Paul WS Anderson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul WS Anderson at WonderCon 2012

Paul William Scott Anderson (born March 4, 1965 in Newcastle upon Tyne ) is a British film director , screenwriter and film producer who mainly works through film adaptations of computer games such as Mortal Kombat , Resident Evil and Alien vs. Predator became known.

Life and works

Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Literature from the University of Warwick . His debut film was Shopping (1994), in which Sean Pertwee , Sadie Frost and Jude Law play three criminals who rob shops by ramming the shop window with the help of a car ("ram raiding"). In England the film was only allowed to be shown in a limited number of cinemas, in the USA it was released in cut form and only on video. In 1995, Mortal Kombat followed , the film adaptation of the computer game of the same name. The general response to the film was mixed. Although most of the fans of the game were unhappy with the implementation and the critical response was rather poor, the film was a commercial success that led to two sequels - in which Anderson was no longer involved.

After the success of Mortal Kombat , Anderson was able to choose his next project himself and chose Star Force Soldier . Soldier was conceived by screenwriter David Webb Peoples as a side-quel to Blade Runner , meaning that it was set in the same universe. With the scheduled lead actor Kurt Russell being indispensable at the time, production was delayed and Anderson was given the opportunity to direct Event Horizon , which flopped both critically and at the box office. Anderson later blamed the studio for having re-edited the film against his will. However, others involved in the project later testified that only the best material was used in the final version of the film. Soldier was released in 1998 and was a critical and commercial failure.

It was only after Anderson had written and directed the very successful television film The Sight in 2000 that he was able to return to the cinema two years later with the real film adaptation of the computer game Resident Evil , which compared to other Anderson films had a small budget and a relatively high number of visitors (or DVD sales) was a small financial success. Since 2002 he has also had the initials “W. S. ”was introduced in his name to avoid confusion with his namesake Paul Thomas Anderson .

Anderson's next project was the clash of the monsters from the horror - action film series Alien and Predator in Alien vs. Predator, already hinted at in the film Predator 2 (and later popularized in a comic series from Dark Horse Comics , computer games and other media) . Predator . The fact that he would be involved in the project, however, made some fans of the original film series uncomfortable and caused the studio to give no preview performances for critics. This strategy worked, at least initially. Alien vs. Predator became the film with the best opening weekend of a film that ultimately did not exceed the $ 100 million mark.

For the third part of the Resident Evil series called Extinction , which came into the cinemas on September 27, 2007, Anderson wrote the script, as in the second part, but did not take over the director's chair. Like its predecessors, this film was a commercial success.

In 2001, while filming Resident Evil , Anderson met Milla Jovovich , with whom he became engaged in March 2003 and whom he married on August 22, 2009. Their daughter was born on November 3, 2007 in Los Angeles . Their second daughter was born on April 1, 2015. The third daughter was born on February 2, 2020.

On September 18, 2015, filming began for the sixth and final part of the Resident Evil real film series called The Final Chapter in Cape Town , South Africa , which he again directed and which premiered on January 27, 2017.

Anderson is currently working on adapting the computer game Driver and the film Necropolis . In addition, he has expressed interest in the filming of the games Castlevania , Grand Theft Auto and Alfred Bester's science fiction novel The Stars My Destination (German: Die Rache des Kosmonauten and The Burning Man ).

Filmography (selection)

Director

producer

Screenwriter

Web links

Commons : Paul WS Anderson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marion McMullen: Coventry-trained film director Paul Anderson the fourth Musketeer. In: coventrytelegraph. Retrieved February 6, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Third marriage: Milla Jovovich relies on the fifth element. In: Spiegel Online . August 22, 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Premiere: Milla Jovovich gives birth to daughter. In: Spiegel Online . November 5, 2007, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  4. ↑ ; illa Jovovich Mom for the second time. In: m.gala.de. April 1, 2015, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  5. ↑ ; Jovovich Mama for the third time. In: Instagram. February 2, 2020, accessed April 15, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Anderson, Paul WS
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anderson, Paul William Scott (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film director, screenwriter and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Newcastle upon Tyne , England , UK