Gareth Edwards (born 1975) is an English film director of Welsh parentage. He is best known for directing the 2014 version of Godzilla but first gained widespread recognition for Monsters, an independent film for which he acted as writer, director, cinematographer, and visual effects artist.
Early life
He was born in 1975 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Since childhood he wanted to work in cinema to direct his own films, stating that "Star Wars is definitely the reason that I wanted to become a filmmaker".
Education
Gareth studied BA (Hons) Film & Video at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham, formerly the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, graduating in 1996. In 2012 Gareth received a Master of Arts honorary degree from UCA.
Career
He got his start in special effects; creating digital effects for prestigious shows such as Nova, Perfect Disaster and Heroes and Villains, the latter of which a series for which he made 250 visual effects which won international recognition. In 2008 he entered Sci-Fi-London, a 48 hour film challenge, where a movie had to be created start-to-finish in just two days, within certain criteria. Edwards won the contest and went on to write and direct Monsters, his first feature. Edwards personally created the special effects for Monsters using off the shelf equipment. Besides the two main actors, the crew consisted of just five people.
The success of Monsters brought enough awareness in Hollywood to land Edwards a few major projects. After the film's release, he did interviews in Hollywood with several studios, including Legendary Pictures. In January 2011, Edwards landed his first major Hollywood feature, as the director of the 2014 Godzilla reboot from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.
In May 2014, it was announced that Edwards would direct the first Star Wars stand-alone film with writer Gary Whitta, due to be released on 16 December 2016 and will return to direct the Godzilla sequel, now planned as a trilogy, with the first sequel targeted to be released on 8 June 2018.
Three of his influences for film-making are George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino.
Filmography
Television
References
External links
- Gareth Edwards at the Internet Movie Database
- Factory Farmed, winner of the Sci-Fi-London 2008 film festival 48 Hour Film Challenge, on Dailymotion.
- Gareth Edwards: Indie Filmmaker, See how Gareth created his independent film with "pro-sumer" equipment.
