Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (, born 26 July 1965 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
) is a Dutch filmmaker, writer and producer best known for directing
''The Thing'' (2011).
Career
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. began directing at an early age with promotional trailers for
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
,
Stella Artois
Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ir ...
,
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi wa ...
, and
Bud Light.
In 1996, van Heijningen made his film directing debut with the Dutch short-film thriller ''Red Rain''. In 2011, he directed ''
The Thing'', a
prequel to ''
John Carpenter's The Thing''. Van Heijningen was due to direct ''
Army of the Dead
''Army of the Dead'' is a 2021 American zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, based on a story he also created. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bauti ...
'', but the project ended up being directed by
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since t ...
after lingering in
development hell for a number of years.
In 2020, van Heijningen directed his second feature ''
The Forgotten Battle'', a
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 fi ...
original war film depicting the
Battle of the Scheldt
The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Alli ...
. Netflix's first ever original Dutch film.
Filmography
Director
Producer
* ''Dada'' (1994)
* ''Witness'' (1994)
* ''En Route'' (1994)
Other credits
Personal life
He is the son of Dutch film producer
Matthijs van Heijningen Sr.Van Heyningen Jr gaat het vervolg op The Thing regisseren
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heijningen, Matthijs Van Jr.
1965 births
Living people
Dutch film producers
Dutch film directors
Dutch screenwriters
Dutch male screenwriters
Writers from Amsterdam