Oscar-winning writer and film director Curtis Hanson has died at his home in Hollywood at the age of 71, police say. He proved himself particularly adept at thrillers, with 1992’s evil nanny drama The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and 1994’s Meryl Streep river rafting of doom flick The River Wild. TMZ reports that the director died on Tuesday afternoon from what appeared to be a heart attack in his Hollywood Hills home.
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A native of Reno, Nevada who grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Hanson dropped out of high school to work as a photographer. Hanson and his writing partner Brian Helgeland won an Academy Award in 1997 for the film’s screenplay, adapted from the James Ellroy book.
Hanson followed L.A. Confidential with the comedy Wonder Boys. That enabled him to interview major directors, including John Ford and Vincente Minnelli, and he learned more about the art of filmmaking. After suffering complications from heart surgery in fall 2011, he had to back out of directing duties on the Gerard Butler surfing movie Chasing Mavericks mid-production; British director Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough) stepped in for the final few weeks of principal photography.
Rob Lowe added: “It was an honour to make Bad Influence with Curtis Hanson”. “I knew going into it that he had experience performing and also adopting a character, Slim Shady”.
He then wrote and directed the Corman-distributed thriller Sweet Kill (1972), starring Tab Hunter. Basinger also won the supporting actress Oscar.
Kevin Bacon, who starred in The River Wild, tweeted: “So sad to hear about Curtis Hanson”. “Confidential” who took our lines, gave them emotion, humor, life”, Hanson said in his Oscar acceptance speech.
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“Thank you for believing in me & standing your ground”, Crowe said on Twitter. Other late-career credits include the critically-lauded Michael Chabon adaptation Wonder Boys, In Her Shoes starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclaine and Lucky You, a poker drama starring Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana. I will miss him.
