David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He directed the dramas ''

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

'' (2000), '' All the Real Girls'' (2003), and '' Snow Angels'' (2007), as well as the thriller '' Undertow'' (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote. In 2008, Green transitioned into

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, directing the films ''

Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaii ...

'' (2008), ''

Your Highness ''Your Highness'' is a 2011 American stoner comic fantasy film directed by David Gordon Green. It stars Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel and Justin Theroux. Written by McBride and Ben Best, the film was release ...

'' and '' The Sitter'' (both 2011). He returned to his dramatic roots with the independent films ''

Prince Avalanche ''Prince Avalanche'' is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green and starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. The screenplay is based on the 2011 Icelandic film ''Either Way'' (''Á annan veg''). The film was shot ...

'' and '' Joe'' (both 2013), followed by the films ''

Manglehorn ''Manglehorn'' is a 2014 American drama film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Paul Logan. The film stars Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Harmony Korine, and Chris Messina. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venic ...

'' (2014), '' Our Brand Is Crisis'' (2015), and '' Stronger'' (2017). Green also directed a trilogy of

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

s in the ''Halloween'' franchise: '' Halloween'' (2018), ''

Halloween Kills ''Halloween Kills'' is a 2021 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Green, Danny McBride and Scott Teems. It is the sequel to 2018's ''Halloween'' and the twelfth installment in the'' Halloween'' franchise. The ...

'' (2021) and ''

Halloween Ends ''Halloween Ends'' is a 2022 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Green, Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier. It is the sequel to ''Halloween Kills'' (2021), the thirteenth installment in the ''Ha ...

'' (2022), which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator

Danny McBride Daniel Richard McBride (born December 29, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. He starred in the HBO television series ''Eastbound & Down'', '' Vice Principals'', and ''The Righteous Gemstones'', also co-creating th ...

. Green also directed episodes of the acclaimed comedy series '' Eastbound & Down'' (2009–2013), ''

Red Oaks The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera ' ...

'' (2014–17), ''

Vice Principals ''Vice Principals'' is an American dark comedy television series starring Danny McBride, Walton Goggins, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Dale Dickey, Georgia King, Sheaun McKinney, Busy Philipps and Shea Whigham. The co-creators were Danny McBride ...

'' (2016–17), and '' The Righteous Gemstones'' (2019–present), on all of which he additionally served as executive producer.

Early life

Green, one of four children, was born in

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, Arkansas, and grew up in Richardson, Texas. His mother, Jean Ann (née Hunter), was a

Lamaze The Lamaze technique, also known as the psychoprophylactic method or simply Lamaze, began as a prepared childbirth technique. As an alternative to medical intervention during childbirth, it was popularized in the 1950s by French obstetrician Dr. ...

instructor, and his father, Hubert Gordon Green, Jr., was a medical school

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

. Green attended

Richardson High School Richardson High School (RHS) is a magnet high school in Richardson, Texas, United States with approximately 2,770 students and a student/teacher ratio of approximately 15:1 in the 20182019 school year. It is the oldest high school in the Richardso ...

, the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

, and the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

, where he studied film directing. He currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Career

As a college student, Green made the two short films, ''Pleasant Grove'' and ''Physical Pinball'', at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed ''

'', which he both wrote and directed. He followed that with '' All the Real Girls'' in 2003 and '' Undertow'' in 2004. In 2007, he directed '' Snow Angels'', his first film of another author's screenplay, adapted from the Stewart O'Nan novel. The film debuted at Sundance in January and stars Sam Rockwell and

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...

. It was released by

Warner Independent Pictures Warner Independent Pictures was an independent film division of the American film studio Warner Bros., itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery, which then was known as TimeWarner. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's ' ...

. Green directed the

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series '' Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part o ...

buddy comedy ''

'' in 2008, and the HBO series '' Eastbound & Down'', for which he directed twelve episodes and served as a consulting producer. He is the creator of the animated series '' Good Vibes''. He directed the comedy '' The Sitter'', released in December 2011. Green also directed and co-wrote ''

'' in 2013. Green directed the horror sequel '' Halloween'' (2018), produced by

Jason Blum Jason Ferus Blum "Jason Ferus Blum was born in LA in 1969 to Shirley Neilsen, an art professor, and Irving Blum, an art dealer" (; born 1969) is an American film and television producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, whic ...

, executive produced by

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

, and co-written by Green and

. He also directed its sequels ''

'', released in October 2021, and ''

'', released in October 2022. In April 2020, HBO was announced to be developing a ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

'' television series that would serve as "an elevated continuation and expansion" of its mythology with Mark Verheiden and

Michael Dougherty Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and animator, best known for the cult horror film ''Trick 'r Treat'' (2007), and the monster film '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' (2019) ...

writing the series and Green directing several episodes; the three will also be executive producing the series with

Jody Hill Jody Hill (born October 15, 1976) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. In 2006, he directed, co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in his first film ''The Foot Fist Way'', which he based on his experience as a Taekwondo ...

Brandon James Brandon Keith James (born December 21, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver and kick returner. James played college football for the University of Florida, was a two-time All-American, and was a member of two BCS National Champi ...

and

Roy Lee Roy Lee (born March 23, 1969) is an American film producer. Lee's production company, Vertigo Entertainment, has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Early life Lee was born in 1969 at Wyckoff Heights Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York, to Korean ...

Vertigo Entertainment Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison. History In 2001, after leaving BenderSpink, Roy Lee started Vertigo Entertainment with partner Do ...

. In December 2020, it was announced Green will direct a new installment of ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty ...

franchise'' which will be a direct sequel to

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the " New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in ...

's 1973 film adaptation of the 1971 novel.

Influences

Green's favorite films are, in order, ''

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot ''Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'' is a 1974 American crime comedy film written and directed by Michael Cimino and starring Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy, and Geoffrey Lewis. Plot A young ne'er-do-well, Lightfoot steals a car. Elsewh ...

'', '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''

The Gravy Train ''The Gravy Train'', also commonly known as ''The Dion Brothers'', is a 1974 American crime-comedy film directed by Jack Starrett, written by Terrence Malick (under the pseudonym David Whitney) and Bill Kerby, and starring Stacy Keach and Fred ...

'', ''

The Bad News Bears ''The Bad News Bears'' is a 1976 American sports comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster. It stars Walter Matthau as an alcoholic ex-baseball pitcher who becomes a coach for a youth baseball team known as the Bears. ...

'', ''

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...

'', '' Nashville'' and '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''. It has been suggested, even by the director himself, that Green's films take a lot of influence from the works of fellow Texan

Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include '' Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenp ...

.''The Charlie Rose Show'', PBS, episode aired 2000. Available on ''George Washington'' DVD. New York: The Criterion Collection, 2001. Malick himself served as an executive producer of Green's 2004 film '' Undertow''.

Filmography

Feature films

Actor

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, David Gordon 1975 births American people of English descent Film directors from Arkansas Living people University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni Artists from Little Rock, Arkansas American male screenwriters American film producers American television producers American television directors Fantasy film directors Horror film directors Silver Bear for Best Director recipients Screenwriters from Arkansas