Dan Trachtenberg (born May 11, 1981) is an American filmmaker and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

host.Rachel Kurland,
Scare Tactics Pay off for Cheltenham’s Dan Trachtenberg
'. The Jewish Exponent. March 14, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2017. He is best known for directing the films ''

10 Cloverfield Lane ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Dam ...

'' (2016) and ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

'' (2022)'','' the former earning him a

Directors Guild of America Award The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards. Catego ...

nomination for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film. In 2019, he directed the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in television in the United States, United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a te ...

of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

series '' The Boys'', and in 2021 directed the pilot episode of the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

series ''

The Lost Symbol ''The Lost Symbol'' is a 2009 novel written by American writer Dan Brown. It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of ''The Da Vinci Code'', and relies on Freemasonry for both its recurring theme and its major characters. Rel ...

'', on which he also served as an executive producer. Trachtenberg was one of three hosts of ''

The Totally Rad Show ''The Totally Rad Show'' was a weekly, later turned daily, video podcast produced by ''Team Awesome, LLC'' and distributed by Revision3. TRS consisted primarily of reviews and commentary on pop-culture phenomena such as movies, video games, tel ...

'' podcast and was a former co-host of the '' Geekdrome'' podcast. He also directed episodes for the '' Ctrl+Alt+Chicken'' podcast. All three programs were hosted at

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The ...

. He also directed the 2011 short film '' Portal: No Escape'', an episode of ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...

'' entitled "

Playtest A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with board games, collectible card games, ...

" and the director of various television commercials and public service announcements. He is currently developing a TV series adaptation of the 1995 film ''

Waterworld ''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Char ...

''.

Directing

Dane DiLiegro and Dan Trachtenberg shooting Prey (2022)

Trachtenberg has directed commercials for

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

, and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

. In 2003, he directed the short film ''Kickin''. In April 2008, he joined Tight Films, for which he collaborated with Matt Wolf on an

alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

for '' Hellboy II: The Golden Army''. He directed the internet show, '' Ctrl+Alt+Chicken''. In March 2011, Trachtenberg released a short film for BlackBoxTV titled ''More Than You Can Chew'', starring J. Kristopher, Skye Marshall and Ian Hamrick. Trachtenberg co-wrote the story with Mark D. Walker. On August 23, 2011, Trachtenberg released the short film '' Portal: No Escape'', based on the video game ''

Portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

'', which has since garnered more than twenty-seven million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

. On October 13, 2011,

/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. Podcasts Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, D ...

announced that Trachtenberg would be directing a science fiction action heist film for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

with writer Chris Morgan. In January 2013, '' iFanboy'' broke the news that Trachtenberg would direct the film adaptation of '' Y: The Last Man''. However, on September 25, 2014,

announced that the film had been cancelled. On April 3, 2014,

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...

announced that Trachtenberg would direct a film for

Bad Robot Productions Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999 and led by J. J. Abrams and Katie McGrath as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series ''Alias' ...

titled ''Valencia'', which was later revealed to be a code name for ''

''. On January 15, 2016, the trailer for ''

'' was released. Producer J. J. Abrams said about the film, "The idea came up a long time ago during production. We wanted to make it a blood relative of ''

Cloverfield ''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yus ...

''. The idea was developed over time. We wanted to hold back the title for as long as possible." On April 30, 2018, it was announced that Dan Trachtenberg would direct the first episode of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

series '' The Boys'', replacing

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 ...

and

Evan Goldberg Evan D. Goldberg (born September 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American filmmaker and comedian. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on the films ''Superbad'', ''Pineapple Express'', ''This Is the End'', '' The Interview'', and '' ...

, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. On January 14, 2019, Trachtenberg was announced to be directing a live action film adaptation of the video game series ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across th ...

''. However on August 22, 2019, it was announced he had exited the film. On November 20, 2020, it was announced that Trachtenberg had been engaged by

20th Century Studios 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 ...

to direct the fifth installment in the ''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...

'' film series, titled ''

''.

Personal life

Trachtenberg married Priscilla Hernandez in 2011.

Filmography

Short films *'' Portal: No Escape'' (2011) *'' More Than You Can Chew'' (2012) *''

Warframe ''Warframe'' is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. First released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 in ...

'' (2019) Feature films Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trachtenberg, Dan 1981 births Living people Artists from Philadelphia American Internet celebrities American film directors Jewish American screenwriters Revision3 Screenwriters from Pennsylvania 21st-century American Jews