directorial debut '' Lights Out'', based on his 2013 acclaimed horror short of the same name. He also directed
The Conjuring Universe ''The Conjuring'' Universe is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of supernatural horror films. The franchise is produced by New Line Cinema, the Safran Company, and Atomic Monster Productions and distributed b ...
spin-off horror film '' Annabelle: Creation'' (2017), and '' Shazam!'' (2019) and its sequel ''
Shazam! Fury of the Gods ''Shazam! Fury of the Gods'' is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Shazam. Produced by New Line Cinema, DC Studios, and the Safran Company, and set for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is intended to ...
'' (2023) which are both part of the
DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that ...
.


Early life

David F. Sandberg was born on 21 January 1981 in
Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipa ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. In the 5th grade, Sandberg says he transferred to Torpa School in Jönköping, where he met his future wife
Lotta Losten Lotta Losten (born 7 November 1981) is a Swedish actress, designer, and photographer. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband David F. Sandberg, including the 2013 short film '' Lights Out'', the 2016 feature film adaptation o ...
, and they later both attended Junedal School in the same city. According to Sandberg, he grew up watching films and making his own using his dad's
VHS-C VHS-C is the compact VHS videocassette format, introduced by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in 1982, and used primarily for consumer-grade compact analog recording camcorders. The format is based on the same video tape as is used in VHS, and ...
camera. He worked in a video store as a teenager, and saved up money to buy his own
camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
for filmmaking.


Career


Beginning with animation and documentaries (2006–2013)

In his late teens or early twenties, Sandberg began working at Film i Jönköping, a local film center in Jönköping, initially as an intern. He learned more about filmmaking from Svante Rosberg, the film commissioner who ran Film i Jönköping when he started, and whom Sandberg considers his mentor. Starting in 2006, Sandberg found moderate online success making animated short films; according to Sandberg, his first online successes were his films ''För Barnen'' and ''Vad Tyst Det Blev'', the latter of which garnered 1.7 million views on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. As a result of his increased visibility, he began to receive offers for animation work; his first job was working as a consultant on the TV show on the Swedish Channel 5. He continued working at Film i Jönköping, primarily working on documentary projects. From 2006 to 2009, he worked on several documentaries for the Swedish Inheritance Fund. His last collaboration with Rosberg before his retirement was ''Animera = Göra Livlig'', a 2010 documentary about senior citizens creating animated films. In 2009, he moved to the city of
Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
. He continued working on animation and documentaries, and began collaborating with producer Claes Lundin. In 2011, they completed and sold an animated documentary series called ''Earth Savers'', and in 2013, their documentary short ''Ladyboy'' premiered at
Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...
.


Shifting to feature films (2013–present)

In 2013, he began to shift his focus away from animation and documentary works and towards horror short films. According to Sandberg, his original goal with filmmaking had been to make horror and sci-fi films, and he felt he needed to have some existing work in that field in order to get funding for future work. Lacking any funding of his own, his shorts were made with no budget—his equipment and props consisted mostly of items he already had or could buy very cheaply, and his only cast and crew were himself and
Lotta Losten Lotta Losten (born 7 November 1981) is a Swedish actress, designer, and photographer. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband David F. Sandberg, including the 2013 short film '' Lights Out'', the 2016 feature film adaptation o ...
, his wife. He released his films on both
Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...
and
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, using his alias ''ponysmasher''. In 2013, he released his second horror short, '' Lights Out'', which centered around a monster that only exists when the lights are turned out. The film was a viral success, and quickly garnered millions of views. According to Sandberg, his life changed "in every way imaginable" after ''Lights Out''; he began receiving tons of messages from film industry people who wanted to work with him. One of these contacts was Lawrence Grey, a producer who wanted to adapt ''Lights Out'' into a feature-length film. Grey brought screenwriter
Eric Heisserer Eric Andrew Heisserer (born 1970) is an American filmmaker, comic book writer, television writer, and television producer. His screenplay for the film '' Arrival'' earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 89th Academy Awards in 201 ...
and producer
James Wan James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and comic book writer. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the '' Saw'' and ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of The Conjur ...
on board to collaborate and produce a script with Sandberg, who would also direct the new feature. The film (also titled '' Lights Out'') began production in mid-2015, and premiered at
LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, epis ...
in June 2016. The film was a massive box office success, grossing $148 million on a $5 million budget, and a moderate critical success, earning a 76% approval score on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
and a 58 out of 100 score on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. Sandberg next directed '' Annabelle: Creation'', a prequel to supernatural horror film '' Annabelle'' and the fourth film in
The Conjuring Universe ''The Conjuring'' Universe is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of supernatural horror films. The franchise is produced by New Line Cinema, the Safran Company, and Atomic Monster Productions and distributed b ...
. The film was released in 2017 to positive reviews and box office success. In 2019, Sandberg directed the
DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that ...
superhero film '' Shazam!'', based on the
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
character of the same name. The film received positive reviews. In April 2019, ''
TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
'' reported that
New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...
is developing a sequel with Sandberg returning to direct. He is set to direct and produce the horror film ''The Culling'' with his wife
Lotta Losten Lotta Losten (born 7 November 1981) is a Swedish actress, designer, and photographer. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband David F. Sandberg, including the 2013 short film '' Lights Out'', the 2016 feature film adaptation o ...
through their production company Mångata. The film will be distributed by
Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
. He is set to direct the film adaptation of
Cullen Bunn Cullen Bunn is an American comics writer, novelist, and short story writer, best known for his work on comic books such as ''Uncanny X-Men'', '' X-Men: Blue'', '' Magneto'' and various ''Deadpool'' miniseries for Marvel Comics, and his creator-own ...
and Jack T. Cole's "The Unsound" graphic novel and thriller film ''Below'', both for
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
.


Personal life

Sandberg was diagnosed with atypical autism when he was a child, though he's said he's unsure if the diagnosis was correct. Sandberg married actress, designer, and photographer
Lotta Losten Lotta Losten (born 7 November 1981) is a Swedish actress, designer, and photographer. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband David F. Sandberg, including the 2013 short film '' Lights Out'', the 2016 feature film adaptation o ...
in 2013. She has featured in many of his short films, including ''Lights Out''. Sandberg and Losten moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
together circa 2015. Sandberg's younger brother is Joakim Sandberg, creator of the '' Iconoclasts'' video game.


Filmography


Films


Shorts


Television


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandberg, David F. 1981 births English-language film directors Horror film directors Living people People from Jönköping Swedish animators Swedish animated film directors Swedish documentary film directors Swedish expatriates in the United States Swedish film directors Swedish-language film directors People on the autism spectrum