Jaume Collet-Serra

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Spanish-American film director and producer

Jaume Collet-Serra (Catalan pronunciation::; born 23 March 1974) is a Spanish-American film director and producer. He is known for directing the horror films House of Wax (2005), Orphan (2009), and The Shallows (2016), as well as the Liam Neeson-led thriller films Unknown (2011), Non-Stop (2014), Run All Night (2015), and The Commuter (2018).

1 Early life
2 Career
- 2.1 2005–2010: House of Wax and Orphan
- 2.2 2011–2015: Unknown, The River, Non-Stop and Mindscape
- 2.3 2016–present: The Shallows, The Commuter, and Jungle Cruise
- 2.4 Upcoming projects
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
- 4.1 Film
- 4.2 Television
5 References
6 External links

Early life

Collet-Serra was born in Sant Iscle de Vallalta, Catalonia, Spain. At the age of 18, he moved to Los Angeles, California and attended Columbia College Hollywood, working as an editor on the side. After graduating in 1996, he began directing music videos and television commercials for companies such as Sony, Budweiser, and Verizon.

Career

2005–2010: House of Wax and Orphan

In 2005, Collet-Serra was given an opportunity to direct his first feature film by producer Joel Silver (The Matrix). The film, House of Wax, was a remake of the 1953 original of the same name, and starred Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray and featuring Paris Hilton. Despite reviewers giving the film a negative critical reception, it was a financial success. Two years later, Collet-Serra directed Goal II: Living the Dream. The film, the sequel to Goal!, finds star European soccer player Santiago Muñez (Kuno Becker) bumped by is agent (Stephen Dillane) from England's Newcastle United team to Real Madrid's Galácticos. He reunited with producer Silver for the third film of his career, Orphan, a 2009 American psychological horror film 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 received mixed critical reviews but was a box office success.

2011–2015: Unknown, The River, Non-Stop and Mindscape

Collet-Serra then directed Unknown, a 2011 action 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 show was met with generally favourable reviews. In December 2012, he began filming for his next film Non-Stop, which starred Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.

Collet-Serra formed his own production house Ombra Films. With money from StudioC*, the small company set out to make low-budget English-language horror films, with an eye toward launching the careers of up-and-coming Spanish filmmakers. Juan Sola, Collet-Serra's producing partner, told Deadline Hollywood, "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. Collet-Serra executive produced the found footage comedy-horror film Hooked Up, which was directed by Pablo Larcuen and was shot on an iPhone.

2016–present: The Shallows, The Commuter, and Jungle Cruise

Collet-Serra directed and executive produced The Shallows, a 2016 horror-thriller starring Blake Lively, from a script by Anthony Jaswinski, and The Commuter, an action-thriller starring Liam Neeson, which was released on January 12, 2018, and also features Vera Farmiga, Sam Neill, and Elizabeth McGovern.

Collet-Serra served as director for Jungle Cruise from The Walt Disney Company, starring Dwayne Johnson. The film is based on the concept of the ride of the same name at Disneyland.

Upcoming projects

In March of 2019 TheWrap reported that Collet-Serra was to direct Victory, a remake of the 1981 film Escape to Victory.

In June of 2019, Collet-Serra signed on to direct Black Adam, written by Adam Sztykiel and starring Dwayne Johnson. Johnson will serve as a producer on the project alongside Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn, and Scott Sheldon. Collet-Serra emerged as front-runner to direct after his work on Jungle Cruise. The film will be a co-production between Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Seven Bucks Productions, and FlynnPicturesCo. film studios. Production began in April 2021.

In August 2021, Collet-Serra signed on to direct a sequel to Jungle Cruise.

Personal life

Collet-Serra resides in the Hollywood Hills West neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.