Name; - Omer Rehan

Class: - As-E

Director Research

Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer was born in New York City, and was adopted by Grace Sinden, an environmental activist, and Norbert Dave Singer, a corporate executive. He grew up in a Jewish household in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (formerly just West Windsor-Plainsboro High School), graduating in 1984. For college, Singer studied filmmaking for two years at New York's School of Visual Arts and later transferred to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. Actors Lori and Marc Singer are his cousins.

After graduating, Singer directed a short film called Lion's Den involving a number of friends,

including actor Ethan Hawke whom he knew from his childhood in New Jersey and Editor John

Ottman who he had met while working on a friend's short film.

Bryan Singer Awards in success

After a screening of Lion's Den, Singer was approached by someone who knew of a Japanese

company that funded low-budget films. Singer wrote the concept for Public Access with high school

friend Christopher Mc Quarrie, and fellow USC student Michael Feit Dougan wrote the first draft in

ten days about a supposedly idyllic small town. Ottman again served as editor but this time also

composed the score for the film. At the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, the film was named as co-

winner of the Grand Jury Prize.

While attending the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Singer and Mc Quarrie began discussing an idea

that Mc Quarrie had for a story where "five criminals meet in a police line-up". The film, The Usual

Suspects, won a number of awards including the 1995 BAFTA Award for Best Film and Saturn

Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. Writer Mc Quarrie won the Academy Award for

Writing Original Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, composer/editor Ottman

won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing and the Saturn Award for Best Music and actor Kevin

Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Singer was initially approached by 20th Century Fox to direct X-Men after directing The Usual

Suspects, but not being a fan of comics and being unaware of the characters, Singer turned them

down. However his friend, Tom De Santo, a big fan of the comics and partner in his production

company Bad Hat Harry Productions, eventually persuaded Singer to reconsider and, after reading

the comics and becoming familiar with the characters, Singer signed on to direct. Rejecting all the

scripts and storylines that were developed over a decade of failed production attempts, Singer

developed the story for the film with De Santo in a week and then worked on the script with

writers Ed Solomon, Christopher Mc Quarrie, Joss Whedon, and finally David Hayter (who had

started out as Singer's driver). Only Hayter received onscreen credit for writing the film. Singer won

the 2000 Saturn Award for Best Direction for X-Men.

Post Usual SuspectsIn June 2002 filming began on X-men 2 in Canada with Singer again directing, this time from a

screenplay written by David Hayter, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty. In 2004, X-men 2 was

nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, but lost to Peter

Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In 2002, having learned that Singer was a lifelong Star Trek fan, Patrick Stewart arranged for Singer

to visit the set of Star Trek Nemesis and appear in the finished film as a Starfleet officer on the

bridge of the Enterprise.

On November 16, 2004, a new medical drama debuted on FOX called House, with Singer attached

as an executive producer. He also directed the pilot and the third episode, then appeared in a brief

cameo as himself in the twelfth episode.

In mid-2004, Singer was in negotiations to direct X-Men The Last Stand for Fox. Fox and Singer

could not meet an agreement and, after an extended agreement, Singer was offered the chance to

direct the new Superman film, which was ready to go. On July 19, 2004, Variety reported that Singer

had signed on to direct Superman Returns for Warner Bros. In retaliation; Fox terminated their

production deal with Bad Hat Harry Productions, Singer's production company. Superman

Returns was filmed in Australia in 2005, and was released on June 28, 2006.

Before embarking on the Superman sequel, Singer openly discussed helming a smaller project

going back to the days of thrillers The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil. In late 2006,

screenwriter Christopher Mc Quarrie presented to Singer a story that took place in World War

II, Valkyrie. In the following months, the two collaborated on the project, an original thriller that would

be a multi-character ensemble piece. In March 2007, the duo brought the project directly to United

Artists partners Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, who immediately agreed to finance the film. The

script is based on the actual events of German generals plotting to assassinate Adolf

Hitler during World War II. Singer invited Tom Cruise to take the lead role, which Cruise accepted.

Filming began on July 19, 2007 in Berlin, and the movie was released on December 25, 2008.

After that Singer was scheduled to jump directly into the upcoming Superman sequel, which was to

begin filming around March 2008. Attending the 2007 Saturn Awards along with Superman

Returns writers Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and producer Gil Adler, Singer stated that the story

had been locked down, and the first draft would be completed near the end of 2007.

In August 2009, Universal Pictures announced that Singer would direct and produce a big screen

reima of the Battle star Galactica television series. On September 10, 2009, it was announced NBC

has partnered with Bryan Singer and Bryan Fuller to adapt Augusten Burroughs's Sellevision into a

series. The one-hour dramatic comedy, to be written by Fuller and directed by Singer, will focus on

the inner workings of a fictional home shopping network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At the premiere of James Cameron's Avatar on December 16, 2009, Singer confirmed that he would

be directing Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) for Warner Bros., and that he had signed on to do X-Men:

First Class but conflicts between the two projects led to Singer being only a producer and co-

screenwriter on First Class, with Matthew Vaughn taking over directorial duties. In October 2012, it

was announced that Singer would direct the next movie in the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past;

Vaughn stayed on as a producer and screenwriter, and the film was released in May 2014.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Singer

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