Director and writer
Born: March 24, 1945;
Died: September 20, 2016
CURTIS Hanson, who has died aged 71, was a writer and director who won a screenwriting Oscar for LA Confidential, the cult film about police corruption that helped make stars of Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe. He also directed the psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and Eminem's tale of Detroit hip-hop, 8 Mile.
A native of Reno, Nevada, who grew up in Los Angeles, Hanson dropped out of high school to work as a photographer, writer and editor for the magazine Cinema."It was, in a sense, my film school," he said. It was his pictures of Faye Dunaway that led to her being cast in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.
Hanson began screenwriting and directing in the early 1970s, but did not see serious success until directing 1992's The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. The film starring Rebecca De Mornay as a revenge-seeking nanny became a major hit.
He then went on to direct 1994's The River Wild, the crime thriller with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon, and 2000's Wonder Boys with Tobey Maguire and Michael Douglas.
His breakthrough as an acclaimed film-maker came with 1997's LA Confidential, which he co-wrote and directed. "I got into the business kind of through a side door," he said. "I felt my best avenue was through screenwriting, because to write, all you need is a typewriter and an idea."
Hanson was lauded for taking James Ellroy's massive novel about cops, criminals and tabloid rags in 1950s Los Angeles and streamlining it into a riveting thriller without losing its nuance.
He said he had wanted to tell the story for a long time. “I wanted to deal with that and also pursue this theme that interested me, which is the difference between illusion and reality, the way people and things appear to be versus how they really are. And Hollywood, of course, is the city of illusion. So that was near and dear to me, and extremely personal.”
Hanson and co-writer Brian Helgeland won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay and Hanson was nominated for best director and the movie for best picture.
LA Confidential introduced Russell Crowe to American audiences and was a career high point for many of those involved, including Kim Basinger, who also won an Oscar.
Hanson then went on to explore a different sort of darkness in 8 Mile, the film starring Eminem that explored the gritty streets and trailer parks of Detroit and closely mirrored the rapper's younger life.
Hanson chose to shoot the movie in the actual burned-out homes and vacant shopfronts of the real city. He said he had only a passing knowledge of hip-hop when he entered the project, and that he and Eminem "had to convince each other" they could both handle the movie as each envisaged it.
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 is survived by a son, born in 2004, with partner Rebecca Yeldham, a producer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here