Marc Forster
From Double-Oh-Wiki
Marc Forster (born January 27th, 1969) is a German-Swiss director and screenwriter.
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[edit] Life and career
Marc Forster was born in Illertissen, Bavaria. The son of a German doctor and a Swiss architect, he grew up in Davos, a winter resort in eastern Switzerland. His family moved to Switzerland after learning that they were blacklisted by the Baader-Meinhoff group, the predecessor to the German terrorist organisation Red Army Faction (RAF).[1]. The first film he saw in a cinema was Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, when he was 12. He was so excited about it, that from that time on he didn't hesitate when asked about his dream job: "Director".
In 1990, when he was 20 years old, Forster moved to New York, in the United States. For the next three years, he attended New York University's film school, making several documentary films. In 1995, he moved to Hollywood and shot an experimental low budget film ($10,000) called Loungers, which won the Slamdance Audience Award. Forster's first motion picture was the psychological drama Everything Put Together, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
His breakthrough film was Monster's Ball (2001), in which he directed Halle Berry in her Academy Award-winning performance as the wife of a man on death row. His next film, Finding Neverland (2004), was based on the life of author J.M. Barrie. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Forster received BAFTA, Directors Guild of America, and Golden Globe nominations for his direction.
The thriller Stay (2005) was poorly received by critics, despite a complex visual style and an experienced cast, which included Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts.[2] The film grossed a scant USD$4 million in the United States.[3] Stranger than Fiction (2006), a surreal romantic comedy starring Will Ferrell, was a modest success at the box office, earning $54 million worldwide off a $30 million budget. [4]
Forster then directed an adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner (2007), scripted by repeat collaborator David Benioff and starring British newcomer Khalid Abdalla. The film follows an Afghani-American man who returns to his war-ravaged country to save the son of his former best friend.
The director's next project was the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.
[edit] Humanitarian efforts
Marc Forster was, together with Renée Zellweger, part of the 2005 HIV-prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department. He's shown smiling and making the V sign with his hand and the text "Don't get semen or blood in your mouth" and "Penetrate only with condoms".[5]
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | No. of Oscar nominations | No. of Oscar wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Loungers | ||
| 2000 | Everything Put Together | ||
| 2001 | Monster's Ball | 2 | 1 |
| 2004 | Finding Neverland | 7 | 1 |
| 2005 | Stay | ||
| 2006 | Stranger Than Fiction | ||
| 2007 | The Kite Runner | 1 | |
| 2008 | Quantum of Solace |
[edit] References
- ↑ a conversation with 21 directors
- ↑ Collected reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
- ↑ Box office data at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ Box office data at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ lovelife.ch
