“8 Mile” director Curtis Hanson was founded dead aged 71 at his Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday (20.09.16).
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In his early days, Hanson was a director-for-hire in Hollywood for low-budget films like Tom Cruise’s Losin’ It in 1983.
The director has films like “The River Wild”, “Wonder Boys”, “8 Mile” and “In Her Shoes” to his credit. “And, so in my getting to know him, I had to assess and then make an educated guess of whether he would be able to do to that and whether he would trust me and the environment I would create enough to do that”. Curtis Hanson actually didn’t know much about the hip-hop culture prior to directing 8 Mile in 2002, so there were many conversations going back and forth between the skillful director and an equally skillful rapper. Featuring a tony ensemble cast that included rising stars Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, as well as compelling turns from Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell and Kim Basinger (in her Oscar-winning role), L.A. Confidential is still celebrated among critics and cinephiles.
US director Curtis Hanson attends the “Lucky You” photocall at St Regis Hotel on June 15, 2007 in Rome, Italy.
It was Curtis Hanson. 2000’s Wonder Boys is one of the best movies ever made about writing, with Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire turning in two of the best performances of their careers.
Hanson also tasted success with his spectacular film The River Wild (1994), starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon, before he dazzled audiences and critics alike with LA Confidential (1997).
He and script writer Brian Helgeland won an Oscar in 1997 for their adapted screenplay of the James Ellroy novel.
Paying tribute, Eminem said in a statement: “Curtis Hanson believed in me and our insane idea to make a rap battle movie set in Detroit”.
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Hanson most recently directed the 2011 HBO movie on the financial crisis “Too Big To Fail” and the 2012 Gerard Butler surfing movie “Chasing Mavericks”. He also wrote the hit song “Lose Yourself” for the film, which went on earn him an Oscar for Best Original Song.
