Jaume Collet-Serra (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈÊ'awmÉ™ kuˈʎɛt ˈsÉ›rÉ™]; born 23 March 1974) is a Spanish film director and producer. He is most famous for the 2005 horror remake House of Wax, the 2009 film Orphan and the Liam Neeson action-thrillers, Unknown (2011) and Non-Stop (2014).
Career
Soon after graduating, Collet-Serra began his career as an editor before moving on to direct music videos and television commercials for companies such as PlayStation, Budweiser, and Verizon.
In 2005, Collet-Serra was given an opportunity to direct his first feature film by producer Joel Silver (The Matrix). The movie, House of Wax was a remake of the 1953 original of the same name. Despite movie reviewers giving the film a negative critical reception, it was a financial success. The film starred Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray. Two years later, Collet-Serra directed the sequel, Goal II: Living the Dream. The film finds star European soccer player Santiago Muñez (Kuno Becker) bumped by his agent (Stephen Dillane) from England's Newcastle United team to Real Madrid's Galácticos. During his time in Madrid, Santiago also discovers, most unexpectedly and poignantly, what happened to the mother who abandoned him during his early childhood. He reunited with producer Silver for the third film of his career, Orphan, a 2009 American psychological thriller starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, and Isabelle Fuhrman. The film centres on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious nine year-old girl. Orphan was produced by Joel Silver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way Productions. The film was released theatrically in the United States on 24 July 2009. The film received mixed critical reviews although Fuhrman's performance as Esther was acclaimed. He then directed Unknown, a 2011 British psychological thriller starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. The film is based on the 2003 French novel published in English as Out of My Head, by Didier Van Cauwelaert.
Collet-Serra made his television directing debut with the ABC pilot The River, a horror drama from Paranormal Activity writer-director Oren Peli. The episode was filmed in Puerto Rico and the next seven episodes were produced in Hawaii. The show was met with generally favorable reviews, with a collective score of 64/100 from Metacritic from 27 critics. Matt Roush of TV Guide called the show "a terrifying heart-stopper, a cleverly cinematic supernatural adventure that takes us on a wild ride into an exotic heart of darkness." USA Today '​s Robert Bianco stated: "There are moments when The River, with its curse-around-every-corner setup, threatens to topple over into farce. But a strong cast and that things-that-go-bump-in-the-night shooting style so far keep the show on course." However, Mike Hale of The New York Times rated the show poorly, saying: "The mixture of Lost storytelling and Paranormal Activity style is neither intriguing nor particularly scary, and it doesn't help that there's hardly a glimmer of humor."
In December 2012, he began filming in New York City, at JFK Airport, his next film Non-Stop, which starred Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore; the film was released in 2014.
Collet-Serra formed his own production house, Ombra Films. With money from StudioCanal, the small company will make low-budget English-language horror movies, with an eye toward launching the careers of up-and-coming Spanish filmmakers. Juan Sola, Collet-Sera's producing partner, told Deadline: "We've seen how many talented directors are coming out of Spain, but there hasn't really been a platform for them to find work in films. They look up to Jaume as a guy they want to become and we thought, how about a company that creates a bridge between Spain and the U.S., similar to what Luc Besson provided in France? Already, we are being bombarded, and we feel directors will find Ombra a fantastic platform. Jaume loves mentoring new talent." The venture's first film was Mindscape, a psychological thriller about a man with the ability to enter people's memories, starring Taissa Farmiga, Mark Strong and Brian Cox.
Filmography
Films
Television
References
External links
- Official website
- Jaume Collet-Serra at the Internet Movie Database
- Jaume Collet-Serra at Rotten Tomatoes
- Jaume Collet-Serra at Metacritic
