The Crazies

Background:

Breck Eisner is an American television, film and commercials director. He more recently directed the successful horror remake “The Crazies” (2010), starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. After receiving his MFA degree from USC, the California native launched his commercials career in the late 1990s and by early 2000s, he had segued into television directing. He made his feature directorial debut with 2003's “Thoughtcrimes,” which went straight to video. It was followed by the box office flop “Sahara” (2005) and “The Crazies.”

Eisner is married to Georgia Irwin.

USC

Childhood and Family:

Breck Eisner was born on December 24, 1970, in California. He is the son of former Walt Disney Company chief executive Michael Eisner, and Jane Breckenridge, a business advisor and computer programmer. He graduated from Harvard High School in North Hollywood, CA. and then received a BA from Georgetown University. He went on to get an MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television.

On June 24, 2006, Breck married Georgia Irwin.

Commercials Director

Career:

While at USC, Breck Eisner directed and co-wrote his MFA thesis film, “Recon” (1996), starring Valarie Trapp, Charles Durning and Peter Gabriel. He also directed a Shakespeare play on the campus.

Eisner soon began his career as the director of commercials. His first commercial, “Budweiser's Powersurge,” aired during the 1997 “Super Bowl,” and within a year and a half, he had directed 14 high profile spots. His two anti smoking comemrcials for the California Department of Health Services, Gala Event and Funeral, were selected as Best Spots in back to back issues of Adweek. He also has directed commercials for Rold Gold Pretzels, Coors, Sega, Powerbar, Sony and Coca-Cola, among other companies.

Lured by his success on commercials, Eisner had the opportunities to enter television directing in 2000, with the pilot of the Sci-Fi Channel's Saturn nominated comedy/thriller series “The Invisible Man,” starring Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, Shannon Kenny and Michael McCafferty. He followed it up by directing an episode of the Emmy Award winning mini series “Taken” called “Jacob and Jesse” (2002). The show, which aired on Sci-Fi Channel from December 2-23, 2002, starred Joel Gretsch, Ryan Hurst, Anton Yelchin, James Kirk, Steve Burton and Dakota Fanning, among other actors, and was executive producers were Leslie Bohem and Steven Spielberg.

Eisner made his feature directing debut in 2003 with “Thoughtcrimes,” which went directly to DVD/Video. The action/drama film starred Navi Rawat, Joe Flanigan and Peter Horton. Two years later, he resurfaced with his second film, “Sahara” (2005), an adaptation of the Clive Cussler best selling book. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penélope Cruz and William H. Macy, the action/comedy received mixed reviews from critics and is considered as one of the biggest commercial disappointments in Hollywood industry. 2005 also saw Eisner work as executive producer on Peter Hyams' action film, “A Sound of Thunder,” starring Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley and Catherine McCormack.

In 2006, Eisner helmed the made for television movie “Beyond,” starring Marcos Akiaten, Eric Andersen and June Angela.

In 2008, Eisner directed Jeffrey Pierce, Jesse Plemons and Rachel Miner in the “Fear Itself” episode, titled “The Sacrifice.”

Eisner returned to the director's chair to helm Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson and Danielle Panabaker in the horror film “The Crazies.” A remake of the 1973 film of the same name by George A. Romero, who also executive produced and co-wrote the remake, the film earned mostly positive reviews upon its release and was a box office success. It has grosses $54,677,170 worldwide. It budget was $20 million. In 2011, “The Crazies” was nominated for an Empire Award for Best Horror.

Eisner has signed on to direct a 3D film version of “Flash Gordon.” He is scheduled to direct the film adaptation of the Mark Wheatley comic book “Blood of the Innocent.” He is in negotiation to helm movie adaption of the Hasbro board game “Ouija.”

Awards:
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