Director of The Crow

Background:

Making his debut as director, writer and producer in the small budget science fiction thriller “Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Cloud” (1989), Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas achieved fame as the director of the financially and critically successful thriller “The Crow” (1994), from which he netted a Saturn nomination. Innovative and versatile Proyas went on to gain recognition for the acclaim science fiction thriller “Dark City” (1998), which brought him a Bram Stoker Award, a Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film Award, an Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival Award, a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award and a Saturn nomination for his work. His more recent film credits include “I, Robot” (2004) and “Knowing” (2009). Proyas has also directed many music videos, television commercials and short films. His short film “Book of Dreams: 'Welcome to Crateland’” was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Egypt

Childhood and Family:

Alexander Proyas was born on September 23, 1963, in Egypt to Greek parents. His family moved to Sydney, Australia, when he was three years old. Alex began making films at age 10 and went on to study it professionally at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. He was classmates with Jocelyn Morehouse and Jane Campion. An excellent student, Alex dropped out in 1984 because he was unhappy with school and launched his directing career.

Dark City

Career:

While attending the Australian Film and Television School, Alex Proyas made the short films “Neon,” “Groping” and “Strange Residues” (1981). It was the 8-minute thriller “Groping” that brought the energetic novice some notice at festival screenings in Sydney and London. He also worked with classmate Jane Campion on her shorts “Passionless Moments” (1983), where he served as the director of photography, and “ A Girl's Own Story” (1984), in which he wrote and performed a song. Proyas continued to distinguish himself by forming the production company Meaningful Eye Contact Film with two peers in his second year at college. He left school in 1984 to begin his professional career.

Through his company, Proyas began directing music videos. He worked with such artists as INXS (“Kiss The Dirt”), Mike Oldfield (“Magic Touch”), and Sting and The Other Ones (“Holiday”), but it was his video for Crowded House's “Don't Dream It's Over” (1987) that won him several video awards and brought him to America. Proyas directed his next short, “Spineless,” in 1987, in which he also appeared in front of the cameras as an actor. Two years later, he made his feature film directorial debut with the science fiction thriller “Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Cloud,” which he also wrote and produced. The film received two Australian Film Institute (AFI) nominations in the categories of Best Achievement in Costume Design and Best Achievement in Production Design, and won a Special Prize at the 1990 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.

After Meaningful Eye Contact Film folded, Proyas directed television commercials. Throughout the early 1990s, he worked for clients like Nike, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Swatch, Nissan, and American Express. He did not return to feature film until 1994 when he directed the action thriller “The Crow,” which was based on James O'Barr's 1989 comic book of the same name. Scripted by David J. Schow and John Shirley and starring Brandon Lee (who was killed in an accident during filming), Ernie Hudson, Rochelle Davis, Michael Wincott and Bai Ling, the film was released in the United States in May 1994. It became a critical and commercial hit and won a BMI Film Music Award and a MTV Movie award for Best Movie Song as well as four Saturn nominations, including Best Director and Best Horror Film. It also received MTV Movie nominations for Best Movie and Best Male Performance (for Lee). At the box office, “The Crow” grossed over $50 million in the U.S. and more than $94 million worldwide.

Also in 1994, Proyas wrote and directed the short film “Book of Dreams: 'Welcome to Crateland,'” which earned him a Golden Palm nomination for Best Short Film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. He was then the cinematographer for Cathy Linsley's 8-minute animated film “Secrets of the City,” which won a Golden Berlin Bear nomination for Best Short Film at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.

Four years after the victory of “The Crow,” Proyas resurfaced with “Dark City,” a science fiction thriller he directed and co-wrote with Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer. The movie starred Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly. The film, which was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, received positive reviews but was only a minor success at the box office. For his efforts, Proyas was handed a Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay, a Pegasus Audience Award from the 1999 Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film, a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Screenplay - Original, a Silver Scream Award at the 1998 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival and Saturn nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Under Mystery Clock Cinema, a production company he co-founded with Andrew Mason, Proyas produced, directed and co-wrote the independent comedy “Garage Days” (2002, showed at Sundance in January 2003). Despite receiving recognitions at the AFI and IF Awards, the film was listed No. 4 on the Michael Richard list of “Worst Films of All Time” in The Herald Sun in December 2002.

After a behind the camera stint as an executive producer for the Canadian TV film version of Philip Jose Farmer's “Riverworld” (2003), Proyas returned to Hollywood cinema when he directed Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride and Alan Tudyk in “I, Robot” (2004), a science fiction film adaptation of the short story collection of the same name by Isaac Asimov. The film gained mixed reviews from critics, but was a strong box office success with a worldwide total gross of over $347 million.

Proyas next directed Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury and Lara Robinson in “Knowing,” which was released in the U.S. on March 20, 2009. Written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, the science fiction movie garnered mixed reviews from critics.

Awards:

• Bram Stoker: Screenplay, “Dark City,” 1999

• Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film: Pegasus Audience Award, “Dark City,” 1999

• Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA): Best Screenplay - Original, “Dark City,” 1999

• Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival: Silver Scream Award, “Dark City,” 1998