Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (born February 19, 1978) is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band

Link 80 Link 80 was an American punk rock/ska punk band from San Francisco's East Bay, United States. Band history Link 80 started in the summer 1993 in the East Bay of California. In the beginning, original members (guitarist Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, ...

and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives

Chad, Matt & Rob Chad, Matt & Rob was an American group of filmmakers based in Los Angeles known for their short films that blend comedy with horror, adventure, and sci-fi. Their most notable works include a series of ''Prank Gone Wrong'' found footage videos ...

and

Radio Silence In telecommunications, radio silence or Emissions Control (EMCON) is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons. The term "radio station" may include anything ca ...

. He is best known for his work in horror films, including ''

V/H/S ''V/H/S'' is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the ''V/H/S'' franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of found foo ...

'', '' Southbound'', '' Ready or Not'' and ''

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

''.

Early life

Raised in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, Bettinelli-Olpin attended Chabot Elementary, Claremont Middle School and

Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named for the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Jam ...

. He attended college at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

Career

Music

Bettinelli-Olpin formed the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

punk band

in 1993. On the band's first two albums, ''

17 Reasons Link 80 was an American punk rock/ska punk band from San Francisco's East Bay, United States. Band history Link 80 started in the summer 1993 in the East Bay of California. In the beginning, original members (guitarist Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, d ...

'' and ''

Killing Katie ''Killing Katie'' is the second album by the punk band Link 80. It was released on CD and 10" vinyl by Asian Man Records in 1997. It was recorded with Steve Fontano at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California between 18–20 April 1997. The al ...

'', Bettinelli-Olpin played guitar, sang backing vocals and co-wrote the lyrics with singer

Nick Traina Nick Traina (born Nicholas John Steel Toth; May 1, 1978 – September 20, 1997) was the lead singer for the punk band Link 80. Life Traina was the son of Danielle Steel and William George Toth. Traina died by suicide by overdosing on lit ...

. After leaving Link 80, Bettinelli-Olpin worked as a music journalist and interviewed bands including

Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Do ...

, Dropkick Murphy's,

Lawrence Arms The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. They have released seven full-length albums and toured extensively. Band history Pre-history Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active i ...

, Avail, Blur,

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 200 ...

the Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ...

the Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership for ...

and

the Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene ...

. In 2016, Bettinelli-Olpin played guitar in a

reunion for the

Asian Man Records Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

20th Anniversary. On June 17 and 18, the band played two sold-out shows at the San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill. Before the shows, a video tribute to singer

was shown. On May 21, 2021, a Link 80 cover of Rancid's "Junkie Man" was released from Lavasock Records' upcoming 25th anniversary tribute to Rancid's punk rock classic ...And Out Come the Wolves featuring Bettinelli-Olpin on vocals. Link 80 at 924 Gilman

Film

In 1999, Bettinelli-Olpin directed Alkaline Trio's first

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

(''Goodbye Forever'') while attending the

and, in the early 2000s, was roommates with

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

and appeared in many of their early shorts. While working in the mailroom at

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 acq ...

, he formed the filmmaking collective

in 2007 and

in 2011.

''Chad, Matt & Rob''

Bettinelli-Olpin co-founded

with Chad Villella and Rob Polonsky in 2007. The group is known for their unique blend of comedy, adventure, sci-fi and horror. According to an interview in

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

, Bettinelli-Olpin worked in the mailroom and later as the office manager at

, where the group would sneak in after hours to use the offices as their sets. Among their numerous short films is the viral found footage style video ''Roommate Alien Prank Gone Bad'' and five installments of their first-of-its-kind series of

Interactive Adventures Chad, Matt & Rob was an American group of Film director, filmmakers based in Los Angeles known for their Short subject, short films that blend comedy with Horror fiction, horror, adventure, and sci-fi. Their most notable works include a series o ...

. Their work online has over 100,000,000 views.Lawton, Christopher (2009-02-04), "Video Sites Entice Users To Stay and Play." ''Wall Street Journal''

''Radio Silence''

After the dissolution of

, Bettinelli-Olpin formed

with

Tyler Gillett Tyler Gillett is an American film director, cinematographer, writer, and producer. A co-creator of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, Gillett co-directed, with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, the horror films '' Devil's Due'' (2014), '' Ready or No ...

Justin Martinez Justin Martinez (born July 14, 1980) is an American film director, cinematographer, visual effects artist, writer and producer. He is a co-creator of Radio Silence, known for their work on the films ''V/H/S'', '' Devil's Due'', and '' Southbound ...

and Chad Villella. The group co-directed the ''10/31/98'' segment of the feature film ''

''.Zeitchik, Steven (2011-10-13), "Wingard, West headline new Bloody Disgusting film." ''Los Angeles Times'' http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/10/ti-west-inkeepers-bloody-disgusting-adam-wingard-youre-next.html The film premiered at the 2012

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and was released theatrically by

Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...

in October 2012. The following year, they made '' Devil's Due'' for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

and in 2015, their film '' Southbound'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. It was released theatrically by the Orchard on February 5, 2016. In 2019, Bettinelli-Olpin co-directed the well-reviewed comedic thriller '' Ready or Not'' with

for

Fox Searchlight Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

. The film stars

Samara Weaving Samara Weaving (born 23 February 1992) is an Australian actress and model. She began her career in her home country, playing Kirsten Mulroney on the drama series '' Out of the Blue'' (2008). She came to prominence with her portrayal of Indi Wal ...

Adam Brody Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor, writer, musician, and producer. He is known for his breakthrough role as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series ''The O.C.'', which premiered in 2003. Subsequently, Brody appeared ...

Andie MacDowell Rosalie Anderson MacDowell (born April 21, 1958) is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell's known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. MacDowell has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman ...

, and Mark O'Brien. In March 2020, it was announced that Bettinelli-Olpin would co-direct the fifth installment of the ''Scream'' franchise, alongside

, with Kevin Williamson serving as executive producer. The film was released on January 14, 2022. In all of his films, Bettinelli-Olpin has used music by

artists including

MU330 MU330 are an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "Psycho Ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic ...

Laura Stevenson and the Cans Laura Anne Stevenson (born April 25, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter from Long Island, New York, and formerly a keyboard player for the musical collective Bomb the Music Industry! Biography Stevenson was raised in Nassau County, New Y ...

and The Atom Age.

Discography

* '' The Link 80 & Wet Nap Split'' (1995) * '' Remember How It Used To Be EP'' (1995) * '' Rumble At The Tracks EP'' (1996) * ''

'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997)

Filmography

References

External links

*
Radio SilenceChad, Matt & RobLink 80
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bettinelli-Olpin, Matt 1978 births Living people Film directors from California American punk rock guitarists Horror film directors American male writers American male film actors Male actors from Oakland, California Writers from Oakland, California University of California, Santa Cruz alumni American male comedians Comedians from California American film directors of Italian descent