His original work Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2016, he directed the Disney film Pete's Dragon, a live-action film which he had co-written. It was a new work loosely based on the same original story as the Disney 1977 musical of the same name.
Tom tangney interviews filmmaker david lowery
Early life
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 26, 1980, David Lowery is the eldest of nine children born to Madeleine and Mark Lowery, a Catholic family. When David was seven, his family moved to the suburb of Irving for his father's work. Some of his younger siblings were born there. Their father Mark Lowery is a Professor of Theology at the University of Dallas; he also has served as departmental chairman and editor-in-chief of the Catholic Social Science Review. Interested in film, Lowery watched everything he could before beginning to make his own work after he graduated from Irving High School.
At the age of 19, Lowery wrote and directed his first film, Lullaby, a short work which he no longer permits to be seen. In this period, he met some other young men interested in film, and they have worked together on some projects.
Career
Lowery had his breakthrough with his first feature film, St. Nick (2009), which follows two runaway children abandoned by their guardians. The film was shown in the South by Southwest festival in 2009. It won the Texas Filmmaker Award at the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival.
In 2011, Lowery wrote and directed the short film entitled Pioneer, which played at the Sundance Film Festival that year.
In 2013, Lowery wrote, directed and edited his second feature film, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It was selected to compete at the International Critics' Week section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Lowery has said that he drew from great directors and their works for this film, citing Claire Denis's 35 Shots of Rum, Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher as influences.
In July 2016, it was announced Lowery would direct an episode of Breakthrough for National Geographic Channel. In November 2016, it was announced Lowery had shot a new film, A Ghost Story, over the summer with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as a secret project.
In March 2017, it was announced that Lowery would direct The Old Man and the Gun, to star Casey Affleck and Robert Redford.
Personal life
In 2012 Lowery married actress Augustine Frizzell.
Filmography
Editor
2022
Oak Thorn & The Old Rose of Love (Short)
2021
The Green Knight
2017
A Ghost Story
2014
Baby Mary (Short)
2014
Empire Builder
2013
Cork's Cattlebaron (Short)
2013
Upstream Color
2012
Clean (Short)
2012
Nor'easter
2012
Sun Don't Shine
2012
Hellion (Short)
2011
Universal Squadrons
2011
Uncertain, TX
2011
Knife (Short)
2011
Pioneer (Short)
2011
Bad Fever
2010
Shadowboxing
2009
Birthday Suit (Short)
2009
Boycrazy at the Drug Store (Short)
2009
Boycrazy Bikini Mishap (Short)
2009
Boycrazy Gets a Job (Short)
2009
Boycrazy in Bed (Short)
2009
Boycrazy Promo (Short)
2009
The Crane House (Short)
2009
It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home
2009
St. Nick
2008
Coda (Short)
2008
Merrily, Merrily (Short)
2008
Ciao (as David Patrick Lowery)
2006
G.D.M.F. (Short)
2006
Some Analog Lines (Short)
2005
Deadroom
2003
Looking for Love (Short)
2003
Still (Short)
2001
The Tunnel (Short)
2001
Last Two Minutes of a Dream (Short)
2000
The Knocker (Short)
2000
Lullaby (Short)
Producer
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Mother Mary (producer) (filming)
2022
The Smell of Money (Documentary) (executive producer)
2021
The Cathedral (executive producer)
2021
The Green Knight (producer - p.g.a.)
2021
We're All Going to the World's Fair (executive producer)