Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller '' Constantine'' (2005) and has since directed the

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

horror film '' I Am Legend'' (2007), the romantic drama ''

Water for Elephants ''Water for Elephants'' is the third novel by the Canadian–American author Sara Gruen. The book was published in 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. The historical fiction novel is a 20th century circus drama. Gruen wrote the book as pa ...

'' (2011), three of the four films in the ''Hunger Games'' film series, and the spy thriller '' Red Sparrow'' (2018).

Early life

Lawrence was born to American parents in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. His father was a theoretical physicist who taught at California State University, Northridge, and his mother is a vice president of technology at a public-relations agency based in his hometown. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of four. Lawrence worked as second assistant camera on the feature '' Pump Up the Volume'' directed by Allan Moyle prior to earning his bachelor's degree in film production at

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

Film School.

Career

He went on to work as first assistant director on the feature '' Marching out of Time'' directed by Anton Vassil in 1993. Lawrence then joined ex-classmate Michael Jason Rosen in co-directing music videos. Lawrence directed his first music videos for the San Jose band, A Western Front. Rosen and Lawrence made the two videos for a total of $3,000 with Jeffrey Michael Cutter, another ex-classmate, shooting for them. Lawrence, Rosen, and Cutter also made a video for Michael Blakey, president of Atico Records and Tidal Force drummer for that band's single, "A Man Rides Through". Soon, Lawrence became known for his original and imaginative music video scripts and visual directing style. He eventually joined a major new production company and his successful career as music video director, having worked with stars Rihanna, Green Day, Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z, Melanie C, Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

Lisa Marie Presley Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is the only child of singer and actor Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Presley, as well as the sole heir to her father's estate. Presley has developed a caree ...

, Destiny's Child, Garbage, Gwen Stefani,

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is n ...

, Nelly Furtado, En Vogue, Monica, Missy Elliott, and the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The ...

. In 2002, he won a

Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

for Best Short Music Video for directing Shakira's " Suerte" music video. He has also directed numerous commercials for clients such as

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

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...

, Calvin Klein, Pepsi-Cola, Maybelline, Kid's Footlocker,

Bacardi Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

, GAP, Bud Light,

CoverGirl CoverGirl is an American cosmetics brand founded in Maryland, United States, by the Noxzema Chemical Company. It was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1989 and later acquired by Coty, Inc. in 2016. The Noxell Company advertised this cosmetics li ...

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

, and

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

. In 2005, his feature-film debut was '' Constantine'', based on the ''

Hellblazer ''John Constantine, Hellblazer'' is an American contemporary horror comic-book series published by DC Comics since January 1988, and subsequently by its Vertigo imprint since March 1993, when the imprint was introduced. Its central character is ...

'' comic book, starring Keanu Reeves. In 2007, he directed '' I Am Legend'' (based on the

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fictio ...

novel), with

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

. In 2011, he directed ''

''. In 2012, Lawrence directed and executive produced the pilot episode of the Fox

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

series, ''

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

''. He is currently signed to DNA Inc. In 2011, he won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Music Video, Short Form for directing

's " Bad Romance" music video. In April 2012,

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 ...

announced that Lawrence had been selected to direct the film adaptation of the novel '' Catching Fire''. The book and film were the sequel to the blockbuster hit, ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 6 ...

'', starring Jennifer Lawrence (no relation). This film adaptation of ''The Hunger Games'' was directed by

Gary Ross Gary Ross (born November 3, 1956) is an American film director, writer, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing the fantasy comedy-drama film '' Pleasantville'' (1998), the sports drama film '' Seabiscuit'' (2003), the sci-fi act ...

, and both novels were written by

Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer. She is known as the author of the book series '' The Underland Chronicles'' and ''The Hunger Games''. Early life Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962, i ...

. Lawrence was officially confirmed as the director for the film on May 3, 2012. He returned to direct the two final parts of the series, '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' (2014) and '' Part 2'' (2015). Lawrence is currently working on a film adaptation of the novel '' Survivor'' by Chuck Palahniuk. He most recently directed '' Red Sparrow'', based on the novel of the same name by Jason Matthews, and featuring ''The Hunger Games'' star Jennifer Lawrence and

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

. The film was released on March 2, 2018. Lawrence signed on to direct ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'', an adaptation of the ''Hunger Games'' prequel novel by original author

, in April 2020. The film is set to begin production in 2022 for release on November 17, 2023. In March 2021, his about:blank production company struck a deal with

New Republic Pictures New Republic Pictures is an American production company and independent financier of feature films founded by Brian Oliver in 2017. History Through partnerships with major studios and foreign sales companies, New Republic brings outstanding ...

. Their first project together will be an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel ''

Vulcan's Hammer ''Vulcan's Hammer'' is a 1960 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was released originally as an Ace Double. This has been considered to be the final outing of Dick's 1950s style pulp science fiction writing, before his b ...

'', announced in November 2021. In March 2022, it was announced that Lawrence would be helm a feature adaptation of Kevin J. Anderson and Steven L. Sears’ ''Stalag-X'', to be written by

Joy Wilkinson Joy Wilkinson is a British screenwriter, playwright, author, and director. Early life Wilkinson was born in Burnley, Lancashire. At age 14, she co-wrote ''Fried Eggs & Fag Ends'', a play at the Lancashire Young Writers Festival that got reviewed ...

. In April 2022, it was announced that Lawrence will be one of the executive producers of ''Chief Of War'' for Apple TV+. In August 2022, TheWrap reported that Lawrence had signed with

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 ...

to direct an adaptation of ''

Bioshock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. The first game in the BioShock (series), ''BioShock'' series, it was released f ...

'', inspired by the 2K Games franchise. In September of the same year, Deadline reported that the director would also be returning to direct a sequel to Constantine.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Francis Lawrence
at the mvdbase.com
Biografie of Francis Lawrence
at

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Francis 1971 births Living people Action film directors American expatriates in Austria American music video directors Austrian people of American descent Film directors from Los Angeles Film producers from California Grammy Award winners Latin Grammy Award winners Musicians from Vienna Television commercial directors