Occupation Film director Upcoming movie Race Education Sutton Valence School | Role Film director Name Stephen Hopkins | |
 | ||
Born 1958 (age 57–58) Jamaica Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special Nominations Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Movies Predator 2, The Reaping, Lost in Space, The Ghost and the Darkness, A Nightmare on Elm St Similar People Kevin Peter Hall, Lisa Wilcox, Stephan James, David Morrissey, William Hurt | ||
race anatomy of a scene w director stephen hopkins the new york times
Stephen Hopkins (born 1958) is a Jamaican-born British-Australian director and producer of film and television. He directed Predator 2, Blown Away, the critically acclaimed The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and the Jesse Owens biopic Race. He also produced and directed several episodes of the critically acclaimed first season of 24.
Contents
- race anatomy of a scene w director stephen hopkins the new york times
- Director stephen hopkins talks race comic book movies more
- Life and career
- References
Director stephen hopkins talks race comic book movies more
Life and career
Hopkins was born in Jamaica and was raised in Australia and England. He was educated at Sutton Valence School.
He left home at 15 and his background was in art and design. He was storyboarding commercials and video clips, and moved into directing. He started his career in Australia where he lived for six years.
In Australia he made Dangerous Game (1987). This helped him get the job directing A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Hopkins later said, "I went at it like a dog, and had a wild, fun time. But when I look back, I think I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I don't understand how it all occurred." .
He went on to make Predator 2, of which he said "I'm pretty immature, really, so it was kind of a laugh". He followed it with Judgment Night ("a real, absolute, total bomb" according to Hopkins), Blown Away ("made a lot of mistakes") and The Ghost and the Darkness ("It was a mess. I haven't been able to watch it.").
Hopkins said after Predator 2 he "looked around for a good film for a long time, and I couldn't get anything I wanted to do... I didn't realise the Hollywood trick. In American action movies, people get shot to death and their arms are blown off, and they get up and they're fine. These films are supposed to be fun things that people can laugh at. I always thought, `That's wrong, that's not what violence is like.' I took these films too seriously and tried to add profound depths, and that's not what's wanted. You either do that film or you do the other one, but I kept mixing the two up, and probably unsuccessfully.'
In 2004, Hopkins directed the controversial biographical film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers which provoked the ire of the actor's son Michael Sellers and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.
Hopkins was a co-executive producer for the first season of the Fox action drama 24, and also directed half of the season's episodes, including the first and last episodes. He is also co-executive producer on 24: Legacy, and director of the show's pilot episode.
Hopkins has directed a number of episodes of Showtime's series House of Lies starring Don Cheadle which premiered on 8 January 2012 and has been renewed for a third season. He is also a producer on the series.
Hopkins directed Race, a biopic about athlete Jesse Owens for Focus Features. Stephan James plays Jesse Owens, opposite Jason Sudeikis and Jeremy Irons. The film was released in February 2016.