The Insider

Background:

Dutch film producer Pieter Jan Brugge began as line manager and unit production manager before hitting the big time as the producer of the Michael Mann-helmed The Insider (1999), from which he nabbed an Oscar nomination. He has produced, directed as well as co-wrote the movie The Clearing (2004). Other producing credits include The Pelican Brief (1993) and Miami Vice (2006).


Immigrant

Childhood and Family:

Pieter Jan Brugge was born and raised in Deventer in Holland. He was graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy and then earned a scholarship from the Dutch Ministry of Cultural Affairs to study at the American Film Institute in the US, from which he graduated with a M.F.A degree.


The Clearing

Career:

Pieter Jan Brugge moved from his native of Deventer, Netherlands to America in the 1980s to establish a career in producing. In 1984, he got his start as a unit production manager of the comedy/musical Missing in Action, starring Lucinda Dickey as a struggling young jazz dancer, and later that same year, served as an executive producer for the sequel Breakdance 2: Electric Boogaloo. Three years later, he took on the stint as line producer for the film My Demon Lover, which he followed by serving as co-producer and unit production manager on the 1989 Glory, helmed by Edward Zwick and starring Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick. Also in 1989, he co-produced Loverboy, a comedy about a pizza delivery boy (played by Patrick Dempsey).

Brugge acted as executive producer for movies like Consenting Adults (1992), The Vanishing (1993) and Fatal Instinct (1993), as well as produced such films as The Pelican Brief (1993) and Bulworth (1998) before delivering a big breakthrough with 1999’s The Insider. Starring Russell Crowe and directed by Michael Mann, the biopic won numerous awards and was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including one for Brugge in the category of Best Picture, an honor he shared with Mann. He also jointly earned a PGA Golden Laurel nomination for Motion Picture Producer of the Year.

After The Insider, Brugge took several years hiatus from producing and did not make his comeback until 2004’s The Clearing, starring Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe. With the release of the drama/thriller movie, Brugge also made his debut as director-writer. In 2006, he produced the remake Miami Vice, which starred Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as two undercover polices.


Awards:
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