Background:

American film and television director and producer Gary Fleder made an effortless switch from student films to television and then to features. His first film,“Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead” (1995), earned the Norfolk, Virginia native auteur Special Jury Prize and Critics Award at the 1996 Cognac Festival du Film Policier. However, it was the follow up “Kiss the Girls” (1997) that marked his breakthrough feature. With a total of over $60 million, the film was ranked No. 30 in domestic revenue for the year. After “Don't Say a Word” (2001) and “Impostor” (2002), from which he picked up a nomination at the Fantasporto, Fleder directed the film version of John Grisham's “Runaway Jury” (2003), which received generally positive reviews and was a box office success. He did not direct another feature until 2008's “The Express.” Although it was a financial disaster, the film was well received by critics and won the ESPY Award Best Sports Movie. A CableACE nominee thanks to his directing effort on an episode of “Tales from the Crypt” back in 1992, Fleder has directed a number of television episodes, including “Blind Justice,” “October Road,” “Life on Mars,” “Happy Town” and “Life Unexpected,” which he also executive produced.

Fleder is a member of the Directors Guild's Special Projects Committee and has served as assistant faculty at his alma mater, USC School of Cinema and Television. Along with Scott Rosenberg, he sponsors a short screenplay contest at the Redstone Film Festival in Boston.        


USC Alumna

Childhood and Family:

In Norfolk, Virginia, Gary Fleder was born on December 19, 1965. He attended and graduated from College of Communications, Boston University, in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinema and Television in Los Angeles, California. He met close fried screenwriter Scott Rosenber while at Boston University. Gary resides in southern California with his family, and has two rescue dogs.


Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

Career:

Gary Fleder made his directorial debut with “Terminal Round,” a 8-minute student short    examine boxing, which appeared at the Mill Valley (California) Film Festival in 1988. He then directed the 48 minute thriller “Air Time” as his USC thesis project. The film, which was written by pal Scott Rosenberg, told the story of a former con threatening a late-night radio-talk-show psychologist and premiered at the 1992 Sundance Festival. Fleder revisited the boxing theme when he directed “Animal Instinct,” a half hour documentary about Brooklyn boxer Philip Paolina. It was shown at the 1993 Sundance Festival.

Fleder made transformation to television when he helmed two episodes of the HBO anthology series “Tales from the Crypt” called “Seance” (1992) and “Forever Ambergris” (1993). He was nominated for a 1993 CableACE Award in the category of Directing a Dramatic Series for his work on the first. In 1994, Fleder made his television movie directing debut with “The Companion,” a science fiction flick starring Kathryn Harrold, Bruce Greenwood and Talia Balsam. Also known as “Future Lover,” it aired on the USA Network on October 13, 1994.  

Eventually, Fleder entered the world of cinema with “Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead” (1995), which he directed  from a screenplay penned by Rosenberg. Featuring an ensemble cast that included Andy García, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Fairuza Balk, and Gabrielle Anwar, the crime movie was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and won the director Special Jury Prize and Critic Award at the 1996 Cognac Festival du Film Policier. Lured by the success of his first feature, Fleder signed a two-year, first-look development deal with New Line Cinema in April 1997.

Fleder's next film,“Kiss the Girls,” a dark and glowering thriller that showed the visual influence of 70s films like “Klute” and “The Exorcist,” with the screenplay adapted by David Klass from the James Patterson 1995 best selling novel of the same name, received negative reviews but enjoyed a significant success at the box office. Released theatrically in the US on October 3, 1997, the film grossed over $13 million in its opening weekend and went on to collect a total of over $60 million domestically, making it the top 30 best seller for the year. “Kiss the Girls” starred Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd and Cary Elwes in the roles of Alex Cross, Dr. Kate McTiernan and Det. Nick Ruskin / Casanova, respectively.

Fleder returned to the small screen when he directed the awesome “Subway” episode of the NBC drama series “Homicide: Life on the Street” in 1997. He continued to helm an episode of the Emmy Award winning  miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon” called “For Miles and Miles” (1998), the pilot for the CBS drama series “L.A. Doctors” (1998) and the CBS short lived series “Falcone” (2000).

In 2001, Fleder helmed Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy, Sean Bean, Guy Torry, Jennifer Esposito, Famke Janssen and Oliver Platt in the psychological thriller film “Don't Say a Word,” an adaptation of the Edgar nominated novel of the same title by Andrew Klavan. It grossed $100,020,092 against a budget of $50 million. He next cast Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe and Vincent D'Onofrio for his next film, “Impostor,” which premiered at Westwood, California in December 2001 before receiving a theatrical release on January 4, 2002. Based upon a short story of the same name by Philip K. Dic, the science fiction film earned poor to average and few positive reviews from critics and was a box office flop. However, the film managed to receive an International Fantasy Film Award nomination for Best Film at the 2002 Fantasporto. Fleder also produced the film with Sinise.

After directing the TV film “R.U.S./H.” and episodes of “Going to California” and “The Shield” (all 2002), Fleder directed and produced the film adaptation of John Grisham's best selling novel, “Runaway Jury” (2003), starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, the Golden Trailer for Best Drama and the Political Film Society (PSF) Award for Democracy. Made for $60 million, the film grossed $49,440,996 in the United States and $80,154,140 worldwide.      

After “Runaway Jury,” Fleder spent the next five years working on the small screen. He directed three episodes of the drama series “Blind Justice” (ABC, 2005), including the pilot, two episodes of the short lived police procedural series “Evidence” (ABC, 2006), starring Rob Estes, Orlando Jones, and Martin Landau, six episodes of “October Road” (ABC, 2007-2008) and an episode of the American remake of “Life on Mars” (ABC, 2008-2009). He also helmed Billy Zane, Teri Polo and Domenick Lombardozzi in the ABC made for television film “Finnegan” (2008).

In 2008, Fleder resumed his film career by helming the sport themed “The Express,” which was produced by John Davis and written by Charles Leavitt. Starring Rob Brown, Charles S. Dutton and Dennis Quaid, the film earned generally positive reviews, and it won the ESPY Award for Best Sports Movie. The film was considered a commercial disappointment because it only grossed a total of $9,808,124 against its $40 million budget costs.   

Back to television after the failure of “The Express,” Fleder executive produced a teen drama series on The CW called “Life Unexpected,” starring Britt Robertson, Shiri Appleby and Kristoffer Polaha. The show ran for two seasons between January 18, 2010 and January 18, 2011. Fleder also directed several episodes of the show, including the pilot. 2010 also saw Fleder directed and executive produced two episodes of “Happy Town” and directed the made for television film “Boston's Finest,” starring Katee Sackhoff, Goran Visnjic and Nia Long. In 2011, he helmed “Identity,” a television film starring Angela Bassett, Tony Curran and Bree Turner.

Recently directing an episode of the ABC action/horror series “The River” (2012), Fleder is the director of the television film adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” (2012), which is in pre-production. The romance, which he also executive produced, stars Kristin Kreuk, Nicole Gale Anderson and Jay Ryan. He is set to return to features with the upcoming action movie “Protection” (2012).
    

Awards:

Cognac Festival du Film Policier: Critics Award, “Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead,” 1996
Cognac Festival du Film Policier: Special Jury Prize, “Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead,” 1996
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